This is the Barbara, my first scratch-built model. Lots of mistakes, but I learned a lot. She was but one of thousands and thousands of packet ships that sailed the Atlantic in the 19th century. I modeled her because she delivered my great-great-grandparents from Galway to New York in May of 1848 after a crossing of 32 days. She was built in 1845 in Halifax for the dual purpose of transporting cargo (mostly to and from Cronstadt [Petersburg]) and Irish famine victims to New York, Philadelphia and New Orleans. She ended her days on the Pacific side of Panama transporting miners North to the gold rush in California.



















