CLASSIC BOAT JANUARY 2018 37
Saleroom
BONHAMS
Clipper that missed the boat
The Great Tea Race of 1866 is perhaps the most legendary of
all. Three Clippers, Ariel, Taeping and Serica, left China’s Min
River on the same tide, only to dock in London on the same
tide 99 days later. Then there was the Clipper that history
forgot, the new, composite-built Taitsing, which left one day
after them and docked 101 days later. There were no prizes for
that. The Taitsing, which sank in 1883, is recalled here on that
maiden run home by noted British artist Derek Montague
Gardner (1914-2007). The oil painting of the forgotten Clipper
racing up-Channel fetched £17,500.CHARLES MILLER LTD
Supersonic chronometer
The only marine chronometer to have travelled at the speed of
sound went supersonic in the saleroom, selling for £21,960.
The 1830s two-day marine chronometer
was carried on Concorde’s maiden
outward and return passenger
flights to the US on 24 and 25
May, 1976. The chronometer was
specially chosen on account of its
UK/US links: made in London by
the renowned Parkinson &
Frodsham and originally retailed
in New York by Peter L de Mory
Gray, one of the earliest
American navigational
instrument
suppliers. In
itself a fine
piece, it may
have made
only up to
£5,000
without the
unique
Concorde
provenance.BONHAMSBONHAMSBY DAVE SELBYIn 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, and
didn’t really have a clue, he had no GPS but
did his best...I paraphrase the school rhyme,
but Columbus’ account, published as a
printed pamphlet in 1493, was partly false,
fanciful, fawning and a fascinating piece of
promotional propaganda.
The tone is set by the introduction,
which reads: “Letter of Christopher
Columbus, to whom our age owes much,
concerning the islands recently discovered
in the Indian sea...under the auspices and
at the cost of the most invincible
Ferdinand, King of Spain.”
In his own words, Columbus then
describes the wonders and riches found as
he first made landfall in the modern
Bahamas, mistook Cuba for the Asian
subcontinent, until he was put right by the
locals, then found Hispaniola, which he
said, “abounds in different kinds of spices,
in gold and in metals”.
Later he recounted an incident in which
“a certain sailor obtained in exchange for
a shoelace tip as much worth of gold as
would equal three golden coins”.
After more on gold, Christianity and“compassion”, Columbus gets to the nitty
gritty: “I promise this, that If I am
supported by our most invincible
sovereigns, as much gold can be supplied
as they will need, indeed as much of spices,
of cotton...and as many slaves for the
navy, as their Majesties will wish todemand, likewise rhubarb...” His
approach worked: the king financed three
more voyages.
This extremely rare illustrated second-
edition letter, one of very few not in
institutional hands, sold for $751,000
(£573,200) in New York.Columbus makes a rare pitch
BONHAMS
EARLY VOYAGES
Lots 1 – 172