AN HISTORICALLY INTERESTING SAILOR'S MODEL FOR H.M. AUSTRAL...

Hammer

£400

AN HISTORICALLY INTERESTING SAILOR'S MODEL FOR H.M. AUSTRALIAN STATION SURVEY VESSEL DART, CIRCA 1904

modelled by W.G. Holbrow, R.N. with 15in. hull carved from solid and painted below the water line, propeller and rudder, and glass portholes, scored deck with wood and metal fittings including capstan winch, deckhouse, open bridge, brass rudder and ventilators, companionway, binnacle and helm, and white ensign, rigged masts with standing and rigging mounted on cradle stand within ebonised, glazed case with provenance label pasted to back, overall -- 23½ x 26½ x 9in. (59.7 x 67.3 x 23cm.)

Built as a 226-ton schooner yacht in 1877, in 1882 (and now fitted with engines), she was bought by the Royal Navy for the Australian Station and for the next 22 years surveyed large areas of the Australia Station including the Pacific Islands and New Zealand. A tender and then school ship thereafter, she was sold to private owners in 1921 and deleted from the record in 1937.