Figurehead of the Falkland

Basic Information

FigID

F0085

InstID

FHD0026

Figurehead type

Figurehead

Title

Figurehead of the Falkland

Vessel name

Falkland

Type (Naval/Merchant)

Merchant

Copyright owner

© National Maritime Museum

Copyright notes

Photo: © National Maritime Museum

Current location

Tresco

Location date

11/02/2013

Physical Information

Description

The white and gilded female head and left shoulder only, with indications of classical dress, broken off from what was probably a full-length figurehead.

Maker

Unknown

Date made

Unknown

Place made

Unknown

Size

H55.9 cms

Materials

Wood

Object history

Accepted by HM Treasury in lieu of Estate Duty in 1979 from Robert Arthur Dorien-Smith. The collection was begun by Augustus Smith (1806-72) who leased the islands from the Duchy of Cornwall. The figureheads in the Valhalla Collection came from vessels wrecked on Scilly.

Vessel history

The figurehead comes from a four-masted iron barque which, quite literally, struck the Bishop Rock lighthouse early one summer evening in 1901. She was 135 days out from Tacoma, Washington State, with wheat, when she carried broadside onto the Rock in a south-westerly gale, her mainyard striking the lighthouse tower. She drifted for half-a-mile before she went over on her beam ends. Her port-side boat was launched and 25 crew with the master’s wife and child got away safely. The master, mate, steward and three seamen where drowned as the ‘Falkland’ suddenly lost buoyancy after her charthouse roof was blown off by the pressure of air inside her. They had unsuccessfully been attempting to launch the starboard boat which at first jammed and then fell out of its stowage. The 27 survivors and their boat were then taken in by the St Agnes lifeboat, ‘James and Caroline’.

‘Falkland’ details at time of wreck. Four-masted iron barque of 2,867 tons, registered in Liverpool. Built by W. H. Potter & Sons, Liverpool, 1889. Dimensions (in feet and tenths): 317.8 x 45.3 x 24.9. Owner: ‘Ship Falkland’ Co. Ltd (Macvicar, Marshall & Co). Registered voyage: Tacoma to Falmouth. Cargo: wheat. Master at loss: G. S. Gracie. Wrecked: 22 June 1901.

Bibliography

''Valhalla' The Tresco Ships' Figurehead Collection' (NMM, 1984)

Ownership Information

Owner type

Public Institution

Owner name

National Maritime Museum

Contact details

Royal Museums Greenwich, London SE10 9NF

Ownership can be cited online

Yes

Accessible to public

Yes

Data verified by owner

Yes

Date verified