UMVOTI

This ship is the same one commanded by Captain E. Armitage McCann, a Scotsman born in 1875, who was given command of the Umvoti in 1894, when he was only 19. E. A. McCann was largely responsible for the beginning of scale ship modeling in the U.S, publishing many articles in the magazine "Popular Science". His drawings were very well researched, and so intricate and complete that a model of the bark "Wanderer" took it's owner 23 years to complete. He was one of the early researchers on the "Santa Maria", and dismissed most models as being 100 years too late from a technical standpoint, and far too gaudy, for consideration as accurate models of the Santa Maria. He published his own plans of what he considered the most accurate version of the "Santa Maria" in Popular Science magazine. It shows a single deck ship, with a forecastle, but no enclosed aft castle or structure, as a primitive carrack of the 15th century. He co-founded the Ship Model Maker's Club in 1929. He also wrote several books on accurate ship modeling, including one that dealt completely with knot-tying for model ship rigging.