KEEN local history buff Dave Owen is faced with a puzzle each time he sorts through his souvenirs.

For these include a couple of silver tankards, picked up at bargain-basement price some years ago. The vessels (listed as being of the Victorian pear-style kind in his antiques reference book) bear the inscription 'The Washington, Liverpool.'

Though Pilks worker Dave suspects that this might refer to a turn-of-century pub, there's the off-chance that, Liverpool being a major seaport, The Washington could have been a ship.

Now, he wonders if our local Scouse power can provide an answer.

PLEASE write to me at the Star if you can help...