Museum & Wrecks of Stanley Harbour

Stanley was built on ships that never left. We walk the harbour front past the hulks still standing in the water, then spend an hour inside the Historic Dockyard Museum. The museum is normally a look-around-yourself affair — I come in with you and walk you through it, so you leave knowing which objects matter and why. There is no entry charge for cruise passengers; if you are staying on the Islands, the museum's own admission applies at the door.

The shipwrecks of Stanley Harbour

Stanley exists because of Cape Horn. Ships came in damaged, were condemned, and stayed. The Jhelum is the clearest example still visible from the shore: a cargo vessel built in Liverpool in 1849, she arrived in 1870 after being damaged rounding the Horn on a run from Callao to Dunkirk, was judged unsafe, and was abandoned by her crew. She has been on that shoreline ever since.

The ships that were beached here in the 1800s are still exactly where they were left, and at low tide you see how much of them survives.

An hour inside the Falkland Islands Museum

The Historic Dockyard Museum is normally a look-around-yourself affair. On this tour I come in with you and walk you through it, so you leave knowing which objects matter and why rather than reading every label. Cruise passengers enter free of charge. If you are staying on the Islands, the museum's own admission is paid at the door.