Alexander Martin Model Ship Gallery: Genealogy of the Bryan and Martin Families

Genealogy of the Bryan and Martin Families

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#	Description	Info
1	An Old Salt Goes to Sea with "Fleet" Dayton (Ohio) Daily News 31 July 1960
2	Chinese Scavenger There are hundreds of these tramps in the Asiatic waters. They thrive on whatever they can pick up from the water. They hang around the swill chutes of ships at anchor and meet ships coming in and follow ships going out and with nets made of old sacks or what have you, they catch every particle of swill the ship's cook happens to throw out - coffee grounds, potato skins and garbage, etc. There is a great variety of these boats, sam pans, junks, etc., and are manned by coolies who live on these boats and are never allowed ashore. Some of the old superstitions are still accepted by these coolies, such as: if one falls overboard he is completely ignored and they do not try to get him out because they believe he is on his own and must do the best he can. They all scatter away and nobody wants him. If he should happen to get hold of something and climb aboard of any boat at all he will live on that boat from then on and some of them are quite crowded as it is. And they believe that the demon of death wanted him and pulled him into the water and if anyone took him out of the water, the demon of death would get real angry and get him sometime.
3	Chinese Scavenger There are hundreds of these tramps in the Asiatic waters. They thrive on whatever they can pick up from the water. They hang around the swill chutes of ships at anchor and meet ships coming in and follow ships going out and with nets made of old sacks or what have you, they catch every particle of swill the ship's cook happens to throw out - coffee grounds, potato skins and garbage, etc. There is a great variety of these boats, sam pans, junks, etc., and are manned by coolies who live on these boats and are never allowed ashore. Some of the old superstitions are still accepted by these coolies, such as: if one falls overboard he is completely ignored and they do not try to get him out because they believe he is on his own and must do the best he can. They all scatter away and nobody wants him. If he should happen to get hold of something and climb aboard of any boat at all he will live on that boat from then on and some of them are quite crowded as it is. And they believe that the demon of death wanted him and pulled him into the water and if anyone took him out of the water, the demon of death would get real angry and get him sometime.
4	Clermont Early in the nineteenth century, in 1807, when rumor brought word to the good folk living along the Hudson that a fellow named Fulton had built a boat, and in it planned to make the trip from New York City to Albany under steam power alone, popular opinion promptly dubbed the venture impossible. Robert Fulton became the target for criticism and derision, harsh and unfeeling. Yet his famous Clermont not only made the run (150 miles in 32 hours), it effectively silenced the critics and jesters and inaugurated an era of steamship development. Although the model is small, it is designed to scale and retains all the important details of the original Clermont.
5	Clermont and Steamboat Early in the nineteenth century, in 1807, when rumor brought word to the good folk living along the Hudson that a fellow named Fulton had built a boat, and in it planned to make the trip from New York City to Albany under steam power alone, popular opinion promptly dubbed the venture impossible. Robert Fulton became the target for criticism and derision, harsh and unfeeling. Yet his famous Clermont not only made the run (150 miles in 32 hours), it effectively silenced the critics and jesters and inaugurated an era of steamship development. Although the model is small, it is designed to scale and retains all the important details of the original Clermont.
6	Dayton Man Builds a Miniature Flotilla Dayton (Ohio) Daily News 10 April 1938
7	Display Case Alex procured this display case from a store in Dayton. It was quite large and held many of his models. Above the display case were his car and airplane models, some made by other family members and most made from kits. This display case was in the basement of his home at 210 Cambridge Avenue in Dayton.
8	Former Seaman Builds Models of Ships on Which He Served, To Pass Leisure Time Dayton (Ohio) Daily News 19 February 1933
9	Gloucester Fishing Schooner the "Bluenose" Her rigging and sails are much simpler than those of a full-rigged ship though she is as graceful a craft as ever sailed. She was known as a fore-and-after. She was speedy enough to win an international racing cup, at the same time she is essentially a working craft, built for hard usage. She was constructed by W.J. Roue of Halifax in 1921 and is still afloat, and she holds the international trophy for speed in the fishing schooner class. She is one of a fishing fleet of the Newfoundland Banks. A person with a hobby like mine is always fascinated by the shapely fore-and-after although he is apt to feel that a trading schooner is a bit too homely for model reproduction and that an ordinary yacht is too trivial. For him the Bluenose should be ideal. Aloft and alow she is as beautiful as any fore-and-after ever was. This model is an exact reproduction of the original reduced to a scale of 1/2" to a foot. She captured the international speed trophy. Like all fore-and-afters the Bluenose got much of its beauty from its rigging and sails. Everyone enjoys the magnificent sight of a sailing schooner with its sails up and bellied in the wind. Sails always give a sense of action and a note of life. A small boy's definition of wind - air that's in a hurry.
10	Gloucester Fishing Schooner the "Bluenose" Her rigging and sails are much simpler than those of a full-rigged ship though she is as graceful a craft as ever sailed. She was known as a fore-and-after. She was speedy enough to win an international racing cup, at the same time she is essentially a working craft, built for hard usage. She was constructed by W.J. Roue of Halifax in 1921 and is still afloat, and she holds the international trophy for speed in the fishing schooner class. She is one of a fishing fleet of the Newfoundland Banks. A person with a hobby like mine is always fascinated by the shapely fore-and-after although he is apt to feel that a trading schooner is a bit too homely for model reproduction and that an ordinary yacht is too trivial. For him the Bluenose should be ideal. Aloft and alow she is as beautiful as any fore-and-after ever was. This model is an exact reproduction of the original reduced to a scale of 1/2" to a foot. She captured the international speed trophy. Like all fore-and-afters the Bluenose got much of its beauty from its rigging and sails. Everyone enjoys the magnificent sight of a sailing schooner with its sails up and bellied in the wind. Sails always give a sense of action and a note of life. A small boy's definition of wind - air that's in a hurry.
11	Great Republic
12	Great Republic
13	Great Republic
14	Great Republic
15	Great Republic THE GREAT REPUBLIC Largest Clipper Ship Ever Built In The United States Clippers embody all the romance and adventure of the sea in the days when American ships were pre-eminent. To develop this design, actual experience on sailing ships and a study of the type and period have been necessary. The Great Republic was built at East Boston in 1853 by Donald McKay to his own design and at his own risk. She was the largest merchant sailing ship ever constructed in the United States and was designed to carry 6,000 tons. Unfortunately, while loading in New York before starting on her first voyage, she burned almost to the waterline. When rebuilt, she was cut down one deck and her sail plan was reduced. There have been very few larger sailing ships (wooden vessels), and she was the crowning achievement of America's most famous ship builder. For this reason I have preferred to make a model of her as originally conceived and built. The Great Republic had a registered tonnage of 4,555. Her dimensions were: Length 335, beam 53 and depth 38 feet. The model is built to a scale of 3/32 inch equals one foot of the original. This gives us a hull of 32 inches long. She had a 20 inch dead rise. The ship had four decks with seven feet between the upper and eight feet between the others. The upper deck was a flush or spar deck with no poop deck or forecastle. The figurehead was an eagle and there was a spread-eagle holding the American shield on the stern. In her day when she was America's largest clipper ship, the Great Republic was called the "Ship of Ships". She was not only large but remarkably beautiful - An ideal subject for a ship model. Her upper deck was on one level fore and aft. All accommodations were below this deck. The crew of one hundred men and thirty boys lived in the upper between decks. The dining saloon alone was 30 by 14 feet. The forward house is a shelter house and sick bay. The next contains the galley, smith's shop and donkey engine. The third is the officers mess hall and staircase to quarters. The fourth is a staircase and smoke room, and the last is the wheelhouse. The second house was half doors, a funnel for the galley stove and another for the donkey engine, which was the first ever placed on a sailing ship. According to some accounts, the fifteen horsepower engine could be moved about the deck for working cargo or hoisting sails or even be placed in a huge longboat and fitted with a propeller to tow the ship. She had two 6,500 lb. anchors (porter's patent working anchors) and two 8,500 lb. wood stock bowers, as well as a stream anchor and kedge. The Great Republic as originally built was more heavily rigged than any other merchant vessel. Her spars were large even for her size. Her main yard was 120 feet long. Although a fast ship, the Great Republic never got a fair trial with her full rig because when rebuilt after the fire her rig was reduced about fifteen per cent. Her best records were nineteen knots for nineteen hours and New York to San Francisco in 92 days, including three day calm off the latter port. (No Panama Canal in those days - She had to go around the Horn). She was one of the few ships that had double topsails and she was one of the first vessels to be rigged as a four masted bark. After the fire she was refloated by the insurance underwriters and bought from them by A. A. Lowe and Brothers who rebuilt her at Green Point, New York. The upper deck was not replaced, leaving her with three decks, poop and forecastle decks, and reducing her tonnage 3,356 tons. Her crew was cut down correspondingly to fifty men. She was still a fast sailor and made the best time on record from Sandy Hook to the Line (the Equator) in fifteen days, eighteen hours. She was traded to England and in 1857 made the trip from New York to that country, land to land, in twelve days. She was then chartered to the French Government and later, while in the Californian trade, made a passage of 92 days from New York to San Francisco. In 1865 she was laid up for a year and then sold to Yarmouth N.S. In 1868 she was sold to Liverpool for about $17,500 and renamed "Denmark". On March 5, 1872, she foundered in a gale in the Atlantic, all hands reaching Bermuda in safety. It may be interesting to know the reason why a ship is always called a "She". A nine year old boy, the son of a sea captain, gave the best reason I ever heard. He 'said' "It is because it cost so much to rig her." You may have noticed the ship's steering wheels in these pictures. I made them because they are extremely ornamental where nautical subjects are shown.
16	Great Republic
17	Great Republic
18	Great Republic
19	Great Republic
20	Great Republic
21	H.M.S. Bounty In the year 1763 the H.M.S. Bounty at Spithead, England, where she was rebuilt and launched, looked no bigger than a longboat among the tall first rates and seventy-fours at anchor. She had been built by the merchant service at Hall three years before and purchased for 2000 pounds. Ninety feet long on deck with a beam of 24 feet, her burden was little more than 200 tons. Her name, Bethia, had been painted out and at the suggestion of Sir Joseph Banks she was rechristened the Bounty. She had been many months at Deptford, where the Admiralty had spent more than 4000 pounds in altering and refitting her. The great cabin aft was rigged as a garden, pots standing in racks and gutters running below to allow the water to be used on the bread fruit plants over and over again. The result was that Lieutenant Bligh and the Master, Mr. Fryer, were squeezed into two tiny cabins on either side of the ladderway. The ship was small, really very small. She carried cargoes of stores and articles to barter with the Indians. She was bluff heavy hulled and short masted. With her stout rigging she looked more like a whaling ship than an armed transport of His Majesty's Navy. She carried a pair of swivel guns mounted on stocks forward and six swivel and four pounders aft on the upper deck. There is a wonderfully interesting story of the historic mutiny on the Bounty by Nordhoff and J.N. Hall published in 1932. They were midshipmen in His Majesty's Navy. It tells of the horrible treatment and confinements of the crew by Bligh. It was no wonder they decided on mutiny and to get rid of Bligh in a whale boat at his own responsibility. The Bounty made quite a splash in history. She sailed to the South Pacific under the command of Lt. William Bligh, Royal Navy. Just before Christmas 1787 she sailed from Tahiti for the West Indies but before the end of April 1789 Captain Bligh and some of his crew found themselves adrift in an open boat. In this frail craft Captain Bligh made the most outstanding voyage in history.
22	He's Still a Sailor at Heart Article in the NCR Factory News of February 1954 (page 23)	Owner of original: Gregory Allen Martin Date: Feb 1954
23	Hoosier State
24	Lighthouse
25	Local Hobby Show Called "Success" The Journal Herald Dayton, Ohio 9 November 1959
26	Never Seasick a Day in My Life, Old Salt Brags Dayton (Ohio) Daily News 22 May 1960
27	Old Salt Goes Navy in Basement Shop Dayton (Ohio) Daily News 13 November 1960 This was published just three weeks before his death.
28	River Packet Towing Show Boat In the picture is a Mississippi River show boat, a very picturesque sight along the Mississippi River being towed by a river boat. The model represents a typical Mississippi River traveling theatre of the 1870s and 1880s. They were from 100 to 200 feet long. They were extremely colorful in decorations. The superstructure or upper railing on this model is a strip of the edge of my wife's shelf paper in the pantry, heavily shellacked and enameled.
29	Riverboat
30	Riverboat
31	Riverboats
32	Robert E. Lee
33	Robert E. Lee
34	Roman Galley The Roman galley or bireme is one of the earliest of seagoing ships. They were fighting ships and during an action were propelled and maneuvered by the rowers who were slaves chained to the thwarts and under the lash of slave drivers who walked up and down the gangways with long, snake-like ships, and when a slave died, mostly from exhaustion, he was unchained and cast overboard. The heavy ram bow spears and the curved stern were characteristic of the galley of this period. Notice the two steering paddles on each side of the stern. She could capture another craft by maneuvering alongside and breaking off the oars with her bow spears, making the victim helpless to escape and becoming the prisoner in action of the victor. They had large glaring eyes on each side of the bow so the ship could look ahead and frighten an enemy.
35	Roman Galley The Roman galley or bireme is one of the earliest of seagoing ships. They were fighting ships and during an action were propelled and maneuvered by the rowers who were slaves chained to the thwarts and under the lash of slave drivers who walked up and down the gangways with long, snake-like ships, and when a slave died, mostly from exhaustion, he was unchained and cast overboard. The heavy ram bow spears and the curved stern were characteristic of the galley of this period. Notice the two steering paddles on each side of the stern. She could capture another craft by maneuvering alongside and breaking off the oars with her bow spears, making the victim helpless to escape and becoming the prisoner in action of the victor. They had large glaring eyes on each side of the bow so the ship could look ahead and frighten an enemy.
36	Roofs of Homes Are Starless Skies for Ships That Never Sail The Journal Herald Dayton, Ohio 19 November 1944
37	Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Three Men in a Tub
38	The Buckeye State Mississippi River Packet (1806) Romance has passed from Mississippi steamboating, but we can preserve a bit of it in our homes by building a model of one of the picturesque, speedy and in many ways amazing old stern wheelers that contributed largely to the upbuilding of the middle west. The Mississippi steamboat is an entirely American product, evolved for the particular conditions under which it had to work - shallow treacherous waters and practically no docking facilities. The requirements for a Mississippi boat were - and still are - an extremely shallow hull capable of carrying a heavy load without drawing more than a few feet of water. As the beam had to be narrow, the hull, though sharp-bowed, were given straight sides and flat bottoms. The cantilever principle, as shown in the use of "hog" chains, was employed to prevent the ends from sagging. High speed and the ability to turn quickly were also needed, hence the use of powerful engines, large, strong stern paddles, and triple rudders. As there was little space below the water line, the engines, cabins, and everything had to be piled on deck, but this had the further advantage of making the boats light and airy. In their heyday before the railroads were built, competition among the boats for passengers was keen. They accordingly were made as attractive as possible; in those days that meant a lot of scroll woodwork, most elaborate saloons and cabins and gilding and gingerbread. Because of all these factors, a type of vessel evolved which, although lacking the stately grace of the deep-sea sailing ship, had a beauty of its own in fitness for its purpose. Some of the side-wheelers, it is true, were the fastest and best known in their time, but their reign was short and the stern-wheeler antedated them and is again the more prevalent. The "Buckeye State" (Ohio) was built in 1878, a wooden hull vessel with a length of 235 feet, depth of hold 5 feet, beam 36 feet, high pressure engines, diameter 18 in., stroke 7 feet, with Rees adjustable or variable cut-off; four boilers, diameter 41 inches, length 26 feet, capacity 900 tons; draft light 28 inches, speed 15 miles an hour in dead waters. The stern-wheeler river packet represents what has been called America's most typical boat. It is a real native, like the American Indian canoe. Some called it an engine on a raft. Clyde Fitch described it in his characteristics style when he wrote: "The steamboat is from 100 to 300 feet long and from 30 to 50 feet wide. It is from 40 to 70 feet high above water, but it does not extend more than 3 feet into the water. This is because that's all the water there is. A steamboat must be so built that when the river is low and the sand bars come out for air, the first mate can take a keg of beer and run the boat four miles on the suds." Steamboats were once the great beasts of burden for the middle west, and a city that could not be reached at low water by a steamboat with 2 large hot stacks, 25 Negro roustabouts on the bow end and a gambler in the cabin withered away and died in infancy. But the railroad, which runs in high water or low, does not stab itself in a vital spot with a snag, came along and cleared the steamboat out of business. There are only a few left now, which is a great pity, for the most decorative part of a great river is a tall white steamboat with a chime whistle and a flashing wheel in the far foreground. This type of boat, however, has not vanished by any means, most of those now in use are entirely up-to-date for their purpose. They have steel hulls, steam machinery to handle cargoes and gangways, electric lights and everything of the latest design. There are not many of the boats still "running passengers", but there are showboats, excursion boats, and an ever increasing number of freight boats. Moreover, this type of boat is built and shipped to many parts of the world where similar river conditions obtain. Incidentally, the term "stateroom" originated with these boats. Each room had the name of a state on the door and was therefore called a stateroom. The Texas had no state's name and was the officers' and pilots' quarters. Texas, the Lone Star State, was at the time the name originated an appendage to the United States as the officers' cabins were an appendage or addition to the steamboats. It may have been for this or similar reason the name Texas was used for the officers' quarters. Little provision was made on old river boats for small row boats. The Buckeye State had crude boats so-called "Ohio skiff" built from four boards with practically no framing. They were used in the fast river-packet days for soundings (finding the depth of the water). They could be pulled onto the machinery decks by the deck hands and launched from the guards almost instantly. The sounding boat was manned by four rowers in the seventies and later by a crew of 3 and a pilot's cub. It was said these boats drew about as much water as a mallard duck.
39	Tramp Freighter A model of a tramp steamer. A large freight boat that had no regular port. She just unloaded a cargo in a certain port and loaded up again to deliver at another. That is how these tramp steamers were called tramps. They just cruised from one port to another whenever they could contract to load and deliver cargo.
40	U.S.S. Constitution
41	U.S.S. Constitution
42	U.S.S. Constitution
43	U.S.S. Constitution
44	U.S.S. Constitution
45	U.S.S. Constitution
46	U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) Who is there with a liking for things of the sea and a desire for beautiful decorations in his home who would not take delight in owning a model of Old Ironsides, the most famous ship that ever carried the Stars and Stripes. This model represents the famous frigate substantially as she appeared during the War of 1812. In her is embodied the spirit of the American Navy. Every school child learns her history and knows the story of her valiant battles. She not only played a monumental part in the early wars of the republic, but she has figured gloriously in fiction, poetry and the movies. In the spring of 1927 she was the center of intense national interest because of a campaign conducted for funds for her restoration at the Boston (Charleston) Navy Yard. As the history of the Constitution is to be found in many books and numberless articles, it will be sufficient here to say that her keel was laid down by Joshua Humphries of Philadelphia. She was built after the best French practice on the lines of a battleship, but with one deck less, making her a frigate. She was commissioned in 1798, one of the first three up-to-date warships to be built for the young republic. She saw service in the French wars, dictated peace to four of the Barbary corsair states and won a succession of victories in the War of 1812. She was in active commission for 84 years. In 1882 she was made a receiving ship at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She was towed to Boston in 1897. In 1906-1907 she received her third reconditioning. Her principle dimensions are: length overall (hull) of 204 feet, beam 43.5 feet, depth of hold 14.6 feet, displacement 2200 tons. Her speed was up to about 12.5 knots and her crew up to 500 men. The model represents her about as she was in the War of 1812. The plans were adapted and simplified from government blueprints. The scale used is 1/10 of an inch to one foot. This model is 18 inches on the load water line and 31 inches long from the end of the flying jib boom to the end of the spanker boom, and 24 inches high from keel to main truck. The Constitution was affectionately called Old Ironsides because she was so toughly built and that she always withstood the onslaughts of her enemy's cannon balls and was never beaten. No wonder she remains with us after about 175 years, a glorious monument to the might of the sea power of the United States. The Constitution in 1812 carried 30 long 24 pounders on the gun deck, 22 cannonades of 32 pounds, 2 long 24 pounders, and one long 18 pounder on the frigate (top) deck. The building of the Constitution commenced actually in 1794, and Congress dilly-dallied with payments, and it was only due to the increased activities of the Barbary pirates that she was finally finished and commissioned in 1798. Her first cruise under Captain Samuel Nicholson accomplished nothing and her fame did not start until Commodore Edward Preble took her out in 1803. Her subsequent actions finally ended the war with Tripoli, and it was in her cabin that the treaty was drawn up and signed in 1807. She returned home and was dismantled in the New York Navy Yard where she was laid up until 1810 when Captain Isaac Hull, her former First Luff (Lieutenant Commander), took her out. Then began her real fame in the War of 1812 under Hull, Bainbridge, and Stewart. She made history and was laid up at the end of the hostilities in 1815. During the following years she was active and inactive as naval needs dictated until she was relegated to the bottom of the Navy lists as a receiving ship, a housed-over hulk with stub masts. On the centennial anniversary of her building she was towed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Boston and laid up at the Navy Yard for extensive repairs. In 1927 she was saved from scrapping and was rebuilt and fitted to conform to her 1812 period. Afterwards she toured both coasts of the United States though regretfully not under sail, and will always prove an inspiration for upholding the statutes for which she is named. Restored by authority of Congress and the pennies of the children of the nation , the U.S.S. Constitution has become a sacred shrine of our Navy and our country. At rest now in the place of her birth, she preserves the memories of the dramas enacted upon her decks and lives on as a tradition of the U.S. Navy at Boston Navy Yard.
47	U.S.S. Essex After the American Revolution the American Navy was allowed to dwindle in strength almost as a matter of course, while our overseas commerce expanded rapidly in extent and volume. Without protection, this commerce was subject to molestation by the Arab powers in the Mediterranean, British impressment of seamen, and petty piracy of other European nations. To protect our ships a number of frigates were built by popular subscription, including Essex by the citizens of Essex County, Massachusetts. She was a 32 gun frigate, length 146 feet, beam 37 feet, depth of hold 13 feet, launched Salem, Massachusetts, September 30, 1799. Her fascinating history with the account of her lone wolf raid into the South American whaling areas during the War of 1812 is told in detail by F.B. Robotti in the Nautical Research Journal. During my training as an apprentice seaman in the U.S. Navy, December 1898 to April 1904, in May 1899 I was stationed on the training ship U.S.S. Essex. She had been recently remodeled as a trainer. We were taught to climb the rigging and make and furl sail, gunnery, signaling. We made a 9 month European cruise. Our first trip from Newport, Rhode Island, to Queenstown, Ireland, took 23 days. We lay in a calm with no wind at all for 3 days with all sails flat. It was a delightful cruise. We visited all the countries in Europe and experienced shore leave in every port wherever we dropped anchor for fresh water and provisions.
48	U.S.S. Lexington
49	U.S.S. Lexington
50	U.S.S. Preston These destroyers are remarkably good looking. They have a sleek ferocity that is fascinating. Their job is not to stand up and be hammered, but to hit and run, to use cunning to get in their deadly blow and vanish. In their uniform grey color there is nothing to distract from the lean silhouette. To see them at full speed with a bow wave as high as the bridge, or sliding along the side of a sea looking as if they never would come upright again is enthralling. But, don't go aboard unless you want an attack of sea-sickness. The construction department of the U.S. Navy was kind enough to furnish the building plans of the U.S.S. Preston (D.D. 327). The Preston was named for Lieutenant Samuel W. Preston who was born in Canada and died in battle while leading his men in the attack of Fort Fisher in 1865. She originally cost $1,000,000. Although the lines are of this particular ship, the differences between her and others of her class are so light that on a model they would be negligible. They were four stackers but the later ones today are two stackers. The overall length of the Preston is 314 ft., 4.5". Breadth is 31 ft. Depth amidships 20 ft. 8 ins. Displacement at water line 1,204 tons. The scale used to build this model is 1/10 inch equals 1 ft. This gives us a model 31.5 in. long, a convenient length for an exhibition model. The destroyer is equipped with 4 torpedo tubes and at the stern are two tracks projecting over the stern for the dropping of depth charges. Also, 4 four-inch rapid-fire guns and on the after deck one 3 inch anti-aircraft gun.