22nd Oct, 2008 12:00

Maritime and Scientific Models, Instruments & Art (Association)

 
  Lot 55
 

55

[M] AN EXCEPTIONAL WILLIAM IV SILVER-GILT MOUNTED...

AN EXCEPTIONAL WILLIAM IV SILVER-GILT MOUNTED TREEN TANKARD MADE OF WOOD RECOVERED FROM THE ROYAL GEORGE

the tapering plain body with silver bands engraved THIS JUG / MADE FROM THE WOOD OF HIS MAJESTYS SHIP / "ROYAL GEORGE" / SUNK 29TH AUGUST, 1782, finely carved handle backed with silver, hinged cover with finial, silver gilt liner with glass bottom, all components stamped for Charles Reily and George Storer, 1830-1

9in. (23cm.) high

Preparing to join Lord Howe's squadron in Gibraltar, Royal George was taking on stores and packed with visitors (including over three-hundred women and sixty children), when a request to effect a minor repair was granted and she was heeled over whilst casks of rum continued to be loaded. Her lower gun ports dipped below the waterline and she settled in a matter of seconds on the seabed. It is thought around nine hundred, including Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfeldt, lost their lives in what remains the Royal Navy's greatest peacetime disaster. The wreck defied all attempts to be raised and remained a major obstruction until she was finally blown up in the 1840's by divers whose pioneering efforts with external pumps had transformed diving techniques which would remain established for the next century. Huge quantities of timber were raised and many objects and items of furniture were made. The lot offered is one of the finest examples seen in recent years.



 
AN EXCEPTIONAL WILLIAM IV SILVER-GILT MOUNTED TREEN TANKARD MADE OF WOOD RECOVERED FROM THE ROYAL GEORGE

the tapering plain body with silver bands engraved THIS JUG / MADE FROM THE WOOD OF HIS MAJESTYS SHIP / "ROYAL GEORGE" / SUNK 29TH AUGUST, 1782, finely carved handle backed with silver, hinged cover with finial, silver gilt liner with glass bottom, all components stamped for Charles Reily and George Storer, 1830-1

9in. (23cm.) high

Preparing to join Lord Howe's squadron in Gibraltar, Royal George was taking on stores and packed with visitors (including over three-hundred women and sixty children), when a request to effect a minor repair was granted and she was heeled over whilst casks of rum continued to be loaded. Her lower gun ports dipped below the waterline and she settled in a matter of seconds on the seabed. It is thought around nine hundred, including Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfeldt, lost their lives in what remains the Royal Navy's greatest peacetime disaster. The wreck defied all attempts to be raised and remained a major obstruction until she was finally blown up in the 1840's by divers whose pioneering efforts with external pumps had transformed diving techniques which would remain established for the next century. Huge quantities of timber were raised and many objects and items of furniture were made. The lot offered is one of the finest examples seen in recent years.


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