Ok, a little followup to the original Uranie newspaper article posted
earlier on.

Timbers believed to be from that wreck have washed ashore at various times
after storms. They believe that many of the posts and planks now form
borders around some vegetable gardens on the island.

Neil Watson, who owns a farm beside the beach believes some of the items he
has salvaged are from the Uranie wreck. Coal, pottery, 2 big iron hawse
pipes through which the ship's anchor would have been fed and some thick
planks.

Some of the geological & biological specimens collected in Western OZ
during de Freycinet's mission were rock speciums, anchors, bones of a
Papuan and shrunken heads.

Capt. de Freycinet reached Shark Bay in Western OZ in Sept 1818 where he
removed Willem de Vlamingh's pewter plate from Dirk Hartog Island. He
arrived at the Falkland Islands in Feb 1820. The ship grounded on an
uncharted rock. As you know by now the ship was lost but the plate, planted
by Vlamingh in 1697, was rescued and taken to France.

Dr McCarthy and his team will now look for the Roebuck at Ascension Island
which sank in 1701.

While the journalist from Western OZ was at the Falklands he visited their
museum. An unusual item of interest was a pickled whale foetus. Chips &
pickled onions with that anyone ;-)  No? Mushy peas then ;-)
Viv .. who passes on anything pickled.

Here's the jurnos (Carmelo Amalfi) article about the museum titled
Falklands museum a prize of war - snapshot of history.

John Smith, the curator, who has lived on the islands for more than 40
years is about to retire next year. He arrived in 1958, having worked for
the British Antarctic Survey.

The building which houses the museum was built in 1981 for the Argentine
air force.
"It was taken over by the British as a prize of war," Mr Smith said.
He said the museum's location on Holdfast Rd was historically significant.
It was here on June 14, 1982, that Britsh Maj-Gen. Sir Jeremy Moore ordered
his land forces to "hold fast" until he had negotiated a surrender with
Argentine General Mario Menendez.
"The Falklands didn't spring up overnight," Mr Smith said. "This is our
little bit of England in the South Atlantic. It's more British than
Britain."

Scottish-born Ian Stewart, who runs a construction compny in the capital,
Stanley, said that until 1981 the Falkland Islands - covering an area the
size of Wales - was a self-sufficient community that earned a comfortable
living from shep farming. He said the real money was in fishing, mainly for
squid and fin fish. The lucrative illex squid was a delicacy in Asia and
the loliga was sold mainly in Europe. Mr Stewart said food-and-mouth
disease in Britain was a threat to the organic-based farming community of
kelpers, named after the abundant kelp seaweed that choked the coastline.