ARMS & ARMOUR

This Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund Sword (below) was presented in 1804 to Robert Torin, commander of the Honourable East India Company’s (HEIC) ship Coutts. As detailed in the presentation inscription, the Coutts was among a fleet of merchant ships that in January 1804 sailed from Canton with a cargo of tea, silk and porcelain valued at over £8m, the equivalent today of over £600m. When met by a French squadron, four of the merchant ships exchanged fire, an action which likely saved both the HEIC and Lloyd’s of London from financial ruin.