Ganges Xmas 1954
From a Help the Heroes nutty wrapper
HMS Lion - Admiral Beatty's Flagship in WW1
A cartoon depicting the disapproval [or alarm] at seeing ratings {a junior rate and a CPO - though the CPO also disapproves of the junior rate] being listed along with the their names [{naval and WRNS officers] in the Daily Telegraph list of naval obituaries. Dead man's [and women] affront, but tongue in cheek of course. None is a caricature and all in good spirit - literally!
See above
HMS Ark Royal's Medal to commemorate her long refit 1967 to 1970
A 78 RPM Vinyl Gramophone Record on The Death of Nelson
Jigsaw puzzle of RMS Queen Mary in Trafalgar Square London
A 78 RPM Vinyl Record of Ernest Grey singing songs in Remembrance of the loss of the Titanic in 1912. Stand to your Post is one of them.
When STYLE and MONEY were aplenty. Oh! Come back those heady days.
A medal commemorating the many visits made by the Second Cruiser Squadron when visiting South Africa and South America in 1908.
Cigarette Cards of old warships. HMS Ganges is on the bottom, third lot in from left, front card.
Victory over the abuses of alcohol. It was issued by the Royal Naval Temperance Society which though not a part of it, worked in close company with Agnes Weston and Sophia Wintz.
A paper table napkin. Note Inspection and not Review. A five day event........12 lines of ships and these come from "the Home Fleets" only...........24 Dreadnoughts and 35 pre-Dreadnoughts...WOW!
Waxwork head of Nelson, originally part of a full-figure model that is believed to have been made as part of a tableau of him in his cabin for an exhibition at Antwerp about 1929, probably the Exposition Internationale Maritime et Coloniale d'Anvers of 1930. It appears to have been commissioned by the Overseas Trade Department of the British government, but was possibly not used and was transferred to the embryonic NMM in 1933 via the Admiralty. It was reportedly made by 'Mr Tussaud', perhaps John Tussaud (who made a Nelson tableau for the Royal Naval exhibition at Chelsea in 1891) or one of his family successors in that famous waxworks business. It came and is preserved with a small design model of the proposed cabin tableau.
A genuine Guillotine encased in a display frame.
This guillotine blade, still mounted with rivets to its original lead weighted wooden block, was used on the West Indian island of Guadeloupe by French republicans during revolutionary struggles there. It is said to have been used to execute more than 50 royalists. This guillotine is likely to have been taken to the Americas by the French Revolutionary commissar Victor Hugues, when he was sent to Martinique and Guadeloupe to purge the royalists. In 1794 the British occupied Guadeloupe and Captain Matthew Scott of HMS Rose is said to have brought back the guillotine blade as a war trophy.
A picture almost depicting a monster of the deep with its twin eyes and cavernous mouth. Believe me, when close up to the very large original picture, its is scary. It is the picture of HMS King George V, a WW2 new battleship which in May 1941 had helped the Rodney to sink the Bismarck using heavy calibre guns, now under the protection of the Icelandic mainland. The time is May one year later. On the 1st May 1942, whilst operating in dense fog with RN and USN units, the KG5 rammed and cut clean in half the destroyer HMS Punjabi. Most of Punjabi's crew where in the larger section of the ship which took a little time to sink into the icy waters, and in that time period, all the men were rescued. However, fortynine men were in the other smaller section of the after part of the ship which sank immediately. Their fate [those who survived the ramming] doesn't bear thinking about because in that after section were primed depth charges set to explode on reaching a certain depth. These men did not suffer the icy seas for long as the depth charges exploded causing some damage to the nearby US battleship, the USS George Washington.
Staying with HMS King George V, she survived the war and was eventually broke up in 1957.
The ship had 14" guns. Into the ends of naval guns not in use and purely for decorative and ceremonial reasons are fitted TAMPION's/TOMPION's usually with a painted ships crest/badge on them. In this case, the ship had magnificent brass tampion's/tompion's showing King George the 5th's head. These of course were much envied and were "precious cargo". The pattern was approved by the Admiralty in November 1937.
These very special artefact were eventually dispersed as souvenirs among former officer of the ship, much the chagrin of the lower-deck veterans who had in fact served the guns.
Much the same happened after the Royal Funeral of Lord Mountbatten in September 1979. To make sure that the flag covering the coffin did not flap with the breeze/wind or with the movement of the gun carriage whilst under way, four brass engraved weights were manufactured for the special occasion. These weights were secreted away and given to naval officers without them [naval officers] once considering the bearer party who were ratings.
A Tobacco Cutter.
The
expression "Ent. Sta. Hall" means
entered (registered) at Stationers' Hall (a requirement to secure
copyright on books before 1924)
This song sheet of which this is the cover page, dates from 1890.
The words of the song are:-
From Portsmouth Harbour day by day
our ships go sailing far away
and long the time may be 'er they
Return to Portsmouth Harbour
Return to Portsmouth Harbour
The Bands strike up
"The girls we leave"
the stately ships the waters cleave
sweethearts and wives remain to grieve
Behind in Portsmouth Harbour
Behind in Portsmouth Harbour
But dry your eyes ye weeping fair
and wave your ker-chiefs in the air
Good luck be with them until their
Return to Portsmouth Harbour
Return to Portsmouth Harbour
Since day's of old 'tis Britain's boats
she rules the seas from coast to coast
let's speed them with this parting toast safe
Back in Portsmouth Harbour
Back in Portsmouth Harbour
Our ships go hence to scenes of war
success to soldiers and to tar
and may they safe from lands afar
Return to Portsmouth Harbour
Return to Portsmouth Harbour
But time runs on with steady flow
once more they let the anchor go
Safe back in Portsmouth Harbour
Safe back in Portsmouth Harbour
If you can read a music score this is the associated tune - pages 1 and 2 only
