Ø AN HISTORICALLY INTERESTING SILVER TEA AND COFFEE SET PRES...

Estimate

£1,500 - £2,500

Ø AN HISTORICALLY INTERESTING SILVER TEA AND COFFEE SET PRESENTED TO FRANCIS PETTIT SMITH, DEVELOPER OF SCREW PROPULSION, FOR THE S.S. ARCHIMEDES, THE FIRST STEAMSHIP TO SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOY A SCREW PROPELLER IN 1839

comprising tea and coffee pots, milk jug and sugar bowl, baluster, flat chased with scroll foliage and diaper work surrounding cartouches, the first two engraved with profiles of the Archimedes underway and inscribed ARCHIMEDES / May 14 1839, with dedication to the other reading Presented to / FRANCIS PETTIT SMITH / Patentee / By the Shareholders of the Ship Propeller Compy. / as a token of their esteem & admiration of / his patient perseverance against all difficulties / & DISCOURAGEMENT IN BRINGING TO MATURITY / the discovery & application of the Screw to the / PURPOSE OF STEAM NAVIGATION / To his Country it has proved invaluable / Its use has become universal / LONDON, FEBRUARY 1856. both with cast hawk finials, the milk jug and sugar bowl with gilt interiors and cartouches initialled 'FPS', with a pair of Queen's pattern sugar tongs, London hallmarks for Edward Barnard & Sons, 1855, all contained within the original red plush-lined wooden fitted case of issue -- 12 x 22 x 17¾in. (30.5 x 56 x 45cm.), 2339g.; IDN: 9NJ5CW47

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The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, presented in 1957 by Messrs J. Stone & Co.(Charlton) Ltd., in commemoration of the association of their director, Brian Preston, Liveryman, with the Company.

The eponymous ‘Archimedes screw’ was invented in the 3^rd century BC, but it was two millennia before its full potential was realised by the engineers of the Industrial Revolution, most particularly those involved with marine architecture and shipbuilding.

The invention of the steam engine in the eighteenth century inevitably gave birth to the first steam-powered ships although all the early vessels were propelled by paddle wheels. Various individuals experimented with propellers without any success until 1835 when, coincidentally, two unrelated men filed patents for screw propellers, the first being granted to Francis Pettit Smith, a farmer who had entertained a long fascination for screw propulsion. After several false starts, coupled with a disappointing lack of enthusiasm from the Admiralty, Smith formed a partnership with a banker named Wright and the engineering firm of J. & G. Rennie to build a full-sized ship to attempt to convince the Royal Navy of the propeller’s merits.

It was decided to name the vessel Archimedes and she was built on the Thames in the yard of Henry Wimshurst at a cost of £10,500. Launched on 18^th October 1838, she was measured at 237 tons and was 125 feet in length with a 22½ foot beam. Sporting a schooner rig on three masts, she was considered by contemporaries to be a “beautiful ship”, her appearance enhanced by her raked funnel and handsome counter stern. She was fitted with twin-cylinder vertical steam engines by Rennie and a 360-degree, single-turn, single-threaded fully retractable propeller giving her a nominal speed of 10 knots. The ship’s maiden voyage, a short run down the Thames to Gravesend, was followed by her first sea trial from Gravesend to Portsmouth which proved a great success. At Portsmouth, it was decided to match her against H.M. Revenue’s cutter Vulcan, one of the fastest ships in the service, and Archimedes acquitted herself admirably. Despite this, the battle to fully convince the Admiralty was to prove long, arduous and expensive until eventually, in 1845, following the celebrated Tug-of-War between the screw sloop Rattler and the paddle sloop Alecto, the Admiralty finally relented and adopted the screw propeller as its preferred method of propulsion for all steam warships.

It is also of historic significance that Smith agreed to loan Archimedes to the Great Western Steamship Company when the building of their steamer Great Britain was in its early stages. Brunel immediately seized the advantage this loan presented and, after many experiments and extensive testing, chose screw propulsion over paddles for the world’s first ocean-going liner. The success of this influenced all the big steamers, which followed her across the North Atlantic and indeed every other ocean across the world.