Silver goblets

[pugwash]

My SWMBO harrumphed all the way through Master and Commander. Loved the sea and ship shots, hated Russell Crowe and (she said) his off-Kiwi accent. Worse, she spotted crystal goblets being used at the captain's table to toast wives and sweethearts ("May they never meet, etc"). SWMBO is an antique dealer and says they'd surely have used wine goblets of silver, unbreakable and more classy. Does anyone happen to know Horatio Nelson's decorator well enough to pose the question?

Mind you, silver goblets are an idea I'd never thought of. We smashed four wineglasses in the boat last summer and silver wouldn't affect the compass. "Dear Father Christmas..."

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[ccscott49]

I know what you mean, I'm going through wine glasses at an alarming rate, bronze ones might be a better bet, or pewter!

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[vyv_cox]

I bought a set of polycarbonate wine 'glasses', they've been dropped a few times but look as good as new. West sell them but I have seen them on sale in Europe also. Would probably survive broadsides but not a direct hit.

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[ccscott49]

I've seen those in a few places and very good they are aswell, but I do like my wine (chateau cardboard) in nglass, but I need stronger glasses, mine seem to break when I'm drying them, yes I know I should let somebody a little more gentle do it, but my crew is even more hamfisted than I am! Crystal glasses are amazingly strong, but expensive, I'll just have to keep looking.

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[Nich39Nige]

Sorry old boy but crystal was used by majority of Captains in this period including Nelson. Your SWMBO not quite on the ball in this case. Many references to breakages in private logs and letters due to weather/enemy action.



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[longjohnsilver]

Don\'t believe it!

How can you be getting though wine glasses at a rate of knots when you drink it straight from the bottle?

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[ccscott49]

Re: Don\'t believe it!

dont bother drinking it these days, intraVINOusly!

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[pugwash]

If you drink wine from pewter goblets (or tankards for that matter) it seems to taste quite a few degrees colder. maybe useful in your part of the world. The pewter tumblers without handles which some of my kids got for christening presents are ideal and on a boat they're also useful for keeping paintbrushes, doling out antifreeze, etc.

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[pugwash]

I'll take much pleasure in letter her know, don't worry.

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[jamesjermain]

Pewter warning

I have it on good authority that wine should never be drunk out of pewter.

Pewter is an alloy which contains (maybe contained) lead. Wine, being acidic can dissolve some of the metal of a pewter tankard, which will contain small mounts of lead - and we all know wat that means!

Ale is not so aggressive so is safe in pewter pots.

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[ccscott49]

Re: Pewter warning

There is most certainly lead in pewter, I stand warned! Thanks James.

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[pugwash]

Re: Pewter warning

Good point. Come to think of it, the tumblers I spoke of were plated silver.

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[Mirelle]

Silver at sea

Using silver at sea is really not a very good idea, for the same reason that one should always religiously empty and wash silver salts immediately after use.

Ordinary tarnish on silver is silver sulphide, which is why silver tarnishes so fast if left anywhere near a gas fire or a gas cooker, or if it is left in a room with a new carpet. Silver oxide forms very slowly indeed and is thought by some to be the basis of the bluish patina that some good old silver shows - it is not readily removed by normal polishing.

Silver chloride is nasty as a tiny grain of salt on the surface will start a corrosion cell and you very soon get local pitting, which makes a real mess of nice silver.

This I think would help to explain why the sea officers of Nelson's time preferred lead glass, despite the risk of breakage.

(sorry, can get really boring about eighteenth century silver....)

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[thewetone]

Re: Silver at sea

I have a lovely thermal mug that keeps hot things hot and cold things cold but.......how does it know the difference?

<hr width=100% size=1>Randy

Once the avalanche has started, it's too late for the pebbles to vote

 

[Twister_Ken]

Re: Silver at sea

Which reminds me of the David Beckham/Alex Ferguson joke.

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[VicS]

Re: Silver and new carpets

I am intrigued by the link bewteen new carpets and silver tarnishing. More info please. Not that we have any silver or new carpets for that matter.

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[thewetone]

Re: Silver and new carpets

Maybe has something to do with cooling carpet burns!!!

<hr width=100% size=1>Randy

Once the avalanche has started, it's too late for the pebbles to vote

 

[Mirelle]

Re: Silver and new carpets

I don't actually know if it is the carpet or the underlay, but one or the other gives of traces of H2S - you can usually smell it in a carpet shop or in a room with a new carpet. Presumably some sort of vulcanising process is used.

The reason for not using a silver spoon to eat a boiled egg is the same - the trace sulphides in the egg turn the silver black. Cabbage has the same effect.




<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[pugwash]

Not the right ones

Says SWMBO: "That's fascinating, and thank you, but even if they did use glass at sea in Nelson's time, the ones in the film were not "right." Something to do with the etching.

Don't ask me, I'd rather talk about antifouling.

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[pugwash]

Re: Silver at sea

Mirelle -- My SWMBO has a beautiful box on the pattern of a sea chest in which are packed several silver table lights and ornaments. It was owned by a sea captain in the 1850s. We assumed that the stuff would have been used at his cabin table on special occasions and packed away at other times, but your comment suggests silver used in sea air would have self-destructed. Could you shed any light on this? Not at all boring, I promise you!

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