Classic_Boat_2016-01

BONHAMS

BY DAVE SELBY

Engineer, conservationist and

one-time marine archaeologist

Jonathan Minns spent a lifetime

immersed in restoring and collecting

mechanical artefacts, from Victorian

water pumping stations and water

mills, to traction engines, steam river

launches, boat engines and models.

Minns, who died in 2013 at the

age of 75, left part of his personal

collection to his children, and when

these mechanical wonders and

collectibles came under the hammer

recently at Bonhams it revealed the

range of Minns’ passion, knowledge

and interest in nautical propulsion

and watercraft.

Collectors were equally enthused

on auction day as a rare model of a

c1840 paddle steamer engine,

estimated at £15,000-20,000, made

£36,250. Maudslay built the first

patented oscillating steam engine,

Passion for propulsion

BRIGHTWELLS

Nice and GRP-easy

For wipe-and-go simplicity, classic looks with that

50s-style tumblehome and a nifty turn of speed, Ray

Wright Ford-engined GRP sports boats have plenty going

for them. As other builders persisted with aluminium, Ray

Wright was an early adopter of the new more robust and

corrosion-resistant material. This 1968 Delta GT, 13ft 6in

(4.2m) long is fitted with a Ford Cortina 1600GT engine,

hence its name Deltina – geddit! Recently recommissioned

and trialled, it seemed well bought at £1,870 at

Brightwells’ latest Herefordshire classic car auction.

BRIGHTWELLS

BONHAMS

Take a closer look at more Saleroom lots at classicboat.co.uk/saleroom

This impressive near 2m (6ft 6in)-long dockyard presentation model of the

120-gun, 1841 HMS Trafalgar, estimated at $70,000-100,000 (£46,000-

66,000), is one of the star lots at Bonhams’ next New York auction of

Important Maritime Paintings and Decorative Arts on 27 January. Artists

featured in the sale include Montague Dawson and James Edward Buttersworth.

BONHAMS

Trafalgar in New York

(^1) This display model of a Victorian racing cutter made £3,750
(^2) Three cased Walker ships’ logs were well bought at £312
(^3) Rare model of a twin-cylinder paddle steamer engine by
Maudslay & Son, circa 1840^4 Experimental Victorian
propulsion model^5 Clockwork pond model of a paddle steamer
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with pivoting cylinders to reduce
size and weight and allow
installation lower down in the hull
of ships. One full-size example is the
engine fitted to Brunel’s 1837
trans-Atlantic paddle leviathan, the
SS Great Western.
The 80-lot sale, which grossed
over £100,000, also featured pond
yachts and extraordinary working
models, including a complex
clockwork Victorian experimental
propulsion model with a pair of
shafts, each fitted with two propellers.
This reflected developments of
the day as multi-propeller units were
used on the later higher speed
engines to counteract the loss of
thrust and overcome cavitation. One
famous example is Charles Parsons’
1894 Turbinia. The experimental
model, possibly built as early as the
1860s, fetched £2,125. Another
more recreational clockwork paddle
steamer made £750.
Saleroom
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