File:From England to America (HMS Monarch) - The Graphic 1869.jpg

English: From England to America. Illustration for The Graphic, 18 December 1869. (front page).

Text page 6

MORTUARY CHAPEL ON BOARD THE "MONARCH" On Saturday morning the mortal remains of the late Mr. George Peabody were removed from their temporary resting-place in Westminster Abbey to Ports mouth, where they were immediately embarked on H.M.S. Monarch which vessel, by special order of the Queen, had been designed to carry back to his native land the body of that eminent philanthropist. The coffin, on reaching the ship, was deposited on a bier in a pavilion erected on the quarter-deck. Mr. Motley, the American Minister, having in a short and appropriate speech confided the body to the charge of Captain Commerell, the mourners returned to the shore. In a few moments the hawsers were cast off, and, slightly assisted by a tug, the Monarch steamed off for Spithead. After the Monarch had been brought to anchor at Spithead, the coffin, which had only temporarily been placed in the pavilion, was removed, and deposited in a mortuary chapel designed and erected by Messrs. Banting. The form of this chapel, which is in the extreme stern of the ship, and close to the officers' cabins, is circular, with a cupola, which, together with the sides, is entirely covered with black cloth, looped up from the centre of the dome with white silk cords. Round the higher part of the structure are festoons of black drapery, fringed with white lace, and at the sides the initials "G. P." are picked out in white satin stitches. Alternately with the monograms are wreaths of immortelles and silver sconces of wax lights. The coffin is placed on a bier in the centre of the chapel, and has on each side four huge silver-plated candlesticks, each three feet high, containing wax candles of a proportionate size. Facing the entrance is an American eagle in a device of silver, plainly showing the inscription, E Pluribus Unum." Heavy folds of black curtain separate this construction from the rest of the ship, and just outside stands one of those pieces of ordnance which have already been alluded to. The chapel will be closed during the voyage, and placed under the charge of marine sentries. [1]