A brooch given to the first passenger to board a Dundee-built steamship 37 years before she sank has surfaced at an antiques roadshow. The decorative item was presented to Elizabeth Anderson on April 21 1894, the date of the maiden voyage of the SS Citrine, according to the British website ‘itv News.’ Built by Dundee shipbuilders W B Thompson & Co, the Citrine was one of a number of vessels in the Glasgow-based “Gem line,” all of which were named after gemstones or minerals. The shipping firm was owned by William Robertson, who started out with a single barge in 1852 before growing it into one of the largest coastal bulk shipping fleets in Britain. The brooch was presented to Anderson by Robertson and is inscribed with the words “SS Citrine, April 21 1894, Elizabeth McIntyre Anderson, from William Robertson.” The sides of the gold-colored item are shaped as a ship’s rope and its center has been designed as a life ring mounted with a citrine stone, echoing the name of the vessel. The Citrine sank on March 17 1931 after striking rocks at Bradda Head, Port Erin, on the Isle of Man. Accounts at the time described the ship’s final moments in darkness, heavy weather and confusion, and the disaster claimed the lives of nine of her 11 crew members. William Robertson had been dead for 12 years by the time of the sinking but the business remained in family hands under his sons, William Francis Robertson and James Robertson. The brooch was discovered at a WeBuyVintage roadshow in Fleetwood, Lancashire.
