A starboard quarter view of the derelict sailing barque James Armstrong (1848) along the inside of the pierhead at Hugh Town, St Mary's. The ship is in very poor condition. The after part of the poop deck is missing and the lack of a transom has left the stern post exposed from above the waterline. The masts are missing, although their corresponding deadeyes are still in place, and in their place is a jury-rigged sheer-legs made from the gaff and spars of the ship. The bulwarks on both the port and starboard sides of the main/upper deck are missing in places. Large, square-end baulks of timber (mahogany) can been under the remaining part of the poop deck. Five men are standing on the upper deck of the ship, spaced out, posing for the camera.

The negative has had a heavy use of masking fluid on the glass side to add texture to the sky area.

This negative has 'Cactus' written in pencil on the reverse of the negative. However, the ship corresponds with the positively identified image of James Armstrong: P50777.

The James Armstrong, with a cargo of mahogany baulks and coconuts was found drifting upside-down about six miles to the east of St. Martin's on 3 March 1874. A number of local gigs and pilot cutters towed it to the entrance to Crow Sound after eight hours. The ship snagged on rocks close to the Island of Menawethan. All efforts to move it initially failed until divers cut the cables holding the ship, which was then rolled upright and eventually made secure alongside the pier in St Mary's Harbour [Royal Cornwall Gazette, 21 March 1874 and the Gibson family ledger]. The ship was believed to have been in a collision and then abandoned.