Drifting about his watery beat in the office coracle searching for stories , our waterfront roundsman came across a great piece of maritime history-the above Royal Doulton plate commemorating arrival of the First Fleet under Captain Arthur Phillip in Sydney in 1788 . Entitled The First Voyage, the bone china plate, limited to 3000 numbered copies, names all the ships and their captains, issued as part of the l988 bicentenary.
In company with his first mate ,the Shipping Reporter found the plate at a garage sale on Magnetic Island . While he snapped up the plate as if it were Spanish gold plate , the first mate bought a nice, specially boxed Twinings of London willow pattern teapot, made by Sadler, marking the 250th anniversary of the tea-making company operating from the same address on London's Strand. It had been imported in the 1950s by Socomin International Fine Foods, 95 Cecil Street, South Melbourne, Victoria.
