The plaque reads: -
"This statue was unveiled by
Countess Mountbatten of Burma
on 19th September 1990
in memory of the thousands of merchant seamen
who sailed from this port and lost their lives in WWII
Unrecognized, you put us in your debt,
Unthanked, you enter or escaped the grave,
Whether your land remember or forget,
You saved the land, or died to try to save.