Frozen meat from New Zealand being discharged at the Royal Albert Dock, 1949.

Frozen meat from New Zealand being discharged at the Royal Albert Dock, 1949. © National Maritime Museum, London

Repro ID: H4393

Description: By the late 1920s over 10 million carcasses of Australian, New Zealand and South American mutton and lamb were imported into London each year. The distinctive appearance of lamb and mutton carcasses, wrapped as they were in muslin, led to dockers giving this cargo the nickname 'white mice'.

Creator: Unknown

Date: 1949