A REGENCY ROYAL OBSERVATORY MAHOGANY TWO-DAY MARINE CHRONOMETER

JOHN CARTER, NO. 131, CIRCA 1825

Details

A REGENCY ROYAL OBSERVATORY MAHOGANY TWO-DAY MARINE CHRONOMETER
John Carter, No. 131, circa 1825
The silvered dial signed John Carter. Maker to the ROYAL NAVY Cornhill, LONDON. 131 TWO DAYS and the Government Mark within the subsidiary seconds dial (at VI), Roman hour numerals, blued steel hands, the top-plate inscribed John Carter, Tooley St. LONDON No. 131 and with the Government Mark, Earnshaw escapement, cut bimetallic balance with circular heat compensation weights, blued steel helical balance spring, spring foot detent with jewelled locking stone, brass bowl with convex glass, numbered 131, gimballed in three-tier brass bound mahogany box (possibly later), rectangular bone plaque to front of middle section inscribed John Carter No. 131, external brass drop handles
92 mm. dial diam., 162 mm. sq. box

Lot Essay

This chronometer was entered in the Sixth Greenwich 'Premium' Trial of 1827 and in the Seventh Trial of 1828. In the latter trial it won the Second Premium of £170 and was purchased for the naval service, the famous Dent No. 114 having gained First Premium.

In 1831 it was issued to H.M.S. Charybdis. In 1842 it was issued to H.M. Survey Ship Columbia (Captain W.F.W. Owen R.N.) for his surveys of parts of the coasts of north east America and the Bay of Fundy.

Subsequently it was issued to H.M. Ships Elk (1856), Invincible (1874), Undaunted (1875), Comus (1879), Cruiser (1883), Victor Emanuel (1892), Redpole (1896).

Correspondence dated variously 1874 between the Hydrographer of the Navy and the Astronomer Royal tells of a disaster to No. 131 claiming "it must have been subject to excessive violence" when it was returned via the Post Office from H.M.S. Invincible. Carter charged ¨6-15-0d for its repair; the Post Office waived its postal charges.

It continued in the naval service unitl 1920 when it was sold to Mr A.N. Anderson.

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