New sundials - the Victory
David Harber has been commissioned by Victory Ltd to make sundials out of copper removed from flagship of Admiral Lord Nelson, HMS Victory, for the 1805 Collection.
The Victory dial depicts the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, the famous British naval victory over the combined French and Spanish navies in Europe's Napoleanic wars of the early nineteenth century. The British were led in the battle by Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson.
The sundial is made from glass housed in a brass frame, onto which significant events in the battle are etched. The progression is shown in real time by a shadow cast onto the copper of HMS Victory.
For the 1805 collection, David has also designed a horizontal sundial — the Trafalgar — which is set in a William and Mary stone plinth. Copper taken from HMS Victory is set within a brass ring which is engraved with details of the chronology of the battle from 11.40am to 5.45pm. Shadow moves across the HMS Victory copper showing the sequence of the battle throughout the day.
The horizontal sundial also marks the time from 6am to 6pm and incorporates an equation of time graph for converting solar time to Greenwich Mean Time.
Engraved on the sundial in flags is Nelson’s famous signal England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty.
More horizontal sundials
