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HMS TERROR, CAPTAIN BACK 1836


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This is from a Torex auction IN 2014, as you can see the belief is that only 3 of the medals from that expedition are still known to exist today, 2 in museums & the one in private hands they auctioned. The estimated value was given as $0 CAD, as they had no previous info to go by. Including hammer & taxes, it went for $2,950 Canadian, despite its worn condition.


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TOREX 2014 AUCTION

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TOREX 2014 AUCTION

This is the enlarged image, so in pretty worn condition, as is the one in the National Maritime Museum Greenwich http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/40188.html


Now would be a most suitable time to imagine a roll of drums & trumpets sounding............. ;)


As if by magic, Number 4 appears,



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This is silvered brass, 31mm, you can see the brass inside the punch hole, and is almost as struck.

Edited by constanius
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Yes Bill, I was waiting for it to arrived safely...phew!

New purchase?

 

Thanks Art.

 

Some images & info here on the expedition http://www.lindahall.org/george-back/

 

 

 

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National Portrait Gallery Image of George Back.

National Portrait Gallery & CC License links.

Narrative of an expedition in H.M.S. Terror, undertaken with a view to geographical discovery on the Arctic shores, in the years 1836-7, by Captain Back, R.N., Commander of the Expedition is available online.

 

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HMS Terror was a bomb vessel, these were ships that were purpose built to fire heavy mortars(which fired upwards in an arc and unlike cannons were not on wheels) for bombardment of coastal defenses etc and therefore were very strongly built to withstand the downward pressure. That was the reason these bombs were used for arctic & antarctic expeditions as they were better equipped to withstand the huge pressures exerted by ice.

It was a navy tradition to name these bombs vessels after volcanoes,for obvious reasons, but if no name was available then "Terror" was a good option, so good in fact that a volcano was named Terror after the ship :)

In the USA's anthem " And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" the bombs bursting were fired by bomb vessels.

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She was trapped in open sea ice and was at one time lifted 40 ft up the side of a cliff, her keel was broken etc and, as you can see by the picture in the above post, almost capsized. ""The ice that bore us was ascertained to be seventy feet thick" Captain Back in a letter. The ship was carried by the ice wherever the winds & tides took the ice floe she was trapped in, as other ice was forced under the ice she was trapped in she was lifted higher & higher. When the spring thaw came the ice melted and eventually she broken free but there was a huge amount of ice one side of the ship & none on the other, hence the very dangerous list.

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I decided a few weeks ago to put my Canadian medals in an auction in Nov, The star of my small collection, hopefully, will be the HMS Terror medal.

 

Well they have just announced the discovery of HMS Terror, which should help generate some interest https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/09/12/hms-terror-from-doomed-franklin-expedition-found.html

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Wise idea! Strike while the iron is hot!

How true TDP!

 

Bear in mind the auction result includes buyers fees, taxes, shipping etc but my share will be $3,750(hammer) - %10. Not too shabby for an under $40 purchase including shipping. Some of my other items far exceeded my expectations too.

 

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