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The Narbonne Brooch is a monogram in pearls set in gold, and was presented to Mrs Janet Turner, a relative of my grandmother, in 1903 when she performed the naming ceremony for the Narbonne SS, built at the Irvine Shipyard in Ayrshire for James Moss & Co of Liverpool. The Narbonne sailed between Liverpool and the Mediterranean until 1911, when she was sold to Nordenfjeldske Damps, Norway and renamed TORE JARL SS. In 1917, she was hit and sunk by a torpedo from a German submarine, the Alfred Arnold, off Sumburgh Head in Shetland while on her way between Newcastle and Trondheim.
The brooch was given to my by my grandmother, and represents our family's involvement in shipping and the sea. I only recently found out the fate of the Narbonne, and it fascinates me that having been used in the trade between the UK and the Mediterranean, she became involved in World War One, and ended her days in the cold waters of the North Sea.