HMS Bounty Bronze Nail

Royal Navy vessel under the command of William Bligh sent to Tahiti in 1787 to acquire breadfruit plants; the ship’s master, Fletcher Christian, led a mutiny and seized command on April 28, 1789, after the mutineers attempted to build a colony on the island of Tubuai. Curved bronze sheathing nail recovered from the HMS Bounty, approximately 1″ long, attached to a burnt sienna cloth backing and framed to an overall size of 3.5 x 4. In fine condition. Luis Marden—writer, photographer, diver and explorer for the National Geographic Society—discovered the remains of HMS Bounty at the bottom of Bounty Bay at Pitcairn Island. This nail, recovered by Marden, is from those remains. Accompanied by a copy of the original transmittal letter from Marden, dated Ausut 2, 1971, in part: “This was recovered by me in 1957 from the bottom of Bounty Bay at Pitcairn Island, in some thirty feet of water...This nail is from the remains of the Bounty and was used to fasten the copper sheathing to the hull below the waterline.” The HMS Bounty vessel itself was built in 1784, purchased and refit by the Royal Navy in 1787, and burned and sunken on January 23, 1790—making this nail approximately 225 years old, recovered after spending 167 years at the bottom of the sea. RR Auction COA.

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