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BRITAIN on the HIGH SEAS from Nelson to Churchill

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BRITAIN ON THE HIGH SEAS from Nelson to Churchill CHARLES WALLROCK Curated by Martyn Downer 2 Foreword Timeline and Table of Contents The history of an island is defined by the sea and for 1758 29th September: Birth of Horatio Nelson a nation like Britain it has shaped its people, and their 4 4 1768 Presentation silver salver to the shipwright of art. For centuries, the Royal Navy has been at the Captain Cook’s Endeavour heart of that story, inspiring painters and creating an 6 6 1785 Admiral Lord Bridport’s seagoing silver extraordinary legacy of relics, artefacts, weapons and service precious objects. With impressive scope, this catalogue 8 8 Captain Coghlan’s duelling pistols offers a glimpse of the many maritime treasures still available to collectors. Inevitably, the richest seam is 1010 1795 Trinity House silver presentation cup and presented by the Georgian era when the Royal Navy cover reached its apogee of influence in the nation’s life. The 1797 14th February: Battle of Cape St Vincent wooden world of Nelson’s navy was a microcosm of the eighteenth-century society - with its elegant manners 1212 The works of Horace from Horatio Nelson’s library of living - which produced it. In such a culture, Nelson could dine in his cabin on the beautiful porcelain and 1797 11th October: Battle of Camperdown silver shown here before stepping out into the horrific 1414 Camperdown by Charles Dixon R.A. maelstrom of naval battle. From jewels to furniture, books to musical instruments - remarkably, many 1798 1st August: Battle of the Nile owned by Nelson himself, or by his close associates 1616 An oak water keg taken from San Josef - this collection propels us back to those distant seas 1717 Italian watercolour of the Battle of the Nile once populated by remarkable and resilient men. Two 1818 HMS Zealous: Plan of the Battle of the Nile centuries on, their possessions provide vivid physical contact with those lives. This is the real world which the 2020 Master Thomas Atkinson’s captured copy of Table des fictional Jack Aubrey roamed within, brought vigorously Logarithmes forward to our own day. 2222 Portrait bust of Admiral Lord Nelson, after Anne Seymour Damer If Britain’s greatest naval hero towers over the collection, it is bookended by that greatest of Britons: Sir Winston 2424 Captain Sir Andrew Snape Hammond’s Navy Office Churchill, included here as First Lord of the Admiralty document box during both world wars. Gazing into the pugnaciously 2525 A Napoleonic French prisoner of war model of a familiar features of Churchill’s bronze mask brings us Nile prize literally face to face with the great man, replicating, as 2626 Admiral Lord Nelson’s Birthday Service only art can, the thrilling experience of meeting him 2929 An Emblematical Drawing of Large Proportions by in person. More so than paintings, objects, with their Baron de Fages Vaumale lingering touch of former owners, have this transporting 3030 Watercolours by Chaplain Cooper Willyams effect, of conveying us into the past. So, enjoy the ride 32 offered by the many treasures in this catalogue and, if 32 Presentation drawing of Admiral Lord Nelson’s Chelengk you dare, become part of their story yourself. 3434 1800 A pair of Carys’ 12-inch floor globes 3636 A marble head of Admiral Lord Nelson, after Thaler Martyn Downer and Ranson Author of Nelson’s Purse and Nelson’s Lost Jewel: The 3737 Admiral Lord Nelson’s portrait intaglio seal, after Extraordinary Story of the Lost Diamond Chelengk Simon de Koster 3 1801 2nd April: Battle of Copenhagen 7676 A Nelson armorial mirror 3838 Admiral Hamond’s cabin mirrors from the Battle of 7878 1806 Admiral Bingham’s naval cabinet from HMS Copenhagen, Sceptre 3939 Admiral Viscount Nelson’s wine glass for the Battle 8080 1815 A pair of Carys’ 21-inch globes of Copenhagen 8282 Admiral Viscount Exmouth’s naval presentation 4040 Midshipman Proctor’s presentation sword for valour sabre at the Battle of Copenhagen 8484 A Nelson commemorative pier glass 4242 Admiral Viscount Nelson’s seagoing silver dishes 8686 1823 Lieutenant Rabett’s seagoing flute 4444 Admiral Duckworth’s silver salver and tray 8888 1828 The Southampton ladies’ Royal Yacht 47 47 Valentine Munden’s prize silver salver Squadron regatta cup 48 48 Commander Arthur Farquhar’s £100 Patriotic Fund 9090 The Royal Solent Yacht Club cannon sword 9292 An HMS Victory souvenir oak trinket box 5252 Captain Rotheram’s ‘Duck’s Foot’ pistol 9393 1860 Captain Murray-McGregor’s sennit hat gold 1805 21st October: Battle of Trafalgar vinaigrette locket 94 5454 The Death of Nelson by Samuel Drummond 94 ‘The Death of Nelson’ memorial mantelpiece clock 5757 Silver salver of a hero of Trafalgar: Captain Pryce 9696 The Leather family cannon Cumby 9898 A large model of an Italian Clipper 5858 An oak beam end chock from HMS Victory 100100 1883 A boardroom model of the Knight of St 6060 Midshipman William Herringham’s gold Trafalgar Michael watch 102102 1899 A boardroom model of the PS Tantallon Castle 6262 Purser Wardlaw’s shaving mirror 104104 1912 A boardroom model of TSS Dublin, 6363 Spanish treasure casket captured by HMS Minotaur 106106 A mahogany long case ‘tide’ clock, attributed to at Trafalgar Gillows 6464 Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy’s silhouette 108108 1909 Britannia by Charles Dixon R.A. for King by John Field George V 65 65 Admiral Viscount Duncan’s portrait cameo by James 110110 A Hunt class destroyer in Valetta Harbour by Tassie Montague Dawson 6666 The Nelson medallion by Wedgwood 112112 1989 Admiral Earl Mountbatten of Burma, a bronze 6767 Admiral Viscount Nelson’s portrait cameo pendant by Greta Berlin. by William Tassie 114114 Sir Winston Spencer-Churchill, a bronze by Clare 6868 A papier mâché model of ‘The Lobster and the Crab’ Sheridan 7070 A ‘Jolly Boat’ decanter stand end papers An Emblematical Drawing of Large 7171 A pair of Davenport memorial coolers Proportions by Baron de Fages Vaumale 7272 A gold and enamel ring of Hope with her anchor (p.29) 7373 An Admiral Viscount Nelson gold and enamel front cover Admiral Lord Nelson after Anne memorial ring Seymour Damer (p.22) 7474 Reverse glass paintings commemorating the death of back cover Sir Winston Spencer-Churchill, a bronze Nelson by Clare Sheridan (p.114) 4 Presentation silver to the Master Shipwright of Captain Cook’s Endeavour Diameter: 10 ¼ in (26cm) A George III shaped circular silver salver, plain within as Magnificent, Albion, Superb, Dragon and in 1768, as a shell and scrolling wave border and outer gadrooned detailed on this small salver, HMS Egmont which saw edge, engraved with the royal coat of arms, crest and action at the 1797 Battle of Cape St Vincent. Launched a motto (period 1714-1800) of King George III and, on the year earlier at a cost of £6,500, Otter was a Slade designed reverse with a presentation inscription: For the Launching 14-gun sloop of war which, during service in North of His Majestys sloop ‘Otter’ 14 Gunns 305 Tonns 26 October America, was wrecked off Florida in 1778. 1767 & His Majestys ship ‘Egmont’ 74 Gunns 1643 Tonns Hayes, however, is best known for selecting and re-fitting 29 August 1768 by Mr Adam Hayes Master Shipwright of the merchant collier Earl of Pembroke as a Royal Navy further monogrammed his Majestys yard at Deptford; A*H bark for a scientific mission to the Pacific Ocean under Hallmarked for Benjamin Cartwright, London, P A*M. the command of Captain James Cook. No doubt Hayes’s 1769 seafaring experience with Anson selected him for this Adam Hayes (1710-1785) began his career as ship’s high-profile task. At a cost of £2,200, he sheathed and carpenter in Centurion during Commodore Anson’s caulked Pembroke’s leaky hull, installing an additional famous voyage around the world in 1740-44 when he internal deck to provide living quarters for Cook and the saw action and shared in the capture of the Spanish scientific members of the Royal Society assigned to the treasure galleon Nuestra Señora de Covadonga. In 1746, voyage. Hayes’s original plan for the converted ship is at under Anson’s patronage, Hayes was appointed master the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (ZAZ6587). shipwright at Gibraltar before working under the eminent Commissioned into the Royal Navy as Endeavour, the ship naval architect Thomas Slade - designer of HMS Victory left Deptford on 30 July 1768, just a few weeks before the - at Plymouth, Sheerness, Woolwich and Chatham. launch of Egmont. On 29 April 1770, Endeavour became Appointed master shipwright to Deptford in 1755, Hayes the first European vessel to make landfall on the east coast specialised in building 74-gun third-rate warships such of Australia. 6 Twelve dinner plates from Admiral Lord Bridport’s seagoing silver service, 1785-7 Diameter: approx. 9 ¾ in (25cm); Total weight: approx. 200 oz. troy / 6200grams Each of these twelve George III circular silver dinner position he was soon thrust into the Spithead Mutiny plates, by Andrew Fogelberg & Stephen Gilbert, London when he adopted a sympathetic approach to the seamen’s 1785-7, has a shaped and gadrooned rim. Seven plates grievances, earning their gratitude and respect. Until are dated 1785 with incuse duty marks and five plates are April 1800 Bridport maintained the blockade of Brest dated 1787. The set was later engraved, between 1794 and with never less than 28 warships, a highly complex and 1800, with the heraldic family crest of Hood for Admiral stressful task which, now in his seventies and after nearly Alexander Hood, first Baron Bridport K.B., later Viscount sixty years of service, took a heavy toll on his health.
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