Saturday Morning, December 7, 2024
Ship in a Bottleneck
The captain gripped the ship's wheel. Yelling instructions, his seamen jumped from one rigging to another. Tighten the jib! Fill out the mainsail! His words tumbled in the stiff wind. Hands were quick. Reactions honed from days on the seas, rounding the capes, struggling the storms. Never a mistake nor a hint of fat on their sun-soaked bodies. These men knew their ship better than the designers, sailed her better than the officers.
Bulova gentleman's 14k yellow gold Accutron wrist watch,
red marble dial, case dated N2 - 1972,
original leather strap marked - Accutron.
The frigate heeled, cutting a swath through the water. Despite their efforts the trailing ship was gaining, moving quickly like a dolphin. The race was on. A game of cat and louse. Not one to lose. Her sails creaked, cloth stretching to the limits. The cordage screamed, straining in pain. Keel hauling misery. Her weight was her drawback. She was full heavy. Gold and silver brimmed her hold. And the trailing ship knew it. Cannonade resounded from both ships. The balls missing their targets and falling into the sea. The gap narrowed. The moment the ships collided, their hulls shuddered and shook. Splintering wood, scraping planking, shearing sails, the wooden hulls locked together. A swelling sea forced copulation. This, the foulest of deeds, piracy on the high seas.
Bulova lady's 14k yellow gold Accutron wrist watch,
red dial with original red leather strap, dated N2 - 1972.
Companion watches. One for her. One for him.
Auction to include selection of wrist watches.
Walking the Plank
In the mercantile world of property procurement, there lies a fine line. Possession. As the globe shrank with the deeds of European explorers, transported wealth filled the seas. Gold from America. Spices and silk from the Orient. Some purchased, some stolen. Either way, these behemoth merchant vessels were targets.
Atlas maps numbers 24 & 25.
The East Indies with the Roads,
Thomas Jefferys, London, 1768,
The Second Edition.
Jefferys rose from an apprenticeship position to Geographer of King George III.
The world was his work, creating maps from the New World to the Far East. These three-fold format maps sold little sending Jeffery's into bankruptcy. Each 23" x 55 ½"
From this grew two parasitic classes. Pirates and Privateers. As children we learned of pirates through the illustrations of N.C. Wyeth. Overdressed louts with large hats. Gold teeth and unkempt hair. Their image reinforcing their independence beyond the law, gallows hanging above them like a Damocles sword.
English Victorian pocket compass,
leather case, dial signed Trademark with eyeball logo, 1 ¼" D.
Then there were the privateers. An interesting group funded and legally protected by rulers. Licensed to kill, these 007's were released onto the seas to steal as much as possible. The practice traditional from ancient times to present day. We view videos of Somali pirates racing up and down the Strait of Hormuz dressed in tattered clothes flying along on fishing skiffs. The challenge. The fight. Win or lose. What we don't see is the ransom payoff. No kit bags. No doubloons. How archaic. All transactions are now completed electronically through Swiss bank accounts. The booty then divvied down through a hierarchy of participants. During the Golden Age of Piracy, England's Queen Elizabeth I sanctioned many of these privateers. They were quite adept at stealing gold from the Spanish galleons. Her standout favorite, Sir Francis Drake. From London, sailing with his charter document, he spread terror across the seas.
The Golden Triangle
Among many of Drakes's nefarious deeds, he set his sails for shipping Africans and selling them into slavery. Port-of-calls were welcome from South to North America. Cotton was a mainstay crop requiring a massive number of hands to cultivate and harvest. Black chieftains were all too happy to sell their brethren, reducing Africa's surplus population.
14k yellow gold Bulova wrist watches
But the more profitable product was the glistening gold in those magnificent Spanish galleons. Drake could smell them before he saw them. How the English coffers filled. The booty followed the time-honored tradition of percentage payouts. Once Drake defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, England stepped onto the world stage. The sun never sets on the British empire. Privateering grew into a career offering opportunity. Ironically, piracy was punished under the law. APB's for many pirates were ordered from London. Privateers were feted. The high seas reached the point where one wondered who supported whom. Wealth poured into the back room vaults. The window display just enough to quell dissent. All sounds so familiar. Just replace gold with opium and cocaine...N'est-ce pas?
Davey Jones' Locker-Room
Some mortal deaths are more apt than others. After plundering the Spanish ports along the coast of South America and the Caribbean, Sir Drake (knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for his duty and booty to the realm) fell victim to dysentery. His ship lingered off Panama near the city of Portobelo. Unchecked, this intestinal bacterium delivers a painful death. And so it was with Francis Drake. Not a flag flew half-mast in any Spanish harbor known.
Civil War GAR medal - Souvenir Ex-Prisoners Union of War, 1861-1865.
The body was prepared for his final voyage. His one request was to be buried wearing his full suit of armour. Into a lead-lined casket he went, metal and all. With appropriate honors, he slid off the plank and into the sea. Lost in history. Perhaps. The frenzy today to find this coffin has consumed several lives. His two ships were scuttled after his death and their remains have been located in Portobelo Bay. But Drake himself remains elusive, he himself now the sought treasure. And the cycle of life's knot tightens.
Saturday, our treasures will be in full view. No forensics required.
Seiko Diver's wrist watch. Reliable to 200 meters. Davey Jones, Wake Up!
Doors open at 8 AM. Auction starts at 9 AM. PA AU 1265L [bb]