Original Item. One Only. This is a King George III Era pewter platter or charger, a huge 18″ in diameter, bearing all the correct Maker’s and Proof Markings to the rear, including the date of 1802. On the top in the center is the Family Crest of ADMIRAL SAMUEL HOOD R.N.: a Cornish Chough perched with its right claw on the fluke of an anchor.
Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood 1724 – 1816, Joined the Royal Navy as a Midshipman in 1741, promoted to Lieutenant 1746, Commander 1754, Post Captain 1757 commanding H.M.S. Grafton.
He was then appointed Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy’s fleet at the North American Station in July 1767. He commanded the British Fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781 against the French, which resulted in his inability to relieve Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, sealing Britain’s fate in the Revolutionary war.
He took part in the Battle of the Saintes in 1782 under Admiral Rodney and also the Battle of Mona Passage where he first met a young Naval Lieutenant to whom he became a mentor, Horatio Nelson. Hood was appointed Admiral in 1787, created Viscount in 1796 and died in 1816.
Despite a a formidable Naval career Samuel Hood is most remembered for the British Battle Cruiser H.M.S. HOOD that was sunk by the German Battleship BISMARCK after only one salvo in 1941.
A magnificent Pewter Charger with historical Royal Navy connections, ready to display.