Among the unexpected holdings of the Carnegie Art Museum in downtown Oxnard is a collection of miniature ship models carved from bone — the work of French prisoners of war held in England during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century. The models are works of remarkable technical precision: fully rigged with thread made from hair, blocks and pulleys made from bone, hulls built plank by plank.
The prisoners had no tools except what they could fashion themselves, and no material except the bones left from their rations. What resulted was both a means of passing time and a modest trade — the models were sold to English visitors and have since dispersed to collections around the world. The Oxnard examples are among the finer pieces in American collections.