Society Museum in Hamilton is a fake.

That is the view of one of the world's leading authorities on portraits, Mr.

John Weatherill, who has found a painting he believes to be a portrait of Bermuda's founding father in a castle in England.

In the November edition of The Bermudian magazine, published today, Mr.

Weatherill claims the museum portrait is of another sailor painted some years later.

Mr. Weatherill found a copy of the new painting hanging in the parish church of Sir George's interment.

The original was tracked down to Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire. The owner's late wife was a member of the Somers-Cocks family and the portrait was believed to have always been in her family.

Ending the 84-year belief that the only portrait of Sir George was in the Hamilton museum, Mr. Weatherill said of the newly-found picture: "That it is genuine there is no reason to doubt.

"Costume corresponds to the period, the obvious purpose behind its production has about the right chronological relationship to the event and to his age, and the incorporation of his arms on the portrait bear patent witness.'' A hand-written label attached to the back of the painting is old enough for the ink to have become discoloured but is probably of this century, according to the expert.

It reads "Sir George Somers 1554-1611, An English navigator whose shipwreck on the Bermudas led him to colonise them for Virginia. Arms -- Vert a fesse dancette ermine.'' Dr. Malcolm Rogers, deputy director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the gallery's authority on Elizabethan portraits, was asked to examine both the new painting and the Historical Society's portrait.

In a letter to Mr. Weatherill, Dr. Rogers said: "If, as you say, the arms on the portrait are those used by Somers, then the portrait has good claim to be him, though, as I suggested it could be a later made-up piece and there may be an original of the c.1590 somewhere.

"The Bermuda Historical Museum portrait must, on the evidence of style and costume, date from c.1670 and therefore cannot be Somers, but some other sailor of later date.'' The Historical Society's portrait was bought in 1933 from a Miss Bellamy of Plymouth, whose family had a collateral relationship with Sir George Somers.

The portrait was said to be painted by Paul van Somer in his lifetime.

Bermudian editor Mr. Kevin Stevenson said: "John Weatherill's discovery of the Eastnor castle portrait is significant.

"Since 1908 our only mental image of Bermuda's founder has largely been based upon the Bellamy portrait, but in recent years its authenticity has been seriously challenged.

"Now, not only should any doubt over the Bellamy portrait be put to rest, but we should have another painting to be a better claim to be Sir George.'' A FAKE? This face of Sir George Somers could have deceived Bermudians for nearly a century.