BATTLE OF THE RIVER PLATE: A COLLECTION OF COMMEMORATIVE ITEMS
comprising an 8in. bulkhead clock mounted on board with brass plate inscribed H.M.S. EXETER SUB.LIEUT J.E. CAUSTON R.N.V.R BATTLE OF THE RIVER PLATE 13TH DECEMBER 1939 -- 13 x 12in. (33 x 30.5cm.); together with a set of three photographs of Ajax, Achilles and Exeter framed in series, with same provenance on mount; a Third Reich red ensign attributed to a launch from Graf Spee -- 56 x 93in. (142 x 236cm.); and a small treen bowl made from Ajax teak
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In December 1939, three British cruisers - Ajax, Achilles and Exeter - under the command of Commodore Henry Harwood formed one of various task forces searching the South Atlantic for the German pocket-battleship Graf Spee which had been preying on the Allied merchant shipping since soon after the War began. Harwood believed Graf Spee would be attracted to the busy shipping lanes off the estuary of the River Plate and his intuition proved uncannily accurate when he sighted his adversary on 13 December. Splitting his force to sail either side of Graf Spee, Harwood went into action immediately. Within half-an hour, all three of his cruisers had been damaged, with Exeter and Ajax so severely mauled that Harwood was forced to retire. Instead of pursuing his quarry when he was in a position either to defeat them or to escape, Captain Langsdorff took Graf Spee into the neutral port of Montevideo where he was allowed to remain for a few days. Believing that he was boxed in by a superior force which was growing by the day, Langsdorff took his ship out into the Plate estuary on 17 December and scuttled her. A somewhat hollow victory for the Royal Navy, the three cruisers had nevertheless fought valiantly against a much more powerful enemy whose sinking provided a sorely-needed boost to British morale as the War gathered momentum.
++Clock: painted dial scuffed and stained with wear around keyhole and five or six other areas. Not running at time of writing. Glass lid appears to have new hinge and securing screws.
Photographs: unexamined out of frame, appear to be in generally overall good condition. Mount has some evidence of damp, lower left.
Flag: appears to be in fine overall condition with little evidence of wear suggesting it may have come from a flag locker.
Teak bowl: in sound condition with two or three small ? oil stains in base.