Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal:'The sovereign of the Seas'

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Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal:'The sovereign of the Seas'

AssociatedAssociated with Lord Mountbatten of Burma (Frogmore House, Windsor, England, 1900 - 1979)

Medallist John Pinches, Medallists

DateMay 2004

Object NameMedal

MediumSterling Silver

ClassificationsMedals

Dimensions44mm

AcquisitionPresented in 2004 by Dr Joan M Burrell.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDMS072500.12

Keywords

About MeThe Sovereign of the Seas was the first three-masted, three-decked ship of the line, the prototype of all first-rate men-of-war until the end of warfare under sail. Launched in 1637, she was the most beautiful and highly decorated ship ever built for the Royal Navy.

The first two-decker, the Prince Royal, had been built by Peter Pett of Deptford in 1610, the father of a famous line of naval architects, but it was considered that to construct a three-decker was 'beyond the art or wit of man.' However, Charles I, having raised funds by his Ship Money taxation, was determined that one should be built for prestige reasons and Peter's son, Phineas, was ordered to lay down the keel at Woolwich on 16th January, 1636, in the presence of the King. The ship was launched in October of the following year, and her tonnage was 1,637- the same as the year in which she was built.

The dramatist Thomas Heywood, a friend of Inigo Jones, was made responsible for the elaborate scheme of decoration in gold which makes this ship so representative of the new baroque age of naval architecture. With garlanded ports and her stern and beakhead carved with gilded relief work displaying all sorts of allegorical figures, monograms and friezes, she must have been a fire trap; but she saw service throughout the Dutch Wars before she was accidentally burned in 1696.

Though she was a three-master compared with the four masts stepped in big Elizabethan ships, she carried more sail than they did, being the first ship to be credited with royals. The most significant feature about her was her 102-gun armament, which makes her the predecessor of all first-rate line of battle ships like HMS Victory. On the lower tier she carried 20 9-ft cannon and eight demi-cannon; on the middle 30 culverins; and on the upper deck 26 demi-culverins, in addition to many smaller guns. Her crew amounted to about 600 men, though how they steered the ship with tiller and whipstaff (the wheel not being invented until about 1700) is a mystery. She was also a very expensive ship, the carving alone costing £6,691 and the total cost reckoned at £40,833 8s. 1 1/2d.

A fine oil painting of her stern, together with a portrait, was painted by Sir Peter Lely in the reign of Charles II, when she was rebuilt. The naval architect portrayed in the picture has been identified as Peter Pett the younger, his father, Phineas, the original designer, by then having died, in 1647.

The Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea, John Pinches Medallists Ltd.