CHARLES MILLER LTD
BY DAVE SELBYA mystery buyer with a ‘family connection’ to Britain’s last trial for
cannibalism at sea outbid two museums to buy a sextant for £6,600 as a
Christmas present for his father.
It is the latest twist in a gruesome saga that caused outrage in the 1880s
when an ill-prepared crew set off in an unsuitable yacht bought by an
Australian lawyer to sail from England back to his homeland. When the 52ft
(15.84m) Mignonette, built for coastal cruising, foundered off South Africa in
1884, owner and crew took to the dinghy and survived by killing and eating
the cabin boy whose life had been ebbing away.
Thinking they were protected by ‘the custom of the sea’, the rescued
survivors spoke candidly of their experience, but were brought to trial in
England. Captain John Dudley and a crewman, who had slit the cabin boy’s
throat, were sentenced to death, but this was reduced to a six-month prison
term after a public outcry.
Captain Dudley’s sextant, which was recovered in the rescue and
re-discovered over a century later in an antique shop in Australia, where
Captain Dudley had settled, provides further insight into the poor
preparations for the ill-fated voyage. Specialist maritime auctioneer Charles
Miller said: “It turns out it’s a cheap piece designed for coastal navigation,
with a scale divided to only 120 degrees. Without the story that it has to tell,
I probably would not have accepted it in my sale.”
The mystery buyer revealed nothing of his precise “family connection”, but
his surname is not shared with any aboard the Mignonette. Without its
provenance, the £6,600 ‘cannibal sextant’, estimated at
£1,000-£1,500 pre-sale on account of the story it told, would barely be worth
£200. Yet it fetched far more in the auction than some
very fine instruments. However, one exceptional 1785
sextant by Jesse Ramsden of London did eclipse it,
selling for £13,800.BONHAMSThis finely engineered model of the Bismarck was the crowning glory of a motor mechanic and former Rolls-Royce
aero-engine works apprentice who had made models since boyhood in the 1940s. Perfectionist Roy Westoby
brought his life-long experience to fruition with this exceptional 57in (145cm) chromed-metal model, seven years in
the making, of the famed battleship, which was the pride of the German fleet until she was sunk in a savage sea
battle in 1941. Estimated at £8,000-12,000, it features in Bonhams’ massive 9-10 February Gentleman’s Library sale,
which always provides plenty of interest for maritime collectors, from pond yachts to marine art to the voluptuous
Indian Ocean coco-de-mer sea beans or sea coconuts.BONHAMS
High stakes for Bismark
Saleroom
Cannibal sextant sells
to family member
Above: Power of provenance
propelled the low-grade
‘cannibal sextant’ to £6,600.
Left: The Illustrated London
News tells the sorry taleCHARLES MILLER LTD