One of the carved blue and gold trail boards from the ‘Award’, whose billet head (FHD0021) is also in the collection. This trail board has been re-lettered to form a sign for the Valhalla Collection on Tresco. Carved letters screwed to the surface of the board had previously been used for the ship’s name. All these were missing but their shape was visible on the old paintwork, so their exact form could be reproduced. The other half of the pair has also been altered to form the signboard for the New Inn, the island’s ‘pub’.

The ‘Award’ was wrecked on Gweal, west of Bryher, on her second voyage, in March 1861. The crew scrambled along her spars onto the rocks and were saved by the men of Bryher. She was refloated but broke up on a beach on Bryher later in the same month. Much was saved apart from the trail boards; the billet-head came to ‘Valhalla’ and the capstan is reported to have done so but does not survive. (More accurately, the capstan said to be that of the 'Award' was found on dismantling for conservation in the 1980s to be a mocked-up 'fake' and not worth repair.) Timber from her was also used to panel the state rooms of Tresco Abbey. Salvage money – £100 – received by the Bryher Islanders paid for a new pilot gig, ‘Golden Eagle’, which when built in 1870 cost £1 per foot, masts, sails and oars extra. The ‘Golden Eagle’ survives and regularly takes part in the summer gig races.

‘Award’ details at time of wreck. Wooden ship of 846 tons, registered at Liverpool. Built by Gilmour, Quebec, 1859. Owner: Rankin & Co. Registered voyage: Liverpool to New Orleans. Cargo: Wheat. Master at loss: Watts. Wrecked: 16 March 1861.