The Lookout |
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 The Lookout interior The BuildingCapt. Long John Silver, as he preferred to be known, lived in The Look Out, a small house in Royal Pier Road, Gravesend. It had its interior fitted out like a ship wherein the worlds largest collectioin of merchant ship's figureheads and nautical treasures were stored.There are several accounts of what it was like in The Lookout. We are fortunate to have some black and white photographs of the interior which can be seen here.
Sidney Silver Cumbers Sidney Silver Cumbers When only ten years of age he lost an eye through an accident with a toy gun. Any stolid boy would have been sadly affected by such loss. Team games for him ceased to exist and even ordinary boyish companionships were largely denied him through the inherent collousness of the young male. as a result he became self sufficient, being driven more and more into himself as the full extent of his disability came home to him. The lonely little lad found an absorbing hobby in the stream of shipping entering and leaving the Thames Estuary. He had begun to spot and study house flags and ship silhouettes and to read the shipping papers. Being denied a sea career he entered the family business and lived in london. This famous Thames-sider was a successful London business man who lived normally in a conventional flat and dressed in a conventional city style. At weekends and on other occassions he came down to the Look-Out at Gravesend and kept an almost open house for all interestedi n the sea:he wore a yachting cap and a black patch over his glass eye.
FigureheadsThe unique collection of figureheads, eighty- four in all ,represented four centuries of the craftsmanship of carving and formed the largest private collection in existance. The rarest of them is that called the Golden Cherubs dated 1663 and reputed to have been carved by Grindling Gibbons. This lovely figurehead once adorned the bows of the piratical frigate owned by John Jacobs.
The Lookout Timeline
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