I recently found an excellent image library at the London Science Museum, with tons of images of ships, and some very good contemporary images of British board models. The most impressive are the paintings commissioned by George III in the late 1770s of board models, each model painted twice, bow and stern, including Intrepid, the Royal George and several others. They are painted as standing on tables, and as models with open lower hulls and in full color. There are also photos of original board models including the Prince of 1670, as well as diagrams and drawings from a wide variety of sources - even a firefighting book showing the burnt remains of a ship which caught fire in 1690! The link follows - be sure to click on "Advanced search" then type in "ship" and choose the "1550-1780 Merchantile Age" date and you will see it all. The link is
http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/