Ø A MID-19TH CENTURY MARINE SYMPIESOMETER BY GRAHAM, WAPPING & LIVERPOOL, OWNED BY WALTER GOODSALL, NAVIGATION OFFICER ABOARD THE S.S. GREAT EASTERN CIRCA 1865

the ivory plates signed as per title and enclosed behind bevelled glass and mounted in carved mahogany case, the front with silvered compartment containing thermometer, barometer etc., inscribed IMPROVED SYMPIESOMETER, lacquered brass weight mounted within gimballed rings with plate for wall mounting -- 38in. (96.5cm.) high

Provenance: Walter Goodsall to Captain Inch via auction.

Walter Goodsall, Master Mariner (1848-c.1900) went to sea as an apprentice on the Rajah of Cochin in 1863 and, in 1867, joined the Bombay Shipping Company as a Second Mate. His submarine telegraph career began when he was made Third Officer on the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company's cable laying ship Kangaroo in 1871, laying a cable from Singapore to Hong Kong, and as Second officer on that company's cable laying ship Vanessa he participated in the laying of the duplicate Placentia-St.Pierre-Sydney cable between 1872-73. Late in 1873 he was Third Navigating Officer aboard the Great Eastern, working on the cable from Valentia-Newfoundland. He went on to command other cable ships, including the Chiltern when it was deployed in the Red Sea between 1883-84. His papers are divided between Greenwich and the Public Records Office, Kew.