BUILT LIKE A SHIP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIX, 3 February 1936, Page 5

BUILT LIKE A SHIP

COMPANY DIRECTOR’S HOME There is one man who was so fond of .- the sea and things nautical-'that he has "" made his home into the replica of; an ocean-going liner —and the most luxiiri-'' ous liner that will -never go -to sea. He is Captain Silver, of Gravesend, a London company director, who forin'erly' ’ ' served on a. merchant steamer; Recently one-of the most- remarkable private collections of ship models and nautical souvenirs ever seen in Great Britain was opened by him to a few-.friends. - ■ Opposite the (little jharbour where, , .1 Gravesend shrimp boats are .moored . a disused house and what was a derelict back yard now looks like a liner. .- Entrance is made through a gangway, on either side of which are crew’s Quarters, the forecastle.-and the poop. The main saloon is called the Val Halla—a hall in which is shown a rare collection of figureheads of famous windjammers and woodeinvalls

The bridge has a companion-way at the entrance and form the upstairs part •/ of tlie house. Working steering equipment is the same as in a steamship and there full-sized funnel as a background. Live fisn-in specially-made tanks swim by portholes, and models of ships also seen through the portholes, give the impression that one is at sea. Telegraphs and compasss are all in working order, and the bridge looks out on to the River Thames.

Aboard the Look Out, as this “ship” is called, there are winter gardens and chart house. The “crew” of six ; , including a boatswain and deck boy, act chiefly as stewards to the visitors. Captain Silver, who wears a black eye-shade and a tiepin consisting of skull and crossbones, has only one eye and is therefore unable to pursue his love for the sea excepi in this way. He stands on the bridge, looking the Thames, and bellows orders to the crew*