Royal George Relic Ship Wreck Disaster Treen& Copper Silk Thread Winder C 1840 RARE

This is one of our most favourite antique genres....maritime history. This fascinating historic silk thread winder dates to the year 1840 (the wood from much earlier...read on). The thread winder is made from wood and features a hand engraved copper plaque with text reading ‘Royal George, Sunk 1782. Raised 1840.’ This would make the perfect conversation piece for anyone who collects all things sewing related or anyone with a passion for naval history!

The silk winder is made from the 18th century wood used to construct the HMS Royal George (1756)! Due to its size, we would think that this belonged to, and was used by a Victorian sailor at sea. Used to darn and mend his uniform.

Size: Measuring: Width 2 7/8 inch (7.5 cm) by height 2 inch (5 cm). Depth 1/8 inch (20mm).

Condition: Light surface wear commensurate with age.

HMS Royal George was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was the largest warship in the world at the time of her launch on 18 February 1756. Royal George took ten years to construct at Woolwich Dockyard. The ship saw immediate service during the Seven Years' War, including the Raid on Rochefort in 1757. She was Admiral Sir Edward Hawke's flagship at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759. The ship was laid up following the conclusion of the war in 1763, but was reactivated in 1777 for the American Revolutionary War. She then served as Rear Admiral Robert Digby's flagship at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780.

Royal George sank on 29 August 1782 whilst anchored at Spithead off Portsmouth. The ship was intentionally rolled (a 'parliamentary heel') so 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 people died, making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in British territorial waters.

Several attempts were made to raise the vessel, both for salvage and because she was a major hazard to navigation in the Solent. In 1782, Charles Spalding recovered fifteen 12-pounder guns using a diving bell of his own design. From 1834 to 1836, Charles and John Deane recovered more guns using a diving helmet they had invented. 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 and 1842. In 1840, they destroyed the remaining structure of the wreck in an explosion which shattered windows several miles away in Portsmouth and Gosport.

A fund was established by Lloyd's Coffee House to help the widow's and children of the sailors lost in the sinking, which was the start of what eventually became the Lloyd's Patriotic Fund.[5] The accident was commemorated in verse 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.’

— "The Loss of the Royal George", William Cowper, 1782

Recovered materials were used to make a variety of souvenirs. Please see reference ID:REL0319 in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London for another example.

Item id:15691