78 - A FINE AND DETAILED 1:100 SCALE WATERLINE MODEL OF THE BRISTOL CHANNEL WHITE FUNNEL PADDLE STEAMER DEVONIA, ORIGINALLY BUILT BY JOHN BROWN & CO. [1905]

A FINE AND DETAILED 1:100 SCALE WATERLINE MODEL OF THE BRISTOL CHANNEL WHITE FUNNEL PADDLE STEAMER DEVONIA, ORIGINALLY BUILT BY JOHN BROWN & CO. [1905] modelled by C.G. Hooper, the 28in. carved hull fitted with cabin windows, portholes and decorative paddle boxes, scored decks with polychrome fittings and passengers as appropriate throughout, including benches, open bridge with helmsman, stayed funnels, safety valve extension pipes and hooter, five covered boats in davits, masts with rigging and much other fine detailing, depicted underway on a foamy moulded sea within a glazed wooden case with brass feet -- 12 x 35 x 12in. (30.5 x 89 x 30.5cm.) Provenance: Christie's South Kensington, Maritime, 14th May 1998, lot 265 A striking two-funneled pleasure steamer, Devonia was built by Messrs. John Brown at Clydebank in 1905. Registered at 622 tons and measuring 245 feet long with a 29-foot beam, she was fitted with diagonal compound engines that gave her a cruising speed of 19 knots, though this was later reduced to 17 knots because of excessive coal consumption. Originally owned by the Barry Railway Company, Campbell's acquired her in 1911 and requisitioned her as a minesweeper when war broke out in 1914. Released in June 1919, she returned to peacetime sailings, including a cross-channel run from Brighton, until she was again pressed into service when war was declared in September 1939. The following spring found her at Dunkirk, engaged in evacuating the beleaguered British Army, where, on 31st May, she was bombed by German aircraft and so badly damaged that she had to be beached and abandoned.