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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  The Denis Joachim Collection
• Sale Date:
  19 Jun 2016 ~ 2pm - Session 1: Lots 1 - 321
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 10am - Session 2: Lots 322 - 480
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 2pm - Session 3: Lot 481 - 688
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 6pm - Session 4: Lots 689 - 818
• Lot #:
  707
• Lot Description:
  Matthew Fortescue Moresby
  (circa 1828)
  The Church on Pitcaim Island, with HMS Portland in the Background 1855
  watercolour
  titled and dated verso: Pitcaim Church HMS Portland, May 19
• Provenance:
  Christie’s, King Street, London, Exploration & Travel, 29 April 1999
• Notes:
  HMS Iris, launched in 1840, was a 26-gun 6th rate Royal Navy sailing frigate. It started life with the West Africa Squadron where it was involved in combating the slave trade. In 1843, it became part of the East Indies Squadron. It saw action against pirates in Borneo in 1846 and was involved in the establishment of the British colony on Labuan Island off the coast of Borneo in 1847. In late 1856, it was commissioned for the Australia station (part of the East Indies Station) and arrived in Sydney in July 1857. In March 1859, the British Admiralty established an independent Australia Station under the command of William (later Admiral Sir William) Loring (1811-1895) who had commanded Iris since November 1856. The Australia Station included New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga to the east; the Indian Ocean south of India in the west and the Antarctic Circle in the south. The Iris undertook a number of voyages around this area. Carrying the Governor-General, Sir William Denison, it visited Norfolk Island in September 1857. Denison had recently arranged the relocation there of the Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the Bounty mutineers. He arranged for Matthew Fortescue Moresby from the Iris, who had brought his photographic equipment, to record as many of the inhabitants as possible. While on the Australia Station, Iris took part in 1860 in the Taranaki Wars in New Zealand. Iris remained the Station’s first flag ship until 1861 when it returned to Britain. Commodore Loring had ceased to be commander-in-chief of the Australia Station in March 1859 and was succeeded by Commodore Beauchamp Seymour. In 1864 the frigate was lent by the Admiralty to commercial interests to be used as a cable ship. As an obsolete sailing vessel, it had an inglorious end and was reduced to a hulk which had to be towed. It was decommissioned from the Royal Navy in 1869.
• Estimate:
  A$9,000 - 12,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.