Bids with bells on
Artefacts from the high seas are a source of endless fascination for our island nation. John Vincent reports on the craze for nautical souvenirs.
It’s not surprising that collecting maritime memorabilia is so popular, given that Britain is an island nation which used sea power to help establish the biggest empire the world has ever seen. A treasure trove of artefacts at the latest sale of specialist auctioneer Charles Miller Ltd included paintings, sailors’ wool and beadwork pictures, flags, figureheads, bells, models, uniforms, ships’ instruments and equipment, plus a multitude of individual relics ranging from a ticket to Lord Nelson’s funeral to a Jolly Roger flown by a Second World War submarine.
Attracting particular attention was an unofficial circular brass screen from the second Ark Royal to bear the name, which saw service in the First World War as the world’s first aircraft carrier. The huge brass relic was found propped up against the gate in the Steptoe-like yard of a retired general dealer in Brighton during a clearout and was so heavy that the eponymous Charles Miller joked he was surprised it didn’t sink the ship. The historic souvenir, depicting the first Ark Royal, a 16th century galleon which served as flagship at the defeat of the Spanish Armada, fetched £1,850.
A rare Jolly Roger (more on its origins later), flown by Royal Navy submarines after a successful “kill”, surfaced to make £10,980. The frayed flag, flown by the sub Tantalus and kept by a crewman, bears four horizontal bars to indicate it sank four ships with torpedoes and eight stars, surrounding crossed cannon, representing the number it sank with gunfire.
Anything connected with Lord
Nelson always attracts attention and an unrecorded portrait miniature of the naval hero by Albin Roberts Burt, rare in that it was executed on silk, realised £17,080, while an unissued ticket for Nelson’s funeral procession from the Admiralty to St Paul’s made £671.
Other highlights included a unique album of contemporary watercolours of the frigate HMS Jason by ship’s carpenter Thomas Harris, bound in monkey skin (£3,660); a bronze section of quarterdeck from HMS St George, which ended the shortest war on record, 38 minutes, in the Zanzibar Sultanate in 1896 (£580); a white ensign believed to be first Allied flag raised on Sword Beach during the D-Day landings in 1944 (£13,420); a late 19th century figurehead of a young woman from a private steam yacht (£18,300); a rare Goodacre’s world time indicator which could be set to tell the time in 90 cities around the world (£4,600); and a bell from the Cunard liner RMS Lucania, 19th century holder of the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing (£6,100).
Back to the
Jolly Roger and the scary skull and crossbones emblem... it was (reputedly) the personal flag of Welsh pirate Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, nicknamed Le Joli Rouge by the French because he wore a red coat, and corrupted to Jolly Roger.
The straight-laced pirate banned drinking on board ship, insisted on early nights for the crew – and never attacked on a Sunday. He was killed in 1722, aged 40.