216 - AN ARCHIVE OF MASTER SHIPWRIGHT WILLIAM MCPHERSON RICE, CONTAINING NAVAL DRAWINGS, MANUSCRIPTS, LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS

AN ARCHIVE OF MASTER SHIPWRIGHT WILLIAM MCPHERSON RICE, CONTAINING NAVAL DRAWINGS, MANUSCRIPTS, LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS including 23 naval architectural drawings and tracings of ships or sections, 9 on paper and 14 on tracing paper, including signed copies by Rice, in pen and ink or pencil -- 14 x 2cm. to 38 x 87.5cm.), most signed and dated by Rice, from 1817 to 1822, one or two later; commission of Rice’s father as a Lieutenant for the Cape of Good Hope Squadron (1797); letter and lithograph sent to Rice from the Society of Antiquaries about the ‘ancient vessel discovered in July 1822’ in Kent; letter confirming Rice’s election to Fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries, signed by the Secretary and dated 13 June 1823; Commission on parchment signed by Queen Victoria on 1 June 1848 appointing Rice as a Major of the Portsmouth Brigade of the Royal Dockyard Corps, with paper seal; Manuscript by Rice titled “Rice’s Key Fid”, ‘for facilitating the operation of striking ships Topmasts […] and for regulating the height of the mast to the state of the rigging’ etc., 3pp., ink on paper, quarto, [1830] (paper watermarked ‘1829’); autograph letter signed by Sir William Snow Harris FRS (noted for his invention of a successful system of lightning conductors for ships) commending Rice and a copy of letter from Rice to Snow; envelope of Rice’s engraved visiting cards; and Rice’s student manuscript notebook and other letters and documents (A lot) Provenance: William McPherson Rice (1796–1868) naval architect and shipwright, and thence by family descent; (other papers were presented by the family to the National Maritime Museum in 1953). William McPherson Rice (1796–1868) had a long career in British naval architecture and worked in several Royal Navy dockyards, including Deptford, Portsmouth and Chatham, where he gained extensive practical experience in ship construction and design. By 1822, he was employed as a draughtsman under Sir Robert Seppings, the Surveyor of the Navy. Rice eventually became Assistant Master Shipwright at Chatham in 1844 and, in 1852, Master Shipwright at Pembroke Dockyard. In 1822-23 he assisted in the excavation and investigation of an ancient vessel found in the River Rother, East Sussex. In 1837 Rice led a team of shipwrights to refloat and repair the beached H.M.S. Terror, which, under the command of Captain George Back (1796-1878), had returned from the Arctic badly damaged by the ice. Rice's repairs, which enabled Terror to sail to the Royal Navy's Chatham Dockyard, were commended by Back in his Narrative of the 1836-37 voyage.