This barograph bears a great history and excellent provenance, being a gift from Royal Naval Admirals to a then Commanding Officer who would go on to achieve the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, the highest rank in the Royal Navy.
The interior is engraved with a maker's mark for Short & Mason Ltd., London. The barograph bears a presentation plaque, "H.F.O. from P.S. & R.H.P., Oct 1912" The barograph is in excellent condition and has been in Joe Vallejo's private collection for many years.
H.F.O. was Sir Henry Francis Oliver, and the other two were Admirals Sir Percy Scott and Sir Richard Pierse who gave Oliver this barograph as a Christmas gift in 1912. The three men had served together that year when Oliver was in command of H.M.S. THUNDERER, the last battleship ever built in the Thames.
The barograph includes a great set of ephemera the best of which are eight handwritten pages in Admiral Oliver's own hand, four on his time aboard the THUNDERER including the time with Scott and Pierse and four on weather forecasting at sea. Also included is the barograph's original manual, a key, an extra arm, and extra graph pages.
The letter explains that Oliver took command of THUNDERER in 1912 to see her fitted out and is a fascinating account of what it took to get a battleship from launch through sea trials.
The letter reads as a who's who of high ranking naval officers of the time as Oliver details famous figures coming aboard the ship including then First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill and Second Sea Lord Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg along with several admirals including then Vice-Admiral John Jellicoe.
Historical records about Oliver make him seem rather humorless but the letter shows that wasn't the case. There's a great anecdote about testing the ship's guns where Oliver realizes that he has a few rounds left after firing on the targets and he orders a broadside fired, shocking the entire cadre of high ranking officers and expert officials on the upper bridge there to observe including Inspector of Target Practice Admiral Montague Browning, whose hat was blown off by the shock of the gunfire and flew up into the ship's forward funnel.
He speaks fondly of Scott and Pierse, and the three officers clearly enjoyed their time together on the THUNDERER. He ends the story with the gift of this barograph and a small postscript that he received his CB or Companion of the Order of the Bath shortly thereafter.
Oliver wouldn't serve as THUNDERER's commander for long, as he was appointed a naval aide-de-camp to King George V on 2 March 1913. After the outbreak of WWI in 1914 he would serve as Naval Secretary for Churchill. When Admiral Jellicoe was appointed First Sea Lord in December 1916, Oliver became his Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and in that capacity was closely involved in directing the allied forces at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916.
Oliver continue to serve in important posts for the remainder of his career and would continue gaining in rank and honors including his knighthood in 1916. After retiring from the Navy Oliver became deputy chairman of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution before his passing in 1965.
