H.M.S. Sandfly, 1886 / drawing by Owen F. Gillett

SV/181

fonds

1886

Graphic Materials, Drawings

904854

1 drawing - 22.5 x 29.5 cm - watercolour

Admiral Owen Francis Gillett, C.B., the son of the Rev. Edward Gillett, vicar of Runham, Norfolk, entered the Royal Navy in 1876. He was the navigator of the schooner Undine which arrived in Sydney in April 1884. From 1888 he served on various ships and was appointed Assistant Captain of the Dockyard and Assistant King’s Harbour Master at Portsmouth in 1902. He served during World War I retiring as vice-admiral, and was promoted to admiral on the retired list in 1924. He died in 1938 aged 75 years.

The H.M.S. Sandfly was a Royal Navy survey schooner recommissioned in Sydney in July 1880. In October 1880, the commander of the H.M.S. Sandfly, Lieutenant Bower, and five of his crew were murdered by natives in the Solomon Islands. The surviving crew returned to Sydney on 29th November, 1880. The ship was sold in Sydney in 1883.

Reference:
The Times, 23 March 1938
The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 December 1880 and 9 April 1884
Ships of the Royal Navy : the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th century to the present / J.J. Colledge, Ben Warlow. Rev. ed.. London : Chatham, 2006

By descent through the family. Owen F. Gillett was a friend of Pembrook and Louisa Denne (nee Stuart) who were the grandparents of Patricia McConnochie. Reference: Library correspondence file

A watercolour on paper laid on board of the H.M.S. Sandfly in a dry dock filled with water, probably in Sydney.

Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955

Signed and dated 'Owen F. Gillett 19.2.86.' in image at lower left. Inscribed in pencil on reverse 'H.M.S. Sandfly. Presented by Lieutenant Gillett 1884 (now Admiral)'