National Museums Liverpool Blog - maritime history

Lorna Hyland, Assistant Librarian at the Merseyside Maritime Museum Archives shares this update:

Liverpool’s Literary Festival, “In Other Words” is now drawing to a close and as the festival celebrated the city’s reputation for producing much loved story-tellers, poets, authors and playwrights, I thought I’d mention the library at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

We have a wide selection of stories of seafaring life, some written about well known seamen and others published by the seafarers themselves.  Sailors have traditionally been viewed as great ‘spinners of yarns’.  They lived interesting lives, travelling to exotic (and not so exotic) places often being caught up in extraordinary events. 

Our library collection of seafarers’ memoirs includes gems such as the memoirs of Violet Jessop.  Published under the title, Titanic Survivor, the book provides an insight into the everyday working life of a stewardess on a large liner, as well as Violet’s personal experience of the sinkings of Titanic and Britannic.  In Life is a four letter word, Nicholas Monsarratt tells the real story of his Battle of the Atlantic experiences in the Royal Navy, whilst in the book, Tramp Steamers at War, the slightly less well known George Gunn recalls his experiences as a young man on the tramp ships of the North Atlantic convoys of World War II.  From sail to steam, Commodores to apprentices, we have memoirs covering a huge spectrum of seafaring life.

So if you want to read a good ‘yarn’ about life at sea, come down to the Maritime Archives & Library.  I’m sure we’ll have something to suit your tastes.  The library is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10.30 am till 4.30 pm and can be found on the second floor of the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

 

Everyone at the Merseyside Maritime Museum welcomes the arrival of a very impressive and grand visitor to Liverpool. Cunard’s Queen Mary II docked at the pier head landing stage in the early hours of this morning. It’s the first time in forty five years that passengers can sail on a Cunard liner from the Pier head waterfront.

Pulling up at the lights during my commute into the office, the QM2 dwarves the neighbouring buildings and certainly has the wow factor with her classic red funnel.

The museum has a very fine collection of china and tableware which relates to the first Queen Mary (1936-1967) which was at the time the largest and fastest ship in Cunard’s fleet. She was certainly remembered as the grandest belle of the sea.
On display in the Life at Sea gallery we have tableware which was supplied to Cunard by Stoniers Ltd. of Liverpool. Stoniers supplied fine china to major British shipping companies for over a century. Life at Sea also exhibits other objects from Cunard’s long association with Liverpool.

Follow the below link for the museum’s maritime archives ‘Cunard Queens’ online exhibition.
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/displays/cunard-queens/

Our waterfront venues have a packed programme of events for this year's River Festival, which includes activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic.

A highlight of the programme will be a talk by TV presenter and historian at Merseyside Maritime Museum. Dan explained to us why the events are so important to him:

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It is extremely exciting to be coming to Liverpool to mark the official anniversary of a desperate and hugely important battle that raged from the first day of the war to the last. The Battle of the Atlantic was nothing less than a long running attritional struggle for national survival. Britain's enemies, as so often before in our history, attempted to shut off supplies to our island nation on which we depended. Had they succeeded the war would have been over, a starving population, and a weaponless army would have given the government no option but to sue for peace, on the enemy's terms.  

Battles were fought on fields far and near, armies were lost, territories evacuated, but Britain’s ability to fight on was really at stake on the cruel stretch of the North Atlantic. It is a titanic struggle that is often overlooked by the people of Britain, a battle won by the supreme ability of the Royal Navy and merchant marine, institutions hardened by centuries of conflict and professionalism.

My grandfather served in the Royal Canadian Navy escorting convoys throughout the war. His stories mesmerised me as a young boy and fired my love of history. In Liverpool I will be marking the battle with the public and the surviving veterans, and my grandfather will constantly be on my mind.

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Update 15 April 2013: Dan Snow's talk is now fully booked However there are lots more free events for all ages during the River Festival,see the website for full River Festival event listings.

Often as a conservator, there are not many opportunities to engage with the public. Working in studios undertaking practical conservation work can leave little time for interaction with those who enjoy and visit the collections. So when I was given the opportunity to do a demonstration of ship model conservation at the Lady Lever Art Gallery I was eager to accept.

The Gallery is part of National Museums Liverpool, and houses a collection of fine and decorative art. The Lady Lever Art Gallery was founded by William Hesketh Lever, and contains the best of his personal art collection. As part of the education programme, the gallery runs demonstrations of various art related topics, and so I did an afternoon of ship model conservation in one of the galleries.

I chose a model in great need of conservation work, which would also be an interesting example. The wooden model depicts an 18th Century ship of war with 38 guns and fully rigged. Its many areas of deterioration included broken masts, tangled rigging, and lead disease. The model was very dirty and so I set up a table so that I could do cleaning whilst on the gallery.

Whilst it was fairly quiet, the people whom I spoke to were very interested in the conservation and it was great to be able to tell them what we do in Ship and Historic Model Conservation. Many visitors who approached me had not seen the demonstration advertised, and were simply curious as to what I was doing. Equally the visitors were interested in the type of ship the model depicted, and as I had researched this well, was able to explain the historical context which then informs the conservation process. Many were fascinated as to how I would be able to repair the complicated rigging, which requires extensive knowledge of ships rigging.

I thoroughly enjoyed talking to the public about the work we do in the Conservation Centre, as well as being able to share my enthusiasm for maritime history. I found that people were very interested in conservation and many had not heard of the profession previously. And not uncommon for conservators, the popular phrase of the day was “you must have a lot of patience”. 

Starting today, tours of Liverpool's historic Old Dock are available every day of the week. Led by staff from Merseyside Maritime Museum, the tours take you below the city's streets to see the liver-coloured natural sandstone pool which gave Liverpool its name and find out all about the creation of the docks. Tours are free but must be booked in advance - find out how to book on the Old Dock page on the website.

As if that wasn't exciting enough, Jon Marrow, senior education officer at Merseyside Maritime Museum, has details of special role play performances which will be available for a limited period only in March:

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"Ever since I first went down into Liverpool’s Old Dock I was fascinated. It’s almost 300 years old and now seems so quiet, yet once was the scene of so much activity. I always thought an actor could breath new life into this atmospheric space, and soon this will happen.

For ten days in March, school groups and other visitors will be able to meet Bobbi Silva, a friendly character from the 1700s. Bobbi ran a shop right by the Old Dock and remembers what it was like in its heyday when Liverpool had become a booming town, full of sailors, merchants and other customers from exotic and far flung places.

As pupils will soon discover Bobbi is actually a time traveller and her memory after 250 years is no longer perfect! This means pupils need to get involved. They see Bobbi’s bag of treasured objects from the 1700s, and with Bobbi’s help they piece together the human story – who worked and played at the Old Dock, how it came to be built and how it transformed Liverpool. They also discover what a revolutionary feat of engineering the Old Dock was.

The aim is to provide a human story using the surviving evidence and result is engaging and humorous, so don’t miss the chance to take part – its only available for a few days!

The performance is aimed at key stage 1 and 2 pupils, links to the history curriculum and will offer inspiration for follow up class work in areas such as literacy. A full class can participate (maximum size of 36 including both pupils and adults).

Performances run on Monday 11 to Friday 15 March and Thursday 21 to Sunday 24 March at 10.30am, 11.30am and 2.30pm. When not run for a school, an adapted version is available for families and older visitors.

On the above dates the role play performance is run in place of the Old Dock tours. Groups taking part meet at the Merseyside Maritime Museum and are accompanied to the Old Dock. The performance lasts 25 minutes plus the short walk to and from the Old Dock.

You can take part by ringing 0151 478 4788 (schools and groups) or 0151 478 4499 (general public)."

As January is synonymous with sales and spring cleaning we thought we'd kill two birds with one stone and have a bit of a clear out in our book warehouse. So if you fancy bagging yourself a bargain then check out the offers on our online shop.

It's an eclectic selection and there are some great books, my personal favourites being 'When Time Began to Rant and Rage...' which is a fab book of Irish figurative work and totally worth a fiver,  Age of Jazz: British Arts Deco Ceramics as I'm a sucker for a deco teaset, and British Watercolours and Drawings from the Lady Lever's collection.

If you've still not got a John Moores catalogue then now is the time to buy one as they're reduced to £7.50. And if you buy it from the Walker shop you get the John Moores China version for free.

At first families back home in Liverpool were oblivious to the horror that had befallen their loved ones.

On November 23 1942 my grandmother watched from Crosby beach as Liverpool liner SS Ceramic left the River Mersey. Her husband Fred was aboard working as a steward. Clutching her three-month-old baby, Annie Felton waved the ship off, unaware that this would be the very final farewell.
 
The 18,400 ton Ceramic was launched in 1912 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast. She was the first ship built by White Star Line after Titanic and spent her years sailing the Liverpool to Australia route.

She was nicknamed “the relief of Bootle” because she’d offered work to jobless Liverpool seamen taking them off the dole queues.

On this day 70-years-ago (December 6 1942), Ceramic was en-route to Sydney. But she never made the Harbour Bridge. The merchant ship would be torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic off The Azores.

In deep of night U-515 aimed its torpedoes and unleashed hell. Passengers and crew scrambled into lifeboats, but this only prolonged the agony. As lifeboats capsized there was no escape from chaos of storm and sea.

Of the 656 men, women and children aboard, just one survived. U-515 emerged to pluck just one person from the carnage - sapper Eric Munday. It would be 10 months before the fate of Ceramic would be known back in Liverpool.

The sinking remains one of the worst shipping disasters of all time. The definitive story of Ceramic and account of sole survivor Eric Munday is available in a book by Clare Hardy called: “SS Ceramic – the untold story”: www.ssceramic.co.uk

SS Ceramic photograph is from the collections of Merseyside Maritime Museum. Our Maritime Archives and Library holds an extensive collection of maritime books and archives spanning three centuries, including one of the finest collections of merchant shipping records in the UK. www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/

By Dickie Felton

 

Emma Walmsley, education demonstrator at Merseyside Maritime Museum, has news of a rare opportunity to find out more about the mysterious Titanic:

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A real treat for Titanic fans – on Saturday 1 December at the Maritime Museum we’re really lucky to have Sean O’Connell talking about his experience of actually diving to the wreck! He will have images of his adventure to share with people and there will also be a chance to ask him questions about his once-in-a-lifetime trip. 

My own experience of working with the story of Titanic sees me trying to put myself in the position of people involved in the disaster and imagine as best as I can the situation as it unfolded for those characters, such as Bruce Ismay's daughter, Evelyn. Obviously there are no survivors left alive any longer to be able to tell their story first hand, so the role of these performances is even more important in putting across different viewpoints.

What’s so exciting and unique about Sean’s experience is that he has actually been there and seen the real ship for himself! Only a handful of people from across the world can say they have done the same thing - so to be able to hear about such an amazing adventure first-hand is truly rare.

Sean's talk is at 1.30pm and 3pm on Saturday 1 December at Merseyside Maritime Museum. See the website for full details of the Titanic events programme.

Ian Murphy, Curator of Martime History and Deputy Head of the Merseyside Maritime Museum reports:

Seafaring is a perilous occupation and this year the world has commemorated the lives lost in the sinking of Titanic. 10 years after this disaster however, another White Star ship was involved in dramatic events that had a much happier outcome.
90 year’s ago today, the White Star liner Pittsburgh under the command of Captain Thomas Jones was involved in the rescue of all 45 crew members of the Italian ship Monte Grappa in the mid Atlantic.

Monte Grappa had left Montreal for Venice carrying grain in November 1922 when a storm hit in mid-Atlantic. For two days the ship battled treacherous conditions, but eventually her SOS call was picked up by the Pittsburgh. Captain Jones and his crew responded immediately, fighting through the stricken waves to save all crew from the sinking ship.

Merseyside Maritime Museum has recreated Captain Thomas Jones’ cabin, along with some of his personal effects in the Life at Sea gallery. There’s another connection with Captain Jones at the museum in the shape of a model one of his later vessels, RMS Haverford, in our Art & the Sea gallery.

RMS Haverford was built in 1901 by John Brown and Company of Clydebank and had an eventful history. During the First World War she served as a cargo and troop transport. She carried British troops to the Dardanelles and American troops to Europe. She survived two torpedo attacks from U-boats. After the war she returned to the Liverpool-Philadelphia service. She helped repatriate thousands of American troops and carried many emigrants to the USA. She was scrapped in Italy in 1925.

Michelle Walsh, Assistant Curator Maritime History, writes about a recently unpacked object from the reserve collection:-

Whilst in our store last week I unpacked a rather fabulous object from the collection: an asymmetrical spinnaker sail from the Opera class sailing dinghy Valkyrie. All the boats in this class are named after a different opera, Valkyrie being named after Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

As you can see, this is no ordinary sail and inspired me to remind everyone that today is ‘International Talk Like A Pirate Day’!

So forget your everyday hellos and how do you dos and begin your day with ‘ahoy there!’ perhaps greet colleagues with an ‘avast, me hearties!’ and end your day with a satisfied ‘arrrr!’

I like this object because it was clearly made for fun. When the class was being established by Hoylake Sailing Club in the early 1900s they were not (to my knowledge!) being overrun by pirates. I do not believe there were shouts of ‘hoist the main sail’ and ‘prepare to be boarded!’ Which takes me back to ‘International Talk Like A Pirate Day’ – it’s all about having fun!

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

Arrrr!