Earthenware mess bowl, transfer-printed in blue. On one side the mess number within a crowned garter inscribed 'HONI-SOIT-QUI-MAL-Y-PENSE', 'MESS 1'. The garter has laurel, shamrock, roses and a thistle below and two swallow-tailed ensigns on either side. Also on the sides are a compass rose and a warship under sail with a topsail cutter. On the interior, a border of twined ropes enclosing rose, thistle and shamrock sprays with suspended anchors. There is a central flower spray. Before 1907 naval messes had to buy their own crockery and such items were manufactured for this market.