Freddie the Frog

In September 2004, Sean Morley arrived at the pontoon of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. His arrival was watched by hundreds of well-wishers as they witnessed the end of his epic 4500-mile fund-raising circumnavigation of the British Isles.

Sean took six months unpaid leave from Devon and Cornwall Police to embark on this challenge. He did it to raise money for the Marine Conservation Society and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution as well as realising a personal challenge set many years ago.

The anti-clockwise route began and finished in Falmouth and took him to all the inhabited British islands. Freddie the Frog was given to Sean by Jack, Molly and Amy Gordon who are the children of close friends of Sean and his wife. The children did not want Sean to be totally alone on this solo voyage and Freddie sat with Sean as they rounded Muckle Flugga, the most northerly point of the British Isles. During this leg of the trip they had to endure a 3-metre swell and force 7 winds.

Sean commented, “Freddie gave me comfort and made me smile when I needed to most.”

Freddie is on loan from Sean Morley and is currently on display, along with Sean’s kayak, as part of a special kayak exhibition for 2005 in the Museum’s Set Sail gallery.