A VERY FINE SMALL-SWORD WITH SILVER-GILT AND ENAMELLED HILT PRESENTED BY THE UNDERWRITERS OF THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE EAST INDIAMAN TO CAPTAIN GOOCH, LONDON SILVER HALLMARKS FOR 1796-97, MAKER'S MARK OF JAMES MORRISET with tapering blade of hollow-triangular section, etched with scrollwork and retaining traces of blue and gilt, silver-gilt hilt cast and chased in low relief, comprising oval shell-guard inscribed 'Presented by the Underwriters of the Princess Charlotte East Indn. to Captain Gooch', on the underside and with a laurel border, the inside of the guard with oak foliage and two laurel ovals filled with the enamelled crest of the East India Company and the owner respectively, short scrolling quillon, knuckle-guard decorated with laurel centring on a fouled anchor on each side, oval pommel decorated en suite and inset with an enamelled plaque front and back decorated with differing trophies-of-arms in polychrome enamel against a blue ground, including a compass on the front and a globe on the back, the arms of the hilt formed as small wreaths (the enamel with expert restorations), and silver-gilt grip chased with swags and an oval frame of foliage front and back, each filled with an enamelled plaque decorated with further maritime trophies 83cm; 32 5/8in blade George Gooch (1761-1832) was born in Great Yarmouth. He entered the East India Company's Maritime Service in 1780, after a decade of apprenticeship and service in trading vessels and on a privateer. After promotion through the ranks of Mate, his first command was the SIR STEPHEN LUSHINGTON in 1796, a ship of which he was captain for four voyages 1796-1803. Subsequently, he shared the ownership of several East Indiamen, was an Elder of Trinity House, owned property throughout England and Wales and was buried in St Peter in Thanet, Kent, where his monumental inscription describes him as 'esteemed in public, beloved in private'. The life of the East Indiaman PRINCESS CHARLOTTE is summarised in Farrington's Catalogue... (1999). Launched in 1795, weighing 610 tons, she made four voyages before being captured by a French frigate in Vizagapatam Roads on 18th September 1804. She was built and three-quarters owned by Peter Everitt Mestaer, who also owned a majority share (four-sevenths) in Gooch's first command, the SIR STEPHEN LUSHINGTON. Mestaer was an important Rotherhithe ship-builder who part-owned several East Indiamen, some of which his firm had built, from the 1790s until the early nineteenth century: he had close personal and business links with George Gooch, who was an executor of his will (PROB 11/1613) in 1819. 1431 WORD COUNT IN TOTAL. REMAINDER TO BE SUPPLIED AS WORD DOCUMENT MANOR DO NOT DELETE THIS. WE NEED TO BE REMINDED ???????????????????????????????????;