The most important port of the Falkland Islands.

More information

The most important port of the Falkland Islands.

So here we have the Falklander pence, nominal – 50. The year of issue of this coin is 1990. The coin is dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the coronation of Elizabeth II.

The original capital of the islands was at Port Louis to the north of the present site of Stanley, on Berkeley Sound. Captains Francis Crozier and James Clark Ross were recruited by Governor Richard Moody in his quest to find a new capital for The Falklands. They spent five months in the islands with their ships Terror and Erebus, later lost looking for the Northwest Passage. Governor Moody (after whom Moody Brook is named), however, decided to move the capital to Port Jackson, which was renamed "Stanley Harbour", after a survey. Stanley Harbour was considered to have a deeper anchorage for visiting ships.

The settlement soon grew as a deep-water port, specialising at first in ship repairs, before the construction of the Panama Canal, Port Stanley was a major repair stop for ships travelling through the Straits of Magellan. The rough waters and intense storms found at the tip of the continent forced many ships to Stanley Harbour, and the ship repair industry helped to drive the island economy. Later it became a base for whaling and sealing in the South Atlantic and Antarctic.

Object data

Title

The most important port of the Falkland Islands.

Artist

Obverse: Raphael David Maklouf.

Date

1993.

Culture

Falkland Islands.

Medium

Copper-nickel.

Dimensions

28.28x38.61x3.

Classification

Coin.