Scale: not calculated. A model formerly belonging to the training ship ‘Mercury’ whose collection was purchased in its entirety in 1929 by Sir James Caird for the NMM. There are a number of intriguing models in the Mercury Collection, and this is no exception. It has long been thought to depict a Galway hooker with its typically squat and wide beamed hull form. Though the hull looks as though it has been carvel-made, it has in fact been carved from the solid.

A traditional sailing boat that has been used in Galway Bay off the west coast of Ireland for at least 200 years, the hooker was developed for the strong seas there and they are able to sail in shallow waters. The sail formation is highly distinctive with its single mast, mainsail and two foresails. Traditionally, the boat is black, being coated in pitch, and the sails are a dark reddish-brown. Galway fishermen still use them to this day and they are also raced.