HMS Hermes R12 – Update
September 24th, 2021
Sorry the updates haven’t been as regular as you might have wanted, but I can assure you that we are getting very close to having the first batch of goods live on the website. We have had many hurdles and delays getting all the goods ready for sale, but we are pleased to say after a few false starts the wait is almost over. The salvage was very challenging for a number of reasons and it wasn’t as fruitful as we would have liked but we hope you like what we have managed to bring home.
July 19th, 2021
We have been picking through the lights we salvaged from Hermes and unfortunately, they’re not fit for sale in their raw state. Consequently, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer whilst we carry out some essential work.
July 12th, 2021
We have a number of ships ladder stairways but one set, in particular, was in disrepair so it was decided to strip off the teak and convert it into beautiful writing pens and shaver handles – watch this space for more updates
July 7th, 2021
We are only halfway through unpacking and processing last Thursday’s (July 1st) container. Of the dozen or so types of items that have come back in this first load most will take over a week or two to process properly for the website. By the end of this week though we should be able to upload a couple of easier lines that do not need any further checking or work doing to them.
Lights and Lamps
There are 850 light fittings to sort and check, we are currently sorting them into types, and then we are going to put them through our workshop to upgrade the lamp holders as well as selecting those that will become desk lamps and those that will stay as-is.Bulkhead Doors
Yes, even my staff thought I was mad for buying so many of these but I love them and think they are important but I appreciate they have a limited market. They will be photographed individually for sale. At around 350kgs each I’m sure you can appreciate that this takes a little time to assess, process and photograph properly.
Beautiful ships stairs that we are very pleased with. One set has been sacrificed in order to make a few wooded items that we are very excited about, the maker of which was on standby for the container arrival and has been busy turning and crafting since. We will announce those at the end of this week.Speakers
Very happy with these. The large and medium sized ones will lend themselves very well to housing wireless speakers, wired or Bluetooth, so we are looking into that right now. The smallest ones will go on the site very soon to be the first of many affordable mementos.Teak Steps
From INS Viraat era. We took a gamble on these being from the Hermes but they are most probably Viraat vintage.Coat Hooks
Delighted by salvaging so many of these but dismayed by how expensive they were to us in the end. But, they are one of the items that won’t look out of place anywhere in the home and should please all members of the household rather than just the matelots.Steel Benches
July 2nd, 2021
After unloading the container and unpacking one of each item we can now confirm we have:
- Lights
- Benches
- Steps
- Large, medium, and small aluminum speakers
- Coat Hooks
- Bulkhead doors
We are delighted to have already received lots of enquiries regarding some of the aforementioned HMS Hermes items posted on our social media.
July 1st, 2021
Today we are unloading the first container from India. We are not sure what’s in this container, it’s one of many to come.
Prices
Those that know us and the way we operate will already know that we do not profiteer on single items and that we achieve profit from selling the bulk of items not the individuals. Our selling price is indicative of what we paid for the item rather than what we think we can get for them.
Proof of this was in the Ark Royal job. When we started selling the Ark Royal kit a surprising amount of items were bought from us very quickly and put straight on to eBay for twice our price by those looking for a fast buck. That’s not our style.
The price will be the price and please trust that we are doing it as cheap as possible.
The Hermes has been the most difficult ship we’ve ever worked on and consequently the most expensive.
Due to Covid conditions in India and the controversial court case surrounding Her scrapping we were not able to salvage in the way we are used to. The costs of items spiraled above rates that we would normally be comfortable paying.
With extremely limited time onboard and the removal of items being affected by the politics we weren’t able to implement our regular stringent quality control, leading to a higher percentage of inferior objects, and not being able to be on the ground to negotiate eye to eye for long meant we were, in some ways, held to ransom.
Rest assured though that we have some wonderful items that fit all budgets.
Specific Requests
Sadly it’s very difficult to get specific pieces by request. In normal circumstances we would have a good chance to ‘hand pick’ but due to the terrible Covid conditions there restricting our travel, as well as the yards being unpredictably shut down at times.