MODEL OF THE CLIPPER SHIP 'THERMOPYLAE'
£688
Auction: 4 September 2019 at 11:00 BST
Description
with full rigging and sails, half painted hull, on a stand and painted wood base
Dimensions
95cm long
Footnote
Note: Built in 1868 for The Aberdeen Line, with 212 inches in length and weighing 991 tons, like all clippers, she was built for speed. Initially used for the China tea trade, she set speed records on her maiden voyage to Melbourne. She raced the Cutty Sark from Shanghai back to London and beat her by seven days, mainly owing to Cutty Sark losing her rudder; in other journeys the Cutty Sark beat her. In 1882 she transferred to the wool trade in Australia. 1897 saw her sold to Portugal as a naval training vessel and renamed to 'Pedro Nunes'. After ten years she was retired and torpedoed with full military honours in 1907