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A little bit of history

Doug

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Take a guess
A good friend of mine has been asked to repair an old Teak garden bench that has quite a lot of sentimental value attached to it, unfortunately it had been left under a leaking gutter & unusually for teak had rotted.

He had saved the pieces that needed removing as he thought I'd be interested in them for pens.

It turns out that this bench had been made from wood reclaimed from RMS Arlanza (1912) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which was built in 1912 & had been broken by Hughes Bolckow ship breaking company in 1938, he knew this as the bench bore a plaque stating that it had been made from the timbers of the said ship.

The rot whilst bad enough to cause the joints in the bench to break down wasn't so bad as to affect anything more than the surface.

photo1_zps073f9f09.jpg


photo2_zps43776cde.jpg


Plenty enough to salvage some pen blanks from :banana::banana:
 

Grump

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Brian
Interesting and novel Doug, your pens will have a nautical interest to some on this forum let alone as a sale piece.
 

Doug

Loquacious
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In the wood shop
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Take a guess

paulm

grave manibus faciendum
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That is fantastic stuff Doug, couldn't be better, bring on the pics.
 

Jim

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Oct 19, 2011
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A great story to tell to customers Doug .. :bwink: Looking forward to seeing the pens my friend .. :thumbs:
 

Jim

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Oct 19, 2011
Posts
15,617
Doug,

I received an email today from a Lady in Australia, I was asked to pass this on to you... :bwink:

Hi,

This is for Doug, please.

My grandfather served on the RMS Arlanza. He ran away to sea from Cape Town, SA, in around 1913, joined the Merchant Marine, then joined the RN, and served as a 'Boy' until he was old enough to be an Able Seaman. While in HMS Victory (on shore) he was selected for training for the torpedo section, and he learned his life-long trade as an electrician - a huge leap from the 'office boy' he was when he signed up! RMS Arlanza hit a floating mine in 1915, in the North Sea off Russia blew off part of the bow, limped to a port, and the bulk of the crew were shipped back to England. A skeleton crew patched the ship enough to get back to England - ships were in that short supply - and she was re-fitted and saw out the war.

While on shore leave in London, he met my grandmother, and they married in 1920, just after she turned 17, and he brought her back to the Cape. They lived happily together for over 50 years. He served in South African Air Force during the Second World War.

I don't know whether you or your friend would allow me to purchase a pen made from this amazing relic of the ship, but if so, I would really love to. I live in Australia.

Thank you for passing this on to Doug,
Cathy
 

silver

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Somewhere in Staffordshire,
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Eamonn.
What a great piece of history adding to the provenance Doug.. it's nice to see that it also means something to this lady on the other side of the world... It just shows what effect this little island had on the rest of the world.
 
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