Nonesuch Silver Prints The Great Britain 1969

1969 March - Stanley, Falkland Islands [Malvinas]. Part of the crest from the bow of the Great Britain. It is based on the shield in the coat of arms of the British monarchy. Dating from 1843 this piece of carved oak was found washed-up on a beach in Sparrow Cove near the hulk. Originally the crest was gilded but after an unknown time in the sea the colours have gone. Early photos taken in Stanley show the crest was in place before 1937.The wood was carved as a slightly convex oval divided in four with the Scottish lion rampant in the top right and three English lions passant in the bottom right. The carved letters at the bottom are from the motto Hon y soit qui mal y pense.This picture was taken in the living room of a Stanley home.

Camera - MPP Microflex Twin Lens Reflex with F3.5 77.5mm Taylor Taylor Hobson lens. Film Ilford HP4 at F8 - 1/30 second. Developed by hand in Stanley in the darkroom of John Leonard a local photographer using Kodak Microdol at normal dilution.

In 1970 the original hull designed and built by William Paterson was taken from the Falkland Islands [Malvinas] to Bristol, England. After many years the hull has now been restored and forms the basis of the splendid reconstruction of the 1843 steamship SS Great Britain, conceived by the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The crest is now the ship's museum.