Argentina Pembroke Lighthouse 50 Pesos

Argentina

50 Pesos – Pembroke Lighthouse – Islas Malvinas

Issued in 2015, the Argentina 50 Pesos banknote depicts the Cape Pembroke Lighthouse as a registration device in the upper left-front corner and upper right-back corner. As a type of anti-counterfeiting method, when held to the light, the image of the lighthouse placed in the corners will become whole. This lighthouse is actually located on the Falkland Islands, owned by Great Britain.

Argentina, a large South American Country, has the Falklands Islands (Islas Malvinas) off the east coast of Argentina. Argentina has been in dispute with Great Britain over the possession of the islands since 1833 when the British reasserted an earlier claim on the islands. Argentina claims that when it gained independence from Spain in 1816, it also included the Falkalnds. However, Great Britain maintains its sovereignty as a right of its possession of the islands since they re-established their claim in 1833. In 1982 Argentina went to War with Great Britain and invaded the islands, placing over 20,000 land mines in the Falklands. Argentina held the island for two months until British forces arrived in June and retook the islands. Attempts to demine were hazardous and the islands were finally cleared of mines in 2020.

Only about 7 miles from the airport, a short car ride, or about an hour’s walk, will take you to the Cape Pembroke lighthouse. Standing at about 18 meters (59-feet) high, the iron lighthouse had been prefabricated in England in 1854, shipped to the Falklands and erected in 1855. It is reported that it was named after the Lord High Admiral and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Earl Thomas of Pembroke, died in 1733.

The tower’s foundation had deteriorated badly and in 1906 a new base was constructed and the lighthouse was actually moved to the new foundation 200 yards away. It was refitted with a new light and put back into service in 1907.

Pembroke Lighthouse was damaged during the 1982 war and was deemed to be no longer serviceable, and an automatic light beacon is erected nearby. Pembroke lighthouse is accessible for a £10 charge by contacting the local museum.

By displaying the lighthouse on the banknote, Argentina continues to make its claim of the disputed territory. While this is only a registration device, small in nature, the rest of the note does indeed loudly claim that the Falklands, or Malvinas, is part of Argentina.

The front of the note depicts the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) as well as the South Georgia and Sandwich islands in conjunction with South America with Argentina in a darker shade. This illustration leaves no uncertainty that Argentina still considers these islands as their own, despite the British occupation of the islands for over 190 years.

On the back Gaucho Antonio Rivero is front and center, though he is facing away, holding a large Argentine flag while sitting on a rearing horse. This is superimposed over Falkland countryside and the an old Argentine cemetery there. Also present is the Argentine warship General Belgrano, which was sunk in the 1982 Falklands War.

Gaucho Antonio Rivero is contentious character to display. He was an Argentine gaucho who took a position on the Falklands under Louis Vernet, born in Hamburg, Germany, but claiming French citizenship. Vernet worked for a while in the USA and Brazil before settling in Argentina in 1821 where he set up a trading company with ties to Hamburg. He soon set up an esatancia (cattle ranch) at the edge of the Argentine territory. He embarked on a Falklands expedition to hunt feral cattle in the islands, obtaining permission from both Argentine and British officials. When Louis Vernet asked Argentine authorities for military help by sending a warship to deter seal hunting ships from taking the seals off the island, Buenos Aries instead made Vernet the Military and Civil Commander of the Falkland Islands next to Cape Horn. Vernet captured an American crew who had illegally hunted the islands seals, and in 1831 and the captain of the ship and Vernet went to Buenos Aries for the trial. Vernet was never to return to the Falklands, especially after the British took full control in 1833. Instead, Vernet sent his deputy, Mathew Brisbane, an ex Scottish Sealer and Antarctic explorer. On the island were several others, including the gaucho Antonio Rivero.

Unluckily, Rivero had taken employment in 1829 by Vernet under shady circumstances in which he and the other gauchos were paid in private scrip which had been further devalued by 60%. The harsh conditions, lack of payment and inability to leave the island had caused Rivero to revolt with a small group of 8 others. On August 26^th, 1833 they went on a killing spree in which they killed five people. The victims were all employees of Louis Vernet:

Matthew Brisbane, Vernet’s agent
Gaucho foreman Juan Simon
Irishman William Dickson who was a shopkeeper
Argentine Don Ventura Pasos who was Vernet’s sister in laws husband
Antonio Wagner who was a German born merchant.

When the murders were found out, the rest of the population fled to a neighboring island and awaited rescue two months later by a British ship. When news reached the British, they sent the HMS Challenger which was able to round up the murderous group and take them to London for trial. However, the British had not set up any legal system for the new territory at the time. Legal circumstances as they were, they murderers could not be tried and were sent to Rio de Janeiro. Their subsequent fates are unknown, but in the Argentine version of the historical event, the leader Antonio Rivero has since been revered as a folk hero who rebelled against the colonial British government, even though two of those who were murdered by Antonio Rivero were Argentines and all were working for an Argentine immigrant employer.

Whatever your opinion on the Islas Malvinas or the Falkland Islands, the Pembroke Lighthouse served an honorable life as a beacon of hope to lost sailors, a siren of warning to wayward navigators, and now as a glimpse into history that can still be climbed and looked out onto the ocean of tomorrows possibilities.