MV 45

English merchant brig
(Sc. 1:64 L. 695 mm. H. 550 mm.)

Built in 1796, the English Brig “Portsmouth” was a typical example of a commercial unit adapted for private ring activity and legalized it with the so-called “mark-letters” or “reprisal-letters” granted to anyone who was able, privately, to arm a vessel and to recruit a crew.