217 - ACCOUNTS OF ATTEMPTS TO RAISE H.M.S. ROYAL GEORGE WHICH SANK AT SPITHEAD, 29 AUGUST 1782

ACCOUNTS OF ATTEMPTS TO RAISE H.M.S. ROYAL GEORGE WHICH SANK AT SPITHEAD, 29 AUGUST 1782 including a candid and accurate narrative of the operations used in endeavouring to raise His Majesty’s Ship Royal George, in the year 1783, by William Tracey, the third edition, folding engraved frontispiece, 112pp., stitched, ( final printed leaf detached and worn with some loss, some staining and foxing), octavo, Portsea: printed for the author by J. Williams, 1812; together with a manuscript proposal by the English naval architect and shipwright William McPherson Rice (1796-1868) concerning the raising of the Royal George, intended for the Admiralty, 10 pages, manuscript in ink on laid paper watermarked for 1829, quarto, Chatham Yard, 28 th July 1830 (A lot) Provenance: William McPherson Rice (1796-1868) naval architect and shipwright, and thence by descent The Royal George, a 100-gun Royal Navy warship, was the largest warship in the world when launched in 1756. Built at Woolwich Dockyard over ten years, she served in the Seven Years’ War and was Admiral Sir Edward Hawke’s flagship at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759. She later returned to service during the American Revolutionary War. On 29 August 1782, Royal George sank at Spithead near Portsmouth while being deliberately heeled over for maintenance. The ship rolled too far, water entered through the open gun ports, and she sank rapidly with the loss of over 800 people, making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in British waters. Several attempts were made to raise the ship, both for salvage and to clear the hazard to navigation in the Solent; finally, in 1840, Charles Pasley of the Royal Engineers commenced operations to break up the remaining wreck, pioneering the use of gunpowder underwater. RARE: we are unable to trace any edition of this work sold at auction since 1966.