The Elizabethan galleon on the stamp is taken from the model in the Science Museum of the Elizabeth Jonas, of 1559, a vessel of 900 tons burthen, with a complement of 300 mariners, 50 gunners and 200 soldiers, the total of 550men making her one of the largest ships of Elizabeth's fleet. Her armament was three cannon, six demi-cannon, eight culverins, nine demi-culverins, nine sakers, one mynion, two falcons, one port-piece hail, two port-piece chambers, five fowler halls, and ten curtails making a total of 56 pieces of ordnance. In 1603 the number of men carried had been reduced to 500 and she was then one of the three largest ships in the fleet of James I. In 1618 she appears in the list of decayed and unserviceable ships. The Elizabeth Jonas was rebuilt in 1597-8.
Some details of the model itself may be of interest. It was made in the Science Museum workshops, to a scale of 1:48 and is based on the only ships' draughts of the 16th century known to exist in England, preserved in the Samuel Pepys' Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge.
The actual dimensions of the model are those of the Elizabeth Jonas rebuilt in 1597-8, her burthen then being 684 tons; length of keel 100 ft.; rake forward 36 ft.; rake aft 6 ft.; breadth 38 ft.; depth of hold 18 ft. Only water colours were used in the painting of the model, but these were set by means of French polish. The rigging is made of silk twist supplied by surgical instrument makers.
All of the blocks and deadeyes had to be made of pear-wood, for none commercially obtainable had either the shape of the period or the necessary finish. Carving on the Elizabethan galleons was restricted to the figurehead; lions and dragons were about equally common, which could lead to some confusion in identifying the ships.
SG779 Sea Breezes 3/69