This French-made combination piece features a clock and aneroid barometer in the form of barrels suspended from the stock of a four-armed foul anchor. An alcohol thermometer with Fahrenheit scale is applied to the anchor’s shank and a compass on a rope coil. The decorative metal parts are of gilded or silvered cast brass. The movement is a typical Parisian eight-day drum movement with going barrel and platform escapement.
Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries novelty clocks such as this were exported in great numbers and were particularly popular in England and America. Maritime and industrial themes were especially popular.
This clock was donated to the Museum by the descendants of Frank Sharphouse Moss RN, who served on board HMS Tamar from 1892 to 1894. In a journal entry for January 1st 1895 he wrote: ‘Reached home having paid off the old “Tamar” into the “E” Division of fleet reserve – i.e. the Sale List and having retained (by drawing lots) the Ward Room clock and Barometer.’