“Blue Jacket’s” Figure-head.
The first Blue Jacket left Lyttelton, N.Z., homeward bound, and was abandoned on fire off the Falkland Isles on 9th March, 1869. Nearly two years later, on 8th December, 1871, to be exact, Blue Jacket’s figure-head was found washed up on the shore of Rottnest Island, off Fremantle, Western Australia. Part of it was charred by fire, but there was no mistaking the identity of the figure-head, which was described as “a man from the waist up, in old sailor’s costume, a blue jacket with yellow buttons, the jacket open in the front, no waistcoat, loose shirt, and large knotted handkerchief round the neck; with a broad belt and large square buckle and cutlass hilt at the side. On either side of the figure-head was a scroll, saying:—‘Keep a sharp lookout!’”