Lot 114
ASSOCIATED PART CANTEEN OF SILVER PLATED CUTLERY SALVAGED FROM THE S.S BREDA
20TH CENTURY
£353
Auction: Select Property from Towie Barclay Castle, Aberdeenshire - 27th March 2024 at 10am
Description
mostly Shell and Thread pattern and Fiddle Pattern, with slight variations in style, comprising: four large serving forks; five large serving spoons; two ladles; ten soup spoons; twelve dessert spoons; fourteen dinner forks; twenty three various dessert forks; three fruit forks; eleven fruit knives; fourteen dinner knives, together with an assortment of various teaspoons, condiment spoons and sugar tongs (qty)
Dimensions
the largest ladle 35cm long
Provenance
Karen and the late Marc Ellington, Towie Barclay Castle, Aberdeenshire
Footnote
Note: In the summer of 1969 the Ellingtons were enjoying a summer holiday in Oban and became friendly with four scuba divers who were staying in the same hotel. The divers were searching for salvage on the wreck of the S.S. Breda in Ardmucknish Bay. In the bar in the evening the divers would tell of their finds under the waves and one night they proudly offered the Ellingtons a box of tarnished cutlery (lot 114) salvaged from the officers mess onboard Breda, which the Ellingtons were delighted to accept. The S.S. Breda was a Dutch cargo passenger ship sunk off Oban during World War II. In December 1940 she left London bound for Mombassa, Bombay and Karachi with valuable cargo including Hawker Biplanes, Tiger Moths, military vehicles and horses. She reached Oban eight days after departure and on 23rd December two German bombers flew overhead dropping explosives on either side of the ship causing serious damage. The twelve passengers were put on the life boat, the horses were set free to swim for their lives, and Captain Foy and the crewmen finally abandoned the ship before she sank some 600 yards from shore in Ardmucknish Bay. She has now become one of the best known wrecks in the UK and was heavily salvaged during the 1960s and 70s.
