A Ship Made in Captivity

This remarkable miniature ship model, dating to around 1814, was likely made by prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). Said to represent a British man-of-war, it is an extraordinary example of skill and ingenuity under difficult circumstances.

According to a note preserved with the object, Captain Daniel Butler Nye purchased the model for $25 from French sailors held in an English prison. Tradition holds that it was crafted from the bones of the sailors’ meat rations—transforming the materials of daily survival into something intricate and enduring.

The model remained in the Nye family for generations and was later described in an 1850 Sandwich Observer account of a Christmas Fair, where it was “much admired.”

Both a work of craftsmanship and a product of war, this object carries a global story. Made in captivity in Europe and brought home to Sandwich, it connects this Cape Cod town to the wider world at a time of international conflict and exchange.