ships bell

[jimrafford]

I have recently aquired an 8" antique bronze ships bell. After cleaning it up I can see faintly see engraving that names the vessel " Beija Flor". There is a long engraving in Spanish under that I'm still working on. My searches only come up w/ modern vessels. Any help to ID the boat would be helpful.

[copacabana]

Jim, the name of the vessel is in Portuguese (it means "Hummingbird"). Are you sure the rest of the engraving is in Spanish, and not Portuguese? You could start your search in the ships registries in Portugal and Brazil. Good luck in your search!

[jimrafford]

Copa,
Maybe you can help me w/ the translation. I'm having trouble finding someone here.
The lettering is faint and hard to read but as best as I can make out it says
"Viento Laego, Mar Vafmu y Istrella Vlara". Some of the letters may be wrong. It's in olde english style lettering and very hard to read.
Thanks in advance if you can help.
Jim

[PaulfromNWOnt]

With some help from google:

Wind Lake, Ocean "vafmu" and Star "vlara"

No guarantees.

[GeorgeB]

My guess is totally different. “flor” is Spanish for flower. Could the name be “Baja Flower”? If perhaps you are not copying down all the letters correctly, I see the phrase as “windy lakes, _________ sea, and clear stars".

[delite]

That was the first thing to come to my mind as well GeorgeB. I also believe Beija means beautiful but my Spanish is just sufficient to get my face slapped in a bar.

[timangiel]

if you can, try to get a good picture of it and post it.

[jimrafford]

Engraving is to faint to see in photo. Boat name is clearly "Beija Flor"
Jim

[Dfok]

is there enough engraving to get a rubbing off it - tracing paper and a soft pencil kind of rubbing?

[copacabana]

Jim,
No doubt the name is Portuguese, but from the rest of the inscription, I believe you are looking at Spanish (as indicated by the use of the connective "y" and the word "viento"). As Dfok mentions above, try to get a rubbing of the inscription and I'd be happy to help you decifer it. Also, could you post a photo or two?

Regards.