Associated Museums
Valhalla, the Tresco ships' figurehead collection
This unique collection is situated in the privately run Tropical Gardens of Tresco and contains some 30 figureheads, as well as name-boards and other decorative ships' carvings from the days of sail.
Over the years many ships and lives have been lost on the rocky coasts of the Scillies and it is from shipwrecks – mostly of merchant vessels – that the collection was built up, starting in about 1840, by Augustus Smith of Tresco Abbey, 'Lord Proprietor' of the Islands.
There are regular boats between the islands and a direct helicopter service from Penzance to Tresco.
Visitor information
Valhalla, the Ships' Figurehead Collection
Tresco Estate
Isles of Scilly
Tel: +44 (0)1720 422849
Fax: +44 (0)1720 422807
Opening hours
Opening times
Seven days per week
10.00–16.00
Admission costs
| Cost | ||
|---|---|---|
| Adults | £8.50 * | |
| Under 14s | Free | |
* Includes entrance to the Tropical Gardens
How to get there
There are regular boats between the islands and a direct helicopter service from Penzance to Tresco. Visit the Tresco website for further travel information.
About the collection
The figureheads in the Valhalla collection represent the final century in a tradition dating back over 3000 years. From earliest times ships’ bows have carried carvings of human or animal forms as part of the overall decoration of the vessels. The figures have altered over the centuries. Their pattern, size and shape have adapted to fit new types of ships’ hulls, while their artistic style has changed to reflect contemporary fashions.
At Valhalla most of the figureheads date from the middle and end of the 19th century and come from merchant sailing vessels or early steamships that were wrecked on the Isles of Scilly. As such the collection is a random cross-section from generally modest vessels, whose small and simple figureheads contrast with larger naval examples surviving elsewhere, such as the figurehead of HMS Ajax in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Salmon
Vessel detail: Salmon, wooden schooner of 178 tons
Place and date built: Quebec, 1859
Date of wreck/loss: 15 January 1871
The Quebec-built vessel, the Salmon, was driven onto the Mare Ledges off the south end of Tresco in a southwesterly gale. She was converted to schooner rig in 1869, having been built a brigantine, and was sheltering off St Mary’s on passage for South Africa when her anchor cable parted. All her crew were saved, as well as her figurehead.
River Lune
Vessel details: River Lune, iron barque of 1172 tons
Place and date built: Wallsend, 1868
Date of wreck/loss: 27 July 1879
A finely carved female figurehead from the barque River Lune. Captain George West’s estimated position was 10 to 15 miles west of the Bishop Rock when, through thick fog, the lookout sighted rocks all around them. In attempting to come about she struck the Brothers Rocks and started to go down. The crew abandoned ship but later were able to return and collect their personal belongings. Although only 11 years old, her wreck fetched no more than £55 and her figurehead was saved for Valhalla.
Bosphorus
Vessel details: Bosphorus, wooden schooner of 199 tons
Place and date built: St Mary’s, 1840
Date of wreck/loss: 29 October 1880
The Bosphorus, known locally as the 'Old Turk’ was built and owned in the Islands. William Tremenheere Johns and her master shared ownership at this time. Originally trading to the Mediterranean in the 1840s, she could well have been carrying salted pilchards from fish cellars. According to her registration records her figurehead was removed in 1861, presumably at the time of her sale. Her new owners registered her at Maldon, Essex, from 1865. She then worked on the East Coast, eventually going ashore without loss of life in the small hours of an October night in 1880, a mile south of Scarborough.
Friar Tuck
Vessel details Friar Tuck, wooden ship of 662 tons
Place and date built: Aberdeen, 1856
Date of wreck/loss: 2 December 1863
Over 500 sailing vessel were sheltering from strong winds in St Mary’s Roads at the end of November 1863. Six of these did not survive the hurricane which followed and amongst them was the Liverpool tea-clipper Friar Tuck. On 2nd December she parted her cables and as she went onto Newfound Island, in St Mary’s Pool, Captain Fordyce ordered her masts to be cut away. A rocket line from the shore saved her crew of 22. Three small shiploads of tea, sails, spars and some stores were taken to London but the islanders managed to 'acquire’ large quantities of tea, despite the efforts of coastguards and preventive men.
A lasting monument to the Friar Tuck, apart from her figurehead, are the Chinese geese on Tresco which are descendants of those which came ashore from the wreck. The ship had been a good investment for her owners with profits of £12,389 over six years. It was the prospect of such returns which induced owners to spend money on fine figureheads and other decoration for their vessels.
Colossus
Vessel details: Colossus, 3rd rate ship of the line, 74 guns, 1717 tons (old measurement)
Place and date built: Gravesend, 1787
Date of wreck/loss: 10 December 1798
One of the earlier items in the collection is the decorated late-18th century sternboard from HMS Colossus. Her wreck in 1798 was certainly a major disaster but is now chiefly remembered for the extraordinary cargo on board when she went down. After nearly two years' service in the Mediterranean, including action at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 1797, Colossus was returning home barely seaworthy. She was also overcrowded with wounded from the Battle of the Nile in August 1798, as well as her usual complement. In addition she carried a large collection of Etruscan and Roman vases, statuary, paintings and other treasures belonging to Sir William Hamilton, the British Envoy at Naples and husband of the celebrated Emma, Nelson's inamorata.
Colossus arrived in charge of a convoy in St Mary's Roads, to shelter from a north-easter on 7th December. On the 10th the wind went round to south-east and increase to a gale. The main bower cable parted and other anchors failed to hold on the sandy bottom. By evening she had struck rocks to the south of Samson and next morning she had to be abandoned. She began to break up the following night.
Much was salvaged, including, to his despair, only two-thirds of Hamilton's collection and, to his fury, the body of Admiral Lord Shuldham (who had died abroad) coming home pickled in a lead casket. Sir William commented that 'it can be of no use but to the worms, but my collection would have given information to the most learned'.
Some of the guns from Colossus were raised in 1852 and put into service on the Garrison, St Mary's, where they can still be seen. In more recent years further fragments of pottery from the Hamilton collection have been recovered by divers.
Golden Eagle
Little is known about this very skilfully carved and gilded eagle, with a snake held in its beak. It is supposed to be a Mexican eagle from a French wreck of before 1850.
Palinurus
Vessel details: Palinurus, wooden barque of 300 tons
Place and date built: Whitby, 1833
Date of wreck/loss: 27 December 1848
A full-sized figure in formal dress of about 1830, holding a sword above his head. The figurehead is from the Palinurus which went into the Lion Rock, off the north of St Martin's, while inward bound from Demerara in 1848. All her crew of 17 were drowned, eventually washed ashore and buried on St Mary's. The first alarm was raised by cattle, frightened out of their field by the noise of the vessel’s sails flapping and tearing in the wind.
Local people managed to save some of her cargo with 14 hogsheads, 71 puncheons of spirits and 9 quarter-casks of rum being brought ashore. Palinurus is the name of the helmsman of Achilles in Homer's Iliad.
'Polinarus', the traditional local name for the piece, is understandable but incorrect.
Mary Hay
Vessel details: Mary Hay, wooden barque of 258 tons
Place and date built: Peterhead, 1837
Date of wreck/loss: 13 April 1852
Elegant female half-figure supported on a black and gilded scroll from the barque Mary Hay. Bound from Jamaica with a mixed cargo including rum and sugar, she was approaching Broad Sound with a Scilly pilot on board. Just after he went below to take a meal, rather than eating on deck, she hit Steeple Rock and began to take water. She anchored near Samson, pumping continuously but to no avail since several hours later she turned over with a sudden lurch.
All hands were saved, being on deck or in the boats alongside at the time. Next day rum, lime juice and over a 1000 bags of pimentos were saved, with clothing, stores and some gear. The sugar was ruined but the rest of the cargo was included in the sale of the wreck for £72, four days later. In calmer weather she was refloated and broken up alongside St Marys pier.
Volunteer
Vessel details: Volunteer, wooden ketch of 65 tons
Place and date built: Aberystwyth, 1861
Date of wreck/loss: 26 January 1911
This small half-kneeling figure of a Volunteer with his rifle is from an old coasting ketch that supplied the Islands with coal. She had been built and owned in Aberystwyth and in 1908 came to Scilly, already 47 years old. Three years later she foundered on Culver Sands in the Bristol Channel and her owners then had the figurehead brought back to Tresco for Valhalla.
Chieftain
A fine figurehead in Highland dress, previously thought to have come from a vessel named Chieftain, wrecked on Hard Lewis in 1856. No records exist of such a wreck and indeed no likely vessel of that name was registered at the time. Exactly ten years later the Gilmore of Southampton was wrecked on Hard Lewis, the figurehead being equally appropriate to the ship of that name. At present though, it is impossible to provide a firm identification.
