Lady of Avanel napkin ring made from ships’ timber

Nice napkin ring made from the ships timber.

The ribs and keel of this once famous ship are just visible at low water, between the navigable channels in Holes Bay. Named after the heroine of Scott’s novel ‘The Abbot’, she was built as a schooner, and in her early years was engaged in the illegal slave trade. Later she ran the Azores fruit trade, and then Newfoundland cod. About 1880 she feel over bin dry dock, and in being repaired was rigged as a brigantine. During the Great War she carried Welsh coal, then an expedition to Spitzbergan, and for a while served as a boy’s training ship in Falmouth Harbour. When a Captain Dowman brought the Cutty Sark, he sold the LADY OF AVENEL in 1924. Her new owner renamed her ISLAND, and sent her off on another ARTIC expedition. Renamed VIRGO, then back to her old name, she was scuttled in Poole after 65 years service. Royal Marines blew up the wreck in 1979, but her figurehead is preserved in Germany, her compass binnacle being in Poole Maritime Museum.