£200 - £300
Shipwreck Finds Including the SS Mendi, SS War Knight and the SS. Carmarthen 15mm machine gun ammunition from the SS Mendi, wrecked off the Isle of Wight, 1927; a leather shoe from the wreck of SS Warspite, 1918; a bayonet recovered from Plymouth Sound; Spitfire WWII Aircraft Tail Wheel from the Dutch SS Breda; a brass door sill from SS. Carmarthen, 1917, together with other shipwreck finds. She was a passenger steamship, charted by the Admiralty as a troopship and lost in collision in fog with the steamship Darro off the Isle of Wight in 1917 which initially did not stop to help. 646 men, mostly black South African troops from the Native Labour Corps (recruited to work as manual labourers on the Western Front) were killed. This was one of the worst maritime disasters in UK waters. Numerous events were held in the UK and South Africa to mark the centenary of the sinking in 2017. The ship also holds huge significance in South Africa where the tragedy became better known after the fall of Apartheid when a Mendi medal for bravery was established in 2003.
Fees apply to the hammer price:
Free Registration
28.8% inc VAT*
Flat Fee Registration
25.20% inc VAT*
VAT/Sales Tax on hammer: 20%
*These fees include buyers premiums and internet surcharges.
