Frodsham & Keen
The salvaged chronometer
Seen here are the remains of a marine chronometer signed by Frodsham & Keen of 31, Castle Street, Liverpool, and numbered 3839, which was used on board the RMS Hesperian. (See below for further details)
In May 1915 there had occurred the famous incident where the American passenger liner, the Lusitania, had been torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat U.20 under the command of Captain Walther Schweiger. In a desire to keep the Americans neutral and not joining the war the German Ambassador Count Bernsdorff had promised that, under certain conditions, 'passenger liners will not be sunk without warning and without insuring the safety of the non combatants aboard providing that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance'. But despite these assurances it was on the 4th of September 1915 that Captain Schweiger, still in command of U.20, was off the Fastnet Rock in the Irish Sea looking for likely targets knowing that any vessels traveling that route would be in visual contact with the Fastnet lighthouse. He identified the location of the RMS Hesperian and fired off a single torpedo hitting the forward engine room at which point Captain Main ordered the evacuation to the lifeboats. One of the 350 passengers on board the liner was Miss Isabella Williamson, a young Irish immigrant who was moving to Canada to be with her older sister who resided there. She later recalled the moment of impact writing, "Everything went all right up till about half past eight in the evening. After dinner I was speaking on the second deck to a Canadian gentleman, when we heard a great crash against the side of the ship. This was followed by a horrible grating sound, as though something was boring its way into the vessel. Immediately afterwards a lot of smoke came up over the side, it looked just like steam. A dreadful scene followed". Thirty two lives were lost with great outcry and although the Hesperian limped along for another two days she finally sunk without making it to port. On returning to Berlin Walther Schweiger was met with disgust and ordered to apologise for sinking yet another passenger liner in defiance of direct orders, this despite the German Ambassador at first denying that the action had anything to do with Germany.
Captain Walther Schweiger
A further poignant point to Schweiger and U-boat U.20 is that when sinking the Lusitania in May one of the passengers killed was Mrs Frances Stephens of Montreal. Her body was recovered and embalmed in preparation of a return to Canada to be buried in the grave of her late husband George Stephens. The casket was loaded onto the Hesperian and presumably still lies in the hold of the liner at the bottom of the Irish Sea. She was therefore on both boats hit by Schweiger.
The Hesperian was built by A. Stephen & Sons, Glasgow in 1907 for the Allan Line. She was a 10,920 gross ton ship, length 485.5ft x beam 60.3ft, one funnel, two masts, twin screw and a speed of 15 knots. There was passenger accommodation for 210 passengers in first class, 250 in second and 1,000 in third. She was launched on the 20th of December 1907, leaving Glasgow on her maiden voyage to Quebec and Montreal in April the following year. In January 1910 she was chartered to Canadian Pacific and completed a single round voyage between Liverpool and St John.
A similair example by Frodsham & Keen showing how it would've looked
The movement to this two day chronometer was made for Frodsham & Keen by the firm of Thomas Mercer at a price of £18/-/- . Records indicate the serial number, 3839, having a date of manufacture of 1899. Although also making chronometers under there own name Mercer's also made the movements for a number of the large concerns who would before then case the piece themselves.
Thomas Mercer themselves had outworkers making a number of the parts to be brought together in the workshop and assembled. The frontplate of this movement is stamped with the initials 'J. & T.T' being those of the blank movement maker's John & Thomas Taylor of Alderton Road, Prescot, Lancashire.
Frodsham & Keen were at 31, Castle Street, Liverpool from 1892 and were a continuation of the famous line of Frodsham chronometer maker's who originated in London having been founded in 1798 by William Frodsham. At one point in the mid 1800's there were four branches of the family firm working as high class chronometer maker's, three in London and one in Liverpool, all in friendly competition with each other and willing to help out the other if needed.
Parkinson & Frodsham originally opened a retail outlet in Liverpool in 1828 having had an agent in the city for a number of years previously. This was in recognition of the importance of Liverpool as a seafaring port where there would be a high demand for ship's chronometers. In 1834 William Frodsham was approached by his son Henry who asked to buy the Liverpool business and this was agreed with a bond of £5,000 to be paid over a period of ten years, the business becoming known simply as Henry Frodsham. A list of his outworker.s shows that most chronometer's now sold by Frodsham in Liverpool where made elsewhere, most notably Clerkenwell in London, at this time the centre of the clockmaking industry and quite likely by Parkinson & Frodsham. In October 1856 Henry joined with the nautical instrument maker Robert John Keen of 18, Salthouse Dock in an initial ten year partnership with both keeping their separate addresses. At the time of drawing up the agreement it was noted that Henry was .not in very good health. and when he died two years later Henry's wife, Frances Louisa, continued the partnership until Keen bought her out and continued alone but still using the name.
