.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The arms are those of Berkeley as borne by Earl FitzHardinge (1786-1856), eldest son of Frederick, 11th Baron and 5th Earl of Berkeley (d. 1810) by the beautiful Mary Cole (d. 1844), a Gloucestershire butcher's daughter. However, in 1811, it was adjudged by the House of Lords that his parents had not been married at his birth and so he did not inherit his father's title. He did, however, inherit his family's vast Gloucestershire estate and was created Earl FitzHardinge in 1841, during the last days of the Melbourne Government after he secured Whig seats for all four of his brothers. He died unmarried and notoriously dissipate in 1856.
Thomas and Frederick Francis were working at 24 Poland Street, Soho, London, in 1854.
HMS ROYAL GEORGE
Launched on 18 February 1756, the Royal George was at the time the largest ship in the world. She was a 100-gun first-rate and fought in Battle of Quiberon Bay, 20 November 1759 as the flag of Admiral Sir Edward Hawke. Laid up from 1763-1778, she was recommissioned to serve in the American War of Independence, and in January 1780, took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. On 28 August 1782, whilst anchored at Spithead, in the eastern Solent, the Royal George was heeled over to allow for repairs below the water level on her starboard side. At this moment, a supply vessel, the Lark approached with a cargo of rum, and this additional weight coupled with a sudden fateful breeze which puffed and caused her to heel over further, so that there was a rushing intake of water through the larboard (or port) gunports. The ship rolled and sank rapidly taking with her 800 people although 230 were saved. The accident was commemorated by the poet William Cowper:
Toll for the brave
The Brave that are no more,
All sunk beneath the wave,
Fast by their native shore.
Eight hundred of the brave,
Whose courage was well tried,
Had made the vessel heel,
And laid her on her side.
A land breeze shook the shroud,
And she was overset,
Down went the Royal George,
With all her crew complete.
[...]
Her timbers yet are sound,
And she may float again,
Full charged with Englands thunder,
And plough the distant main:
(extracts from William Cowper, The Loss of the Royal George, 1782).
The subsequent salvage attempts, principally those carried out under Major-General Charles Pasley in 1839, record some of the earliest diving milestones such as the first recorded use of the 'buddy' system of diving in pairs. By 1843, the keel and bottom timbers had been removed and the site was declared clear, although Earl FitzHardinge's trawling activity in August 1850 gives the lie to this.
Thomas and Frederick Francis were working at 24 Poland Street, Soho, London, in 1854.
HMS ROYAL GEORGE
Launched on 18 February 1756, the Royal George was at the time the largest ship in the world. She was a 100-gun first-rate and fought in Battle of Quiberon Bay, 20 November 1759 as the flag of Admiral Sir Edward Hawke. Laid up from 1763-1778, she was recommissioned to serve in the American War of Independence, and in January 1780, took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. On 28 August 1782, whilst anchored at Spithead, in the eastern Solent, the Royal George was heeled over to allow for repairs below the water level on her starboard side. At this moment, a supply vessel, the Lark approached with a cargo of rum, and this additional weight coupled with a sudden fateful breeze which puffed and caused her to heel over further, so that there was a rushing intake of water through the larboard (or port) gunports. The ship rolled and sank rapidly taking with her 800 people although 230 were saved. The accident was commemorated by the poet William Cowper:
Toll for the brave
The Brave that are no more,
All sunk beneath the wave,
Fast by their native shore.
Eight hundred of the brave,
Whose courage was well tried,
Had made the vessel heel,
And laid her on her side.
A land breeze shook the shroud,
And she was overset,
Down went the Royal George,
With all her crew complete.
[...]
Her timbers yet are sound,
And she may float again,
Full charged with Englands thunder,
And plough the distant main:
(extracts from William Cowper, The Loss of the Royal George, 1782).
The subsequent salvage attempts, principally those carried out under Major-General Charles Pasley in 1839, record some of the earliest diving milestones such as the first recorded use of the 'buddy' system of diving in pairs. By 1843, the keel and bottom timbers had been removed and the site was declared clear, although Earl FitzHardinge's trawling activity in August 1850 gives the lie to this.