Reptiles Gallery

Fortnum & Masons Christmas Box for soldiers, WW1

Advertisement for quintessential London department store, Fortnum & Mason, in particular their Thirty Shilling Xmas Box of selected provisions which could be sent to the front for lucky soldiers (though probably officers!). Latest date for dispatch to France was 14 December 1917 and a war catalogue was available upon application. The box contained a fine selection of food including real turtle soup, roast goose, brandy sauce and cherries in brandy. Date: 1917

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

GLC-LFB Fire boat - Fire Hawk

Entering service in February 1976, the Fire Hawk was built by Watercraft of Shoreham at a cost of £60, 000. Measuring 45 feet in length, 13.5 inch beam and with a 3.5 foot draft, she had a top speed of 17 knots. With a single fixed monitor forward, the twin portable pumps provided a pumping capacity of 1200 gpm (5400 litres per minute). The Fire Hawk was sold off in 2000

© London Fire Brigade / Mary Evans Picture Library

Extirpation of the Plagues of Egypt:- Destruction of Revolutionary Crocodiles, 1798

XYC289253 Extirpation of the Plagues of Egypt:- Destruction of Revolutionary Crocodiles, 1798 (hand-coloured etching) by Gillray, James (1757-1815); 24.4x35.6 cm; Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, USA; (add.info.: or - the British Hero Cleansing ye Mouth of ye Nile; refers to defeat of French navy at Aboukir Bay in 1798 by Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805); French ships depicted as crocodiles;); English, out of copyright

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