Model, of South Shields lifeboat Step Laverick

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This wooden model of a South Shields lifeboat called 'Step Laverick', represents one of the earliest purpose-built lifeboats from around 1789. It was built to a scale of 1:12 by Mr P A Rumbelow of Great Yarmouth.

The model is a copy of one in Yarmouth Maritime Museum. It closely resembles a model hanging in St Hilda's church in South Shields called 'Original', made by Stephen Laverick, a senior apprentice at Greathead's at the time when the actual 'Original' was being constructed. Hence the name of 'Step Laverick' for this model.

The design of the South Shield's lifeboats was so successful that by 1804 the boatbuilders, Henry Greathead, had built a total of 31 similar boats for England, Scotland and abroad. The boats were not self-righting but they were unsinkable.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-180-002-092-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland Part 2
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1983.198
• Date: Model: 20th century; Original: Around 1789
  
• Material: Inscription: So. SHIELDS LIFE BOAT; So. SHIELDS STEPo. LAVERICK
  Boat / lifeboat / model
  
• Dimensions: 30.00" x 10.50" x 7.00"
  
• What: Boat / lifeboat / model
  
• Subject: 23. SHIPPING, Special Purpose Vessels (Departmental Classification)
  
• Who: P.A. Rumbelow, Great Yarmouth, England (Model maker)
  Step Laverick
  Yarmouth Maritime Museum (Houses an earlier model)
  
• Where: England, Durham, South Shields
  England, Norfolk, Great Yarmouth
  
• Event:
• Description: Model of the Step Laverick, a South Shields lifeboat originally built c. 1789, model by P.A. Rumbelow, scale 1:12
  
• References:
  • Storer, J D. Ship Models in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh: A catalogue of models representing the history of shipping from 1500 BC to the present day. Edinburgh: Royal Scottish Museum Information Series, 1985, p 86. 
• Translations:
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