Ship building in miniature

Ship building in miniature - in Mauritius

At the Historic Marine in Goodlands near the capital, Port Louis, in Mauritius, a team of 10 artisans make ships. They make miniature replica ships and boats in a workshop venue which is both a studio and a store – so visitors can see the craftspeople working.

The models are made to scale and are exact replicas of sailing boats and ships such as the Cutty Sark, Endeavour, Golden Hind, HMS Bounty, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, and the US Constitution. Using blue prints, artisans take about a month to make a medium-sized ship, with larger models taking six months or more.

www.historic-marine.com

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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