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Details
THE CHRONOMETER OF THE H.M.S. SULPHUR, SAMARANG AND HERALD
An early 19th Century Royal Greenwich Observatory exploration marine two-day chronometer, Eiffe No 5. circa 1836. The silvered dial in the format of a regulator, signed Eiffe No 5, 19 Store Street, Bedford Square and bearing the name 'The Observatory' the outer minutes dial with 5 minute intervals, and blued steel hand, off-set hours dial with Roman hour numerals and blued steel fleur-de-lys hand. Off-set up-and-down dial with small Arabic numerals and blued steel hand, subsidiary seconds dial engraved 'with airy's compensation' and the Government Mark, all engraving in-filled in black. Top-plate engraved with the Government Mark, Earnshaw escapement, spring foot detent with jewelled locking stone, bi-metallic balance with Airy's adjustable cross-arm compensation, cylindrical heat compensation weights, blued steel helical balance spring. Contained in brass bowl, the bezel with convex glow, brass gimbal mounted in three-tier brass-bound mahogany box with inset rectangular mother-of-pearl plaque signed Eiffe TWO DAYS No 5 and at the top the Government Mark, external brass drop-handles, dial 105mm. diameter, the box approximately 167mm. square.
AN IMPORTANT NAVAL CHRONOMETER, WIDELY TRAVELLED, AND WITNESS TO MANY HISTORIC EVENTS, USED ON THE PRINCIPAL SURVEYING SHIPS OF THE EAST INDIES STATION IN EARLY 19TH CENTURY; On H.M.S. Sulphur, 1836-1842; H.M.S. Samarang, 1843-1847; H.M.S. Herald, 1852-1858, and used by Captains Belcher and Denham. On board the Sulphur, it became one of THE FIRST CHRONOMETERS IN THE NEWLY ACQUIRED TERRITORY OF HONG KONG, when Belcher surveyed the Bay and took possession of the colony on 24 January 1841, prior to the formal possession of the island on the 26 January by Commodore Sir J.G. Bremer. On board the Samarang, it was one of the 32 chronometers, that were immersed in water when the Samarang was holed in Sarawak, all were salvaged, and some taken to Rajah Brooks house for safe keeping. In the Herald under Captain Henry Denham this chronometer embarked on one of the longest and most important surveying cruises of the golden age of world hydrography, a voyage encompassing much of Southwest Pacific, parts of Australia and New Zealand including surveys of Fiji (1854), Norfolk Island (1855), Pitcairn (1856) and Port Jackson (1857).
James Sweetman Eiffe, a somewhat eccentric 19th Century chronometer maker was in business at 19 Store Street, London from 1830-1837. His eccentricity extended to his giving proper names to his chronometers -'Arctic Circle', 'The Hydrographer', the 'Off She Goes', 'The North West Passage'. Eiffe No 5 was purchased on the instructions of Captain F. Beaufort R.N. Hydrographer at the Navy in 1836 (his letter to B. Airy, Astronomer Royal 19 June 1836), and on the 15 November 1836 it was issued to Captain Sir Edward Belcher R.N. on H.M. Surveying Vessel Sulphur (... page 371 of Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Chronometer Issues Ledger, and Admiral letter, 31 December 1836 from T Beaufort, Hydrogarpher of the Navy.). No 5 remained in Sulphur until August 1842 when it was transferred back to Eiffe upon Sulphur's return to the United Kingdom. In the 1840's H.M.S. Sulphur was active in the Opium War, as laid out by Belcher in his own published account Narrative of a Voyage round the World performed in His Majesty's Ship Sulphur during the years 1836-1842 including details of the naval operations in China from December 1840 to November 1841.
An early 19th Century Royal Greenwich Observatory exploration marine two-day chronometer, Eiffe No 5. circa 1836. The silvered dial in the format of a regulator, signed Eiffe No 5, 19 Store Street, Bedford Square and bearing the name 'The Observatory' the outer minutes dial with 5 minute intervals, and blued steel hand, off-set hours dial with Roman hour numerals and blued steel fleur-de-lys hand. Off-set up-and-down dial with small Arabic numerals and blued steel hand, subsidiary seconds dial engraved 'with airy's compensation' and the Government Mark, all engraving in-filled in black. Top-plate engraved with the Government Mark, Earnshaw escapement, spring foot detent with jewelled locking stone, bi-metallic balance with Airy's adjustable cross-arm compensation, cylindrical heat compensation weights, blued steel helical balance spring. Contained in brass bowl, the bezel with convex glow, brass gimbal mounted in three-tier brass-bound mahogany box with inset rectangular mother-of-pearl plaque signed Eiffe TWO DAYS No 5 and at the top the Government Mark, external brass drop-handles, dial 105mm. diameter, the box approximately 167mm. square.
AN IMPORTANT NAVAL CHRONOMETER, WIDELY TRAVELLED, AND WITNESS TO MANY HISTORIC EVENTS, USED ON THE PRINCIPAL SURVEYING SHIPS OF THE EAST INDIES STATION IN EARLY 19TH CENTURY; On H.M.S. Sulphur, 1836-1842; H.M.S. Samarang, 1843-1847; H.M.S. Herald, 1852-1858, and used by Captains Belcher and Denham. On board the Sulphur, it became one of THE FIRST CHRONOMETERS IN THE NEWLY ACQUIRED TERRITORY OF HONG KONG, when Belcher surveyed the Bay and took possession of the colony on 24 January 1841, prior to the formal possession of the island on the 26 January by Commodore Sir J.G. Bremer. On board the Samarang, it was one of the 32 chronometers, that were immersed in water when the Samarang was holed in Sarawak, all were salvaged, and some taken to Rajah Brooks house for safe keeping. In the Herald under Captain Henry Denham this chronometer embarked on one of the longest and most important surveying cruises of the golden age of world hydrography, a voyage encompassing much of Southwest Pacific, parts of Australia and New Zealand including surveys of Fiji (1854), Norfolk Island (1855), Pitcairn (1856) and Port Jackson (1857).
James Sweetman Eiffe, a somewhat eccentric 19th Century chronometer maker was in business at 19 Store Street, London from 1830-1837. His eccentricity extended to his giving proper names to his chronometers -'Arctic Circle', 'The Hydrographer', the 'Off She Goes', 'The North West Passage'. Eiffe No 5 was purchased on the instructions of Captain F. Beaufort R.N. Hydrographer at the Navy in 1836 (his letter to B. Airy, Astronomer Royal 19 June 1836), and on the 15 November 1836 it was issued to Captain Sir Edward Belcher R.N. on H.M. Surveying Vessel Sulphur (... page 371 of Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Chronometer Issues Ledger, and Admiral letter, 31 December 1836 from T Beaufort, Hydrogarpher of the Navy.). No 5 remained in Sulphur until August 1842 when it was transferred back to Eiffe upon Sulphur's return to the United Kingdom. In the 1840's H.M.S. Sulphur was active in the Opium War, as laid out by Belcher in his own published account Narrative of a Voyage round the World performed in His Majesty's Ship Sulphur during the years 1836-1842 including details of the naval operations in China from December 1840 to November 1841.
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