Lot 774
AN ALBUM OF PHOTOGRAPHS RELATING TO HMS GLORIOUS 1930-1932.
A fascinating album of photographs relating to H.M.S. Glorious and her time in the Mediterranean including the infamous collision with the French Ocean Liner 'Florida'. The album opens with two pages of photographs of colleagues at sea 'Tiny', 'Jumbo', 'The Infant' and 'Pooh'. Followed by photographs of various locations including St Vincent, Vancouver, Victoria, B.C., and a range of photographs of early RNAS aircraft including a De Haviland Moth marked 'The Hampshire Aeroplane Club Hamble, Hants, No.1', Fairey Long Range Monoplane, Walrus and others including images of crashed and ditched planes. Approximately 159 photographs, and a collection of a further 56 loose related photographs of aeroplanes, ships, landscapes and other subjects.
HMS Glorious was a Courageous Class Battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy in late 1916. Seeing service in the North Sea she took part in the Second Battle of Heligoland Blight and was present when the German fleet surrendered. Converted to an Aircraft Carrier in the late 1920's as a result of the restrictions of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. Capable of carrying up to 48 aircraft Glorious served in the Mediterranean. During the Second World War she became part of Force J which was formed to hunt, unsuccessfully, for the Admiral Graf Spee. Service around Norway followed, with an attack by the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sinking her in June of 1940 with the loss of over 1,200 lives.
One of the most infamous events in the life of HMS Glorious, and an accident well recorded amongst these photographs was the occasion on 1st April 1931 when steaming at 16 knots in fog she unintentionally rammed the French Ocean Liner 'Florida' amidships killing 24 passengers and one seaman.
