Ship in a frame

Someone left a miniature ship in a glass frame inside the common room today. I cant help but take a photo of it. It says on the side, Astrolabe. I googled for it and it seems like an instrument used to determine the inclination or tilt. It is an appropriate label for the item inside the glass frame as a ship most definitely needs some sort of information about the tilt of the ship to avoid capsizing.

Me and my labmate, Tony, was wondering who put the miniature ship in the room :)