A Narrative of the Loss of the Royal George at Spithead, August, 1782; Tracey's Attempt to Raise Her in 1783; Her Demolition and Removal By Major-General Pasley's Operations in 1839-40

Julian Slight:

Edité par Hampshire S Horsey Portsea, 1840

A propos de cet article

A good clean sound copy of the Second Edition Bound in the Wood of the Wreck. From the Preface. " It has occured to the mind of the narrator that the amalgamation of some- thing tangible in the historic fact with its publication, would itself form a RELIC novel in the republic of letters and valuable in thus uniting demonstration with asseveration which the boards used in the binding of this little treatise present, having been actually sawn from the Leviathan timbers of the long lost ship which composed the coffins of many hundreds of our poor fellow creatures, who suffered on that melancholly occaision." Duodecimo (4½"X2¾") (vi).83pps,Top edge gilt. With guarded Colour Frontispiece and 2 more hand coloured plates. The Royal George was a ship of the line of the Royal Navy, first-rate with a 100 guns on three decks, she was the largest warship in the world at her launch in February 1756 and her construction at Woolwich Dockyard had taken ten years. She sank on 29 August 1782 whilst anchored at Spithead just off Portsmouth. The ship was intentionally rolled so that maintenance could be performed on the hull, but the roll became unstable and out of control; the ship took on water and sank. More than 800 lives were lost, making it one of the most fatal maritime disasters in British territorial waters. In 1839 Charles Pasley of the Royal Engineers commenced operations to break up the wreck using barrels of gunpowder. Pasley's team recovered more guns and other items between 1839 & 1842. In 1840, they destroyed the remaining structure of the wreck in an explosion, which shattered windows several miles away in Portsmouth & Gosport. (A full account can be found at the site " The stories they Tell " ) Recovered materials were used to make a variety of souvenirs in the 1850s,and timber from the ship was used to make the billiard table by Thurston & Co. for the North Wing of Burghley House. A curious souvenir of one of the worst disasters in British Maritime History.

N° de réf. du vendeur 6938

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: A Narrative of the Loss of the Royal George at Spithead, August, 1782; Tracey's Attempt to Raise Her in 1783; Her Demolition and Removal By Major-General Pasley's Operations in 1839-40
• Éditeur: Hampshire S Horsey Portsea
• Date de parution: 1840
• Reliure: Couverture rigide
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Maritime