This gun, a 32 pounder, part of the armament of the
Royal George, was fished up from the wreck of that ship by Mr. Deans,
the zealous and enterprising Diver, on the 15th November 1836, and
was presented by the Master-General and Board of Ordnance to General
Durham of Largo, the elder Brother of Sir Philip Charles Henderson
Durham, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of
the Bath, Knight Commander of the Most Ancient Military Order of
Merit of France, Admiral of the White Squadron of Her Majesty's
Fleet, and Commander-in-Chief of the Port of Portsmouth, 1836._
Sir Philip was serving as a lieutenant in the _Royal George_, and was
actually on duty as officer of the watch upon deck when the awful
catastrophe took place. He was providentially and miraculously saved,
but nearly 900 persons perished, amongst them the brave Admiral
Kempenfelt, whose flag went down with the ship.
The wreck of the _Royal George_ was the most awful disaster that had
hitherto happened to the Royal Navy. William Cowper the poet, as soon as
the sad news was brought to him, wrote a solemn poem entitled "The Loss
of the _Royal George_," from which it seems that Admiral Kempenfelt was
in his cabin when the great ship suddenly foundered.
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