A FINE 1:48 SCALE BUILDER'S-STYLE MODEL OF R.M.S. CARMANIA O...

Hammer

£5,500

A FINE 1:48 SCALE BUILDER'S-STYLE MODEL OF R.M.S. CARMANIA ORIGINALLY BUILT BY JOHN BROWN & CO. FOR CUNARD, 1905

laminated and carved 66 in. hull with glazed ports, propellers, rudders and bilge keels, scored wooden decks with painted and plated fittings included, anchors with winches and chain, ventilators with red interiors, deck rails, rigged derricks, superstructure with glazed bridge, binnacle over, staid funnels with safety valve extension pipe and ladder, engine room lights, covered lifeboats rigged in davits, handrails, water tanks and other details, mounted on four metal columns with plates with glass cover -- 26 x 70 x 12½ in. (66 x 178 x 32cm.)

Carmania, 19,650 tons, was built in 1905 for Cunard's Liverpool to New York supplementary service and during the winter months either relieved the regular mail steamers or sailed from Fiume on the American tourist route to and from the Mediterranean. On the morning of 14 September 1914, off the western end of the island of Trinidad, the 18,700 ton German Armed Merchant Cruiser Cap Trafalgar, was surprised in the act of coaling by the Carmania, under the command of Captain Grant, R.N. At first she made off at high speed, but later turned about and prepared to engage. Both ships began firing at 7,500 yards, the 4.7-in.guns of the Carmania doing great damage to the hull of her enemy. The fire from the Cap Trafalgar was initially too high, but as the ships closed she began to score, setting Carmania on fire under the forebridge and cutting her main water pipe so that the fire could not be brought under control. After an engagement lasting one hour and forty minutes, the Cap Trafalgar was ablaze and sinking. Towards the end of the action, she attempted to escape, but her engines were not equal to the strain and she finally capsized to port and sank by the head. Five boats crowded with survivors were picked up by the German colliers, the Carmania being still on fire and too badly mauled to render assistance. Carmania herself survived and was, in fact, the only Armed Merchant Cruiser ever to have sunk a similar antagonist in a straight gun duel; when, after extensive repairs, she returned to sea, she found herself with an unrivalled reputation that outlived her long after she was broken up in 1932.

Fine overall condition