"Banner, 'Merchant Shipping Bill'" [NMLH.1993.628]

Catalogue Number
NMLH.1993.628

Object Name
Banner

Title
Merchant Shipping Bill. Bernasconi.

People
Chamberlain, Joseph; Plimsoll, Samuel; Member of Parliament

Date
1884 ?

Description
Shield shaped banner with a painted image of a sleeping sailor leaning against two crates of cargo on a boat at sea. The cargo boxes have the amounts the cargo is worth and its insurance value on them. The crate shows the real value of the ship as £8,000 and the claimed insurance value as £30,000. Behind the sailor, the side of the boat has been visibly damaged. The sailor is being watched over by Joseph Chamberlain who appears as a winged cherub in the sky. There is a red fringe along the bottom edge of the banner.


The Merchant Shipping Bill was an unsuccessful attempt by Joseph Chamberlain to reform the shipping industry. At the time he tried to pass the bill, one in six merchant sailors died at sea. Additionally, shipping companies used to over-insure their cargos by using loopholes in the existing law, for example by insuring the same item twice under different headings. This meant that many companies made more money when one of their ships sank during a voyage than if it arrived safely.


This banner carries the signature Bernasconi and the date 4 August 1884.


It is based on a cartoon from Punch magazine in March 1884 by Sir John Tenniel. Chamberlain appears as a winged cherub watching over the sleeping sailor. The inscription on the box above the sailor's head shows the amounts the cargo is worth and what the owner would receive if the ship were to sink.


This banner was conserved in the museums Textile Conservation Studio in 2001.

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