Existing comment:
Whittling away the Time:
Not surprisingly, the French prisoners-of-war made countless ship models. These range in size from impossibly tiny gems to large and imposing models more than four feet long. Many of those in between were perfectly suited for display on a mantlepiece.
The Naval Academy collection contains examples of nearly every size and style of ship model produced by the ingenious French prisoners. Twenty were part of the Rogers bequest of 1936; another fifteen are gifts from various other donors.
[Dartmoor Prison] was opened in 1809 as the first prison in England built specifically to house prisoners-of-war. It took three years to build, and at its peak in 1812 it held 9,000 prisoners. In 1813 and 1814, it became the sole prison in England designed to hold Americans captured in the War of 1812.
Rather than being confined in prison or worse, sent to a floating prison hulk, captured French officers who pledged their word (in French, "parole") not to try to escape were permitted to reside in specific Parole Towns. There they lodged in houses or cottages and were free to wander about, so long as they remained within one mile of the town's borders. Some of the finest ship models were presumably made under these relatively relaxed conditions. |