CURIOS OF THE SEA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 52, 29 January 1938, Page 15

CURIOS OF THE SEA

17TH CENTURY FIGUREHEAD. RARE RELICS OF THE BOUNTY. LONDON, Jan. 5. A show which is attracting much interest, not only among tho schoolboys for whom it was primarily arranged, but also among the general public, is a sea roamers’ exhibition, where a comprehensive collection of maritime relics and curios is on display. Pride of place is given to “Valhalla,” the hall of the dead, which is the name given to one of the finest maritime collections in the world by. its owner, Mr Silver-Cumbers, better known by the soubriquet, “Captain John Silver.”

According to Mr Silver-Cumbers, tho “star” of his collection is a fragment of the life-line of the Titanic, which was given by a member of tho crew to Captain Holl, and later to Captain Silver. Of very special interest, however, is the figurehead of the Golden Cherub, produced by the master carver, Grinling Gibbons, about 1662. This is believed to be the oldest merchant ship figurehead in the world.

Other fine figureheads in the collection are “The Bride,” so named in 1863 in honour of the wedding of Edward VII to Alexandra, and “Beda,” a magnificent figure taken from the ■wreck of the barque Bertha Marion, later called Beda. Many beautiful models are included in the collection, and Captain Silver has made a specialty of mounting them on glass resembling sea water, with a real sea bed some three inches below/'

A curio of special value is the watch

belonging to William Peckover, a gunner on H.M.S. Bounty at the time of the mutiny. It travelled with its owner in the open boat across the Pacific and was his only means of telling the time until June 2, 1788, when, as related in his log, it stopped. This watch, together with a nail and a fragment of the rudder, also on display, are believed to be the only relics of the Bounty which have come back to England. One of the original bullion cases found among the wreckage of the Spanish Armada, blue prints from the original plans of H.M.S. Victory, coins and tokens dating back 2000 years and recently found during excavations near London Bridge, are also to be seen.