Three Ships Mural

The Three Ships Mural is located at the principal entrance on the corner of Jameson Street and Waltham Street, overlooking a wide junction with King Edward Street in the centre of Hull, which is now mostly pedestrianised. When it was installed, it was believed to be the largest mural in Britain, rising 66 feet high and 64 feet wide (20 meters by 19.5 meters) across three storeys to roof level. Due to its size, the mural could not be made using the ceramic work that artist Boyson typically preferred for his designs. Instead, it was executed as a glass tile mosaic by Richards Tiles Ltd from Stoke, fixed to a curved concrete screen. The mural consists of 4,224 square feet (0.3 square meters) of slabs, each made up of 225 glass cubes or tesserae imported from Italy, totaling 1,061,775 tesserae. The mosaic slabs were affixed to the screen by A Andrews and Sons (Marble and Tiles) Ltd of Leeds.

The ‘Three Ships’ mosaic mural features a stylised, modern design symbolising the city’s fishing industry, depicting the silhouettes of three sailing boats reflected in the water below. Below the boats is a Latin motto - RES PER INDUSTRIAM PROSPERAE, which translates roughly to 'Things by Industry Prosper'. The mural employs a limited palette of pale greens, blues, and browns, with these muted colours requested by Hull’s town planners. Some individual tesserae have fallen off, and there are small holes with broken tesserae, believed to have been caused by scaffolding poles.