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A plaque painted with three galleons at sea, set in a roughly hewn stone. The plaque comprises six porcelain tiles forming a hemisphere. The three upper tiles are decorative as above; the three tiles below the galleons are incised with text. Commemorates the site where in 1553 a number of ships set sail under the command of Sir Hugh Willoughby to search for a northeast passage to India. The expedition under Sir Hugh Willoughby's command was unsuccessful – a storm separated the ships and Willoughby and his crew died off the coast of Russia. Sir Martin Frobisher set off again in 1576 to find the northwest passage but failed, although he subsequently made two further attempts, also unsuccessfully. These voyages of exploration, and the crews who undertook them, are commemorated in this memorial stone.
Title
Navigators' Memorial
Date
1922
Medium
porcelain
Accession number
SE16_AM_S663
Acquisition method
commissioned by London County Council
Work type
Mosaic
Owner
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council
Custodian
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council
Work status
extant
Access
at all times
Inscription description
below the image of the ships: THIS TABLET IS IN MEMORY OF / SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY, STEPHEN BOROUGH, / WILLIAM BOROUGH, SIR MARTIN FROBISHER / AND OTHER NAVIGATORS WHO, IN THE LATTER / HALF OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, SET SAIL / FROM THIS REACH OF THE RIVER THAMES NEAR / RATCLIFF CROSS / TO EXPLORE THE NORTHERN SEAS. / ERECTED BY THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL, 1922
