Last updated at 16:38, Friday, 03 August 2012

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BUYING a Barrow submarine usually takes millions of pounds and involves waiting a year or two but there is one on offer in the next sale at Furness Auctions which is ready to dive.

Five-man midget submarines built after the war by Vickers-Armstrongs were pretty small by Royal Navy standards but still huge compared to the fully functioning scale model on offer in Barrow a week on Sunday.

HMS stickleback in model form took £1,000 in parts and many hours of workshop time to build.

At around three feet in length, it would be a little more manageable on Barrow park lake than the 53ft 9in museum exhibit it is based on.

Auctioneer Rory McClure expects the model of Stickleback to sell in the £400 to £600 price range.

He said: “It has got all its radio control equipment and it is fully operational.”

The original submarine was launched at Barrow in July 1954 and sold to the Royal Swedish Navy four years later for use in harbour defence exercises.

It returned to Britain in 1976 and is now an exhibit at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford.

Another lot with a shipbuilding theme is the 1919 yearbook of the Institution of Naval Architects, which includes battleships plans for vessels such as Iron Duke. It should make £15 to £30.

Also on sale is a programme autographed by many of the players in rugby league’s 1981 John Player Trophy final.

The match was held at Central Park Wigan with Warrington beating Barrow by the narrow margin of 12 points to five.

The sporting theme is continued with a group of small trophies from the late 1950s for the Barrow and District Amateur Rugby League and vintage rules for pool and a game called pyramids.

Traditional antiques include a grandfather clock by William Matthews, of Penrith, likely to sell for £400 to £600.

First published at 16:13, Friday, 03 August 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk