Monday, April 8, 2013

AUSTRALIA 11 SOUVENIR

The centre item in this  Little Darwin  nautical display  contains part of the sails from the  victorious yacht  Australia 11, the  subject of  the current two-part  ABC  TV series about  how Australia won the America's Cup.  Lifebuoys like the  Oriana  one  used  to  be  made by crewmembers on  various vessels  who sold  them to passengers  as  souvenirs. The  painted  pearlshell  dated   Darwin,  Christmas  1941 may have been one of the vessels  sunk  by the Japanese  on  February  19,1942.