Genealogy of the Bryan and Martin Families
Alexander Martin Model Ship Gallery
Alex Martin (1883-1960) joined the United States Navy in 1899 at the age of 16 and served until his 21st birthday in 1904. Around 1931 he began building model ships, most of them entirely "from scratch", although he did purchase plans and some of the smaller parts, such as anchors, life boats, etc. He sometimes pilfered the gold chains from his wife's and daughters' jewelry to use as anchor chains, eyelets from shoes became portholes, and seeds from a plant in his yard were used to make ventilators. Alex entered his ships in several hobby shows in Dayton, Ohio, winning "Best of Show" in 1959. He had exhibited at the 1960 hobby show just a few weeks before his death. This album is a collection of newspaper articles about and photographs of the models he built. Most of them are no longer in the extended family, although a few still exist in the homes of his descendants. He gave away many of his models to his friends and acquaintances, and one even ended up in the White House when he sent it to Franklin D. Roosevelt as a present. I remember several ships for which there are no photographs, including the U.S.S. Hartford, one of his largest models at a little over 3' long, and a slave ship. This virtual album is the closest thing we have to a complete record of his work. Follow this link to read his memoirs, Hedunit: The Memoirs of an Ex-Blue Jacket. The descriptions of some of the ships in this gallery were written by Alex and included in a notebook he kept containing photographs of each model. The notes appear to be for a slideshow that he presented to various audiences.Matches 1 to 58 of 58 » Descriptive View » Slide Show
| Linked to | Alexander Arthur Martin |