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Lot 104
A RARE PRESENTATION SALVER COMMEMORATING THE LAUNCH OF H.M.S. CAPTAIN, 1743 engraved with the Royal coat-of-arms, and inscribed At Ye Launching of His Majesty's Ship The Captain, A Third Rate of 70 Guns, 1230 tuns, the 14 of April 1743. Built by Mr John Holland at Woolwich, the reverse with London hallmarks for 1742 -- 7¼in. (18.5cm.) wide; 240g Provenance - A tankard with identical engraving made by Thomas Farren is held within the national collection at Greenwich, Object ID No. PLT0208.Footnote: Captain was one of twelve Third Rates of 70 guns built to the 1733 Establishment. With Britain being simultaneously drawn into the Wars of Austrian Succession and Jenkins' Ear, ships were in pressing need and she was commissioned immediately at a fitted cost of £26, 065.11.8d. She had several commanders in quick succession, but her first was John Byng (executed 1757). Capt. Legge took command in 1744 and as part of Norris's Channel Squadron captured the privateers Le Faucon and Le Grand Turk 1744-5 as well as sparring with larger warships. Serving mainly off Biscay and Finisterre, after a refit she had a long spell in American and Canadian waters where she captured the supply ship Le Foudroyant. By 1774 she was showing her age and was converted to a 30-gun storeship and renamed Buffalo. However, she had a belated flourish to her career and was raised to 50-guns and established as a 4th Rate for service as flagship in the Downs. Coppered in 1780 for use as guard ship at Portsmouth, she took part at the Battle of Dogger Bank a year later, and was also at Howe’s Relief of Gibraltar in 1782. Worn out, she was paid off and broken up at Woolwich in 1783, forty years after she was launched there.
Lot 169
A SILVER SEA-GOING HOT WATER POT FROM THE SERVICE OF ADMIRAL SIR ROBERT TRISTRAM RICKETTS BT each side engraved with his coat-of-arms surmounted with a naval crown, gadroon border and wooden handle, with London hallmarks for 1820/21 -- 8¼in. (21.5cm.); 518gFootnote: Robert Tristram Ricketts (1772-1842) was made a post-captain Oct. 9, 1801, and subsequently commanded the First Rates Ville de Paris, San Josef, and Hibernia, bearing the flags of the Hon. Admiral Cornwallis, Sir Charles Cotton, and Earl St. Vincent. In 1813 he was appointed to the Vengeur (74); and at the close of the following year was conveying Major-General Lambert, and a reinforcement of troops to the army before New Orleans. In February 1815, he commanded the detachment of seamen landed at Mobile to assist in the reduction of Fort Boyer; and Sir Alexander Cochrane, in his official letter on that subject, acknowledges himself indebted to Captain Ricketts for his zeal and exertions in landing and transporting the cannon and supplies, by which the fort was so speedily reduced.
Lot 204
AN HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT EIGHT SPOKE SHIP'S HELM FROM H.M.S. STORK, 1936 constructed in teak with brass hub signed Brown Bros & Co. Ltd, Rosebank Ironworks, Edinburgh, polished brass rim binding engraved H.M.S. STORK, 1936 / NORWAY1940 / NORTH SEA 1940 / ATLANTIC 1940-44 / NORTH AFRICA 1942 / NORMANDY 1944 -- 43in. (109cm.) diam.Footnote: Despite being designed and built as a peacetime survey vessel, H.M.S. Stork subsequently earned her place in naval history as the first command of arguably the most successful submarine hunter of the Second World War, the legendary Captain F.J. “Johnnie” Walker, C.B., D.S.O (1896-1944) and three bars. Launched from Denny’s yard at Dumbarton on 21st April 1936 and completed for sea on 10th September the same year, Stork was registered at 1,190 tons and measured 266 feet in length with a 37ft beam. However, when she was barely two years old and due to the deteriorating political situation across Europe, she was taken out of the Surveying Service and rearmed as an escort vessel capable of providing effective anti-submarine and anti-aircraft cover for trade protection. First in action during the protracted and ultimately disastrous Norway Operations (8th April – 8th June 1940), her more memorable career began in October 1941 when Captain Walker was appointed to her command. In addition to Stork herself, Walker was given command of the 36th Escort Group which consisted of another sloop (as consort to Stork) and six corvettes, based in Liverpool and initially intended as convoy escorts to and from Gibraltar. Thanks to Walker’s inter-War specialization in anti-submarine warfare, he was very anxious to put some of his own innovative ideas into practice and his first opportunity came that December when 36 Group was ordered to join forces with other units and escort home the large 32-ship Convoy HG76. During the journey, five U-boats were sunk and whilst this was a magnificent achievement in itself, the success was principally due to Walker’s group which sank four of them, including U-574 which was depth-charged, rammed and sunk by Stork herself on 19th December. For his services in what has been described as the “first true Allied convoy victory in the Battle of the Atlantic”, Walker received the D.S.O. in January 1942. During the ensuing six months or so, Walker’s group sank another three U-boats and brought the man himself the first bar to his D.S.O. that July. Soon afterwards, Walker was given a shore posting but returned to sea in 1943 and continued his meteoric rise to fame as the War’s most celebrated submarine hunter. As for Stork, she maintained her challenging role and, just days after participating in Operation “Torch” (the Allied landings in French North Africa), she was damaged by a torpedo attack from U-77 on 12th November (1942). Back at sea after repairs, in August 1943, when in company with the corvette Stonecrop, she sank U-634 in the North Atlantic and also rendered valuable service on D-Day, 6th June 1944. Surviving the War despite its many dangers, she was employed on Fishing Protection duties for two years and thereafter was laid up until finally scrapped at Troon in June 1958.
Lot 29
A FINELY CARVED COCONUT BUGBEAR FLASK, FIRST QUARTER 19TH CENTURY with finely worked depiction of the Légion d'Honneur medal and inscribed Honneur et Patrie and flanked by laurels, badges of military instruments to reverse, one end carved with face, glass eyes and brass stopper mouth -- 5in. (12.5cm.) highCondition report: Fine overall condition, chain probably replaced.
Lot 193
ERNEST WILLIAM LARA (BRITISH, 1870-1940) H.M.S. 'Birmingham' Sinking 'U-15' in the North Sea, 1914 Signed 'E. Lara' (lower left) Oil on canvas 15½ x 23½in. (39.5 x 59.5cm.)Footnote: This picture depicts the first sinking of a u-boat in World War One on the 9th August 1914 -- just five days after War had been declared. Birmingham sighted U-15 (Kapitanleutnant R. Pohle) lying on the surface in thick fog off Fair Isle. The engines were stopped and the sounds of hammering from within indicated some maintenance was in progress. Birmingham's Captain, Arthur Duff, ordered her to open fire but she missed, however, as the submarine prepared to depart, Birmingham altered course and rammed her opponent at full speed cutting her in two with the loss of all 23 officers and crew. Birmingham was a new four-funnelled light cruiser (launched in January 1914) which went on to serve at the Battles of Heligoland, Dogger Bank and Jutland.Condition report: L-shaped tear, 2 x 5in. to sky above principle vessel. Unlined.
Lot 243
A MODEL 134M RUSSIAN AIR FORCE TWO-DAY CHRONOMETER BY THE FIRST MOSCOW WATCH FACTORY, CIRCA 1950 the 3½in. silvered dial signed in Cyrillic as per title and numbered 722, gold hands with blued secondaries, striped gilt brass plates counter-stamped and numbered, Earnshaw escapement with Guillaume balance with silvered helical spring and jewelled detent, contained within a sprung and pivoted brass bowl with electrical contacts and stabilising arm, in light wood three-tier case with locking arm, tipsy key, bevelled glass viewing port with rubber stabilising ring under and test label pasted inside lid (electrical components removed) -- 7½in. (19cm.) square; together with a timer from a MiG jet, with black dial divided for 12-hr and 30-hr dials and stop/start sweep seconds, numbered in Cyrillic 56534Condition report: Both chronometer and timer running at time of cataloguing.
Lot 125
A pair of re-discovered portrait sketches of Lord Nelson & Lady Hamilton, drawn at Merton, 1802 JOHN DOWNMAN, A.R.A. (BRITISH, 1750-1824) Bust-length portraits of Lord Nelson in uniform; and Lady Emma Hamilton wearing a turban Pencil heightened with white Nelson monogrammed and dated 'JD 1802' (mid-left) with indistinct inscription under possibly reading '[M]erton [1]802' 6 x 4¾in. (15 x 12cm.), contained within early 19th century sailorwork giltwood frames carved in relief with polychrome laurel leaves and inscribed on ebonised shield-shaped plaques Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton respectively (2, a pair) Provenance: Isabella Benjamin (Downman's only child), believed sold from albums bequeathed to her in 1825 to Admiral W.H. Smyth (1788-1865), his armorial bookplate pasted to reverse of 'Lady Hamilton' and remnant behind 'Lord Nelson'; sold to collector Henry Vaughan (1809-1899), his mss label pasted under bookplate; Private Collection, UK. and thence by descent. Exhibited: Preparatory sketches for works exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1809, No.324 ('Portraits of a naval Commander and a lady of quality'). Literature: Walker, R: The Nelson Portraits, Royal Naval Museum, 1998, p.147 where a worked up chalk drawing of this sketch may be seen.Footnote: John Downman studied under Benjamin West at the Royal Academy before travelling to Italy in 1773 where he may have met Sir William Hamilton. On his return to London he made his reputation as a prolific society portraitist, preferring chalks and pencil as his media. He seems to have visited Merton in 1802 where these unpublished sketches were draughted and subsequently added to his albums - probably series IV volume 5. Downman's method of working was to work up several images from a quick sketch, so the lot offered is quite different to the more 'Byronic' end result viewed in Walker's 'Nelson Portraits' and as such perhaps a more honest and natural image; Emma too is softer and more natural, depicted in a fashionable turban headdress and wearing a pearl necklace. Downman's daughter and only child Isabella inherited his albums at his death. There were four series of these, each containing four to eight volumes, and each volume up to thirty-five drawings of 'Distinguished Persons'. These albums are mainly divided between the British Museum and Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (where Downman maintained a studio in the 1770s), however, several volumes were sold and their contents dispersed, including Series IV Vol V which contained watercolour and chalk bust-length portraits inscribed Horatio Nelson, 1802 / Admiral Lord Nelson of the Nile, / who conquered foes with wondrous spoil so these drawings may have been removed from the first series of volumes which were sold and dispersed by Isabella Benjamin in 1825. They were a natural purchase for Admiral Smyth and it seems likely it was he who added the ornate but naive frames, probably carved by a sailor. Highly active in London's cultural firmament, he was a member of the Society of Antiquaries, Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society where he is thought to have met Henry Vaughan. Vaughan was a wealthy heir and eclectic art collector/patron who created a large body of works from Turner (whom he knew); Flaxman; Lawrence and Stothard. When he died, these, along with five more by Michaelangelo and Constable's Hay Wain, were bequeathed to the British Museum, National Gallery, Tate, V&A, and the National Galleries of Scotland and Ireland.Condition report: Nelson: Time stained; diagonal crack from side to side passing through eyebrow and ear; Emma: Time stained.
Lot 130
THE GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE, 1794 four contemporary issues of the London Chronicle spanning 3rd-24th June, covering fleet details, reports, letters on the action, Earl Howe’s report and letter, French report and comment, contained in full copies with tax stamps (4)Footnote: The Glorious First of June, (also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant) of 1794 was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. The British Channel Fleet under Admiral Lord Howe attempted to prevent the passage of a vital French grain convoy from the United States, which was protected by the French Atlantic Fleet, commanded by Rear-Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse. The two forces clashed in the Atlantic Ocean, some 400 nautical miles (700 km) west of the French island of Ushant on 1 June 1794.
Lot 157
AN EARLY VICTORIAN ARM CHAIR MADE FROM THE TIMBER OF H.M.S. TEMERAIRE the back with scroll cresting inscribed ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN TO DO HIS DUTY OCT 21 1805 TEMERAIRE TRAFALGAR, with leather padded scroll arm supports and seat on bulbous legs -- 47½in. (120.5cm.) highFootnote: When Temeraire was designated for scrapping in 1838, she was purchased by John Beatson and sent to his Rotherhithe yard for breaking. Beatson well understood the significance of the timber he was handling and sold quantities of it for use in furniture and buildings as well as decorative objects. Named after the first Temeraire which had been captured from the French in 1759, the second and far more famous Temeraire in the Royal Navy was the vessel laid down at Chatham and launched on 11th September 1798. A large second rate mounting 98-guns, she spent her first three years as flagship to the Channel Fleet and, after a spell blockading the French coast, then found herself directly behind Victory in Lord Nelson's 'weather column' at Trafalgar where she fought magnificently. Heavily engaged from all sides but eventually capturing the 80-gun Fougueux, she survived the battle but was so severely damaged that she was deemed unfit for further service at sea. Thereafter employed as a prison ship and later a receiving ship at both Devonport as well as Sheerness, she was finally sold for breaking in 1838 and, whilst under tow to Rotherhithe, found immortality when she inspired J.M.W. Turner to paint one of his most celebrated works, The Fighting Temeraire.
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