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Letters
Ships bell from the Graf Spee or possibly from one of their life boats? Dear Mac, I believe I am in possession of the bell from the Graf Spee ( or possibly from one of their life boats). I have been able to track the origin of the bell back to 1950 but can go no further. I have attatched photo's and would be grateful for any information you may have regarding the bell & is it possible it is authentic.
Many thanks Regards
An interesting artifact, but it is not big enough to be Graf Spee's main bell. The PS and date of 1939 are puzzling, in WW1 German Navl ships carried the prefix SMS to denote Seine Majestjats Schiffor or His Majesty's Ship, but in WW2 the Kreigsmarine ships had no prefix before a ship's name. Now Graf Spee was launched on June 30 in 1934, commissioned January 6 in 1936, to be scuttled on December 17 1939. Sometimes described as a pocket battleship, her armament heavier than that of a Cruiser, I have seen the ship described as a Panzershiff, ( Panzer Ship ) Could the letters PS stand for Panzer Ship? I do not know. The only other context I have seen the letters PS used in a ship sense are for a Paddle Ship, or Paddle Steamer, but that clearly does not apply in the case of your bell. I can get no reference to a boat bell for Graf Spee when put into the Google search engine. Is it genuine? I do not set myself as an expert on Ship's Bells, but it seems to have been cast in Germany, and looks the part, but I could not validate that for certain. You indicated you traced the bell back to 1950, can you please expand on that statement. Again the date 1939 does not fit into the ship launch or commissioning, I would have thought if Graf Spee's ships boats did indeed carry a small bell and they were inscribed with the ship name and date of manufacture, they would correspond with the launch or commissioning dates. Perhaps a ship's boat was replaced in 1939, and your bell ( if from a ship's boat ) was fitted in that boat. But who knows? I am sorry I am unable to be definitive on your interesting acquisition, or really answer your question. Kind regards,
Many thanks for your response & my apologies for taking so long to reply. The bell actually hung in a Public House in St Albans called The Jolly Sailor & was donated to the pub in 1950 by a local gentleman who unfortunately died in 1990. We know that at the end of the war he was a military policeman in Germany upon leaving the forces he joined the Metropolitan police as a forensic scientist. We are still trying to confirm his full name & further information regarding the bell. I have recently forwarded files to James Breese who has done some TV work here in the UK and I am awaiting his reply, should I receive any new information I would be happy to keep you informed. Thank you once again for your interest. Regards |
