GP Nomad: Falkland frolics 3 - fisherman's friend

Seals on Saunders Island. Photo: GP Nomad

By The GP Nomad

I had never been more alone. Not my emotional state, but a logistical fact. My Falkland foray at an end, delaying my departure, I’d flown from Stanley to the northwest of the island group, landing on Saunders Island, site of the very first British settlement.

On 23 January 1765, HM frigate Dolphin sailed into what was to become Port Egmont on the east of Saunders Island. At commodore John Byron’s command, ‘the union jack was erected… and being spread I named the whole of His Majesty’s isles which I claimed for the crown of Great Britain’.

One slight flaw. Unbeknownst to Byron, on East Falkland sat the French at Port Louis, settled the year before. Two hundred and fifty years later, the union jack still flies over Port Egmont but the buildings are now in ruins. It’s unsurprising Byron was unaware of the French presence. Looking out over the untouched horizon it’s hard to imagine there is anyone else in the world at all. After 9 years Port Egmont was abandoned. The soldiers withdrawn and in their place the defence of the islands were left to an imprinted metal sign. ‘Be it known to all nations that Falkland’s islands… are the sole right and property of his most sacred majestic George the Third’. Well, that settled that. Surely no one would argue with a plaque.