Caledonian Steam Packet Company Mug

This ceramic mug has quite a story to tell! It was found by a diver in the 1990s on the wreck of the SS Wallachia at a depth of 33.4 metres in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. The Wallachia was built in 1883 and was carrying chloride, glassware, coal and spirits from Glasgow to Trinidad but sunk in a collision in fog on 29 September 1895.

The mug of course dates from around the 1960s and was dropped by a crew member or passenger aboard a Clyde steamer at the time and settled upon the wreck. The mug was taken home by the diver to East Anglia and was then used as a child's paint pot before being spotted by an enthusiast and donated to the Collection.