laststandonzombieisland

Trinity Marine recently auctioned off a ton of historic RN ship’s bells, primarily from the 20th Century, from the Ferrers-Walker Royal Navy Collection. These were formally on loan to the RN’s Portsmouth Dockyard museum but never put on display (“Most of his collection was acquired directly from the shipbreakers where most of the WW2 fleet were getting scrapped after the War, notably Thomas Ward in Inverkeithing, after which he continued his hobby buying from auctions and private collections right up to the 1990’s”).

While it is sad that the bells are not preserved in a museum on public display, at least it is good to know that they weren’t scrapped or otherwise deep-sixed and lost to history over the years. Plus, it always opens the possibility that these relics may find their way to museums at one point in the future.

Also hitting the block were a series of treadplates, name boards, gun tompions, screen badges, and ship’s badges. In all, some 160 artifacts were turned back out to the wild.