National Museums Liverpool Blog - Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Royal Charter hero, Joseph Rogers. Image copyright Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

The story of the Royal Charter has fascinated me, Stephen Guy, since childhood when I took holidays on Anglesey just down the coast from where she was wrecked.

Gold and more gold. Many of the travellers had made their fortunes in the Australian gold fields and now they were anticipating lives of comfort.

In their expensive clothes, bedecked with jewellery and other symbols of their wealth, they boarded the luxury 2,700-ton steam clipper Royal Charter at Melbourne and set sail for Liverpool.

On board were 498 passengers and crew - and nearly two tons of gold plus 48,000 gold sovereigns with a total value of around £500,000 (a staggering £35 million in today’s money).

It was 1859 and the Royal Charter was one of the finest, fastest passenger ships and could cover the long journey from Australia in under 60 days.

As the ship approached Liverpool she hit one of the worst storms ever seen in the Irish Sea. The Royal Charter was tossed around like a cork as she hugged the coast of Anglesey. The anchors were dropped but ferocious seas broke the chains.

Royal Charter crashed on rocks off Moelfre and there were terrible scenes as people made frantic attempts to reach the shore. Some tried to save their fortunes by filling their pockets with gold and as they desperately tried to swim to safety, the heavy gold dragged them under. Only 39 people survived and bodies were recovered for days afterwards.

Exhibits from the wreck can be seen in Merseyside Maritime Museum’s emigrants’ gallery. They include a section of the wooden stern - the broken fragment’s carvings indicating the high standard of workmanship on the Royal Charter.

A delicate cup and saucer reflect the luxurious style of the ship. A gold signet ring with the initials SG provokes questions about who owned it.

But perhaps the most evocative is a section of thick rope. Able seaman Joseph Rogers (pictured) was the first to reach shore carrying a long length of this rope from the wreck. He lashed it to the rocks and a bosun’s chair was fitted so that some lives were saved. There were horrific tales of people plunging into the foaming seas.

And what of the gold? Most of it was recovered but who knows how much still lies scattered far and wide after nearly 150 years of tides?

There's lots more information on the people who travelled to and from Australia via Liverpool in the 19th century in a special online feature, Leaving From Liverpool.

A new Maritime Tale appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo.

If you are working, living or playing in Liverpool, you just can’t get away from the Beatles. And nor should you want to.

This morning comes the news the Fabs are finally going to get Royal Mail's stamp of approval. They will be celebrated with a New Year series of stamps featuring their album covers. These would make great addition to this 1980s reissue set of stamps featuring mug shots of the boys – a duplicate of a 1964 collectors' edition. You can view these and a ridiculous variety of other Beatles memorabilia in our online exhibition. You may remember Sam writing about this charming set of Beatles Russian dolls during the August festival.

Other ‘Beatle news of the day’ is the proposed recreation of the church fete where John Lennon and Paul McCartney met on July 6, 1957
The 50th anniversary of the event is to be marked with a service of celebration at St Peter’s Church in Woolton – although the details are still a bit sketchy.

Paul and John were introduced by a mutual friend at the church fete. Later that day John performed with his skiffle band The Quarrymen at the church hall and Paul watched from the sidelines. We were lucky enough acquire that very stage when it was gifted by the Parochial Church Council of St Peter's Church. It is likely to form a key exhibition in the new Museum of Liverpool when it opens.

As far as I'm concerned, you can't beat the Beatles. However, Queen, Oasis, Take That and The Rolling Stones are all in the running to do just that in the Great British Battle of the Bands poll running on Radio 2.The results will be broadcast on New Years' Day.

And if you're not all Beatled out after all that, you can still check out our Beatles Games.

Update: The result of the Great British Battle of the Bands is in. Apparently Queen are the nation's favourite band with the Beatles edged into second place. The Rolling Stones came third, followed by Oasis and Take That. If you want to follow the arguments, logic and voting that resulted in this dramtic outcome, you can listen to the show online

Welcome to the first of my online Maritime Tales. In this post I'm looking at CSS Alabama.

The warship Alabama wreaked havoc on the high seas for the breakaway Confederate States during the American Civil War – and she was built in Birkenhead. Alabama sank or captured 67 Union sailing ships and one steamer before the USS Kearsage sent her to the bottom off Cherbourg, France, in 1864.

Laird Brothers built the Alabama for agents of the Confederate Navy in 1862. There was a lot of support for the Confederates in Liverpool because the huge cotton industry had been badly affected by the Civil War. Cotton from the Confederate states was hit and thousands of cotton workers in Lancashire thrown out of work.

A detail from Alabama by Samuel Walters

The British government had adopted a neutral stance in the Civil War. When they found out where the Alabama was destined, ministers ordered that she be detained in Birkenhead. However, the Alabama managed to slip away, steaming down the Mersey supposedly to carry out engine trials. She made for the Azores where she was fitted with armaments.

During her two-year campaign, she cruised the seas looking for prey. First she created havoc from Newfoundland to the Caribbean. Then she was off the coast of Brazil before crossing the Atlantic to South Africa.

The Alabama sailed the Indian Ocean and travelled as far east as Singapore. She met her nemesis after going to Cherbourg for an extensive refit. Her captain, Raphael Semmes, wanted to stay for several months but the French ordered him to leave. The Alabama went out to meet the Kearsage. The two ships fought while spectators watched from the shore. After being at sea so long, Alabama was no match for the Kearsage and was reduced to a battered hulk in an hour.

There are a number of fascinating exhibits associated with the Alabama at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.  A signet ring bears the name R Hobbs, possibly a Liverpool man who was quartermaster on the Alabama. He was wounded in the famous showdown with the Kearsage. A miniature anchor is believed to be made from brass from the Alabama’s engine room. 
A model of the Alabama has fine details including eight cannons on deck.  The oil painting of the ship by Samuel Walters is also on show in the Art & the Sea gallery.

On our main site you can see photographs taken on board ship, plus there's more about Liverpool's role in the American Civil War.

A new Maritime Tale appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo.

Subtitle: diversionary tactics part 2.

Festive detail from the not very festive Daphnephoria

Today's foray into the world of 'kind of work' has been provided by the Guardian art & architecture blog which has posed the question 'what is your favourite Christmas painting?' In the spirit of 'diversionary tactics' I'd better go for images from our own collections. You'll know a lot of these as they are regularly used on Christmas cards. My choices are:

• Peter Doig's 'Blotter'
• The Shortening Winter's Day Is Near A Close by Farquharson (proper chocolate box stuff)
• The image shown is a detail from The Daphnephoria by Lord Leighton which, despite being used on lots of Christmas cards, isn't even about winter. The Daphnephoria was an ancient festival held every nine years in honour of the god, Apollo. So now you know.
• Snowdrift by Edward Onslow Ford is often used as well, despite being about the end of winter and the coming of spring. 
• Just realised that one our most popular Christmas pics isn't on our main site (job for the new year me thinks), Angel Playing A Flageolet by Burne-Jones.

Guess this is the National Museums Liverpool blog signing off for a few days. Have a restful and peaceful holiday, whatever you end up doing.

Forthcoming exhibition, Animated Adventures

I was looking for references to Aardman Animations (they of Wallace & Gromit fame) in anticipation of the Animated Adventures exhibition we are hosting next year, and was really gutted to come across this BBC article on the death of Joseph Barbera. Peter Lord from Aardman talks about Barbera's influence in the piece.

Hanna-Barbera were the creators of my childhood (and adult if I'm honest) favourites including The Flintstones, Scooby Doo (before Scrappy, obviously), Top Cat and, my absolute fave, Tom & Jerry.

Wikipedia pretty well covers their work, with some good links to other HB sites.

Stuck in an office that bears an increasing resemblance to the Marie Celeste on a wet bank holiday doesn't put you in much of a festive mood. My reserves of diversionary tactics, ie 'it kind of is but kind of isn't work', are running low already and I've still got to survive tomorrow and most of next week. Who'da thought the world wide web could offer so little of interest?

Luckily I wandered across this new site from the Arts Council - the catalogue of its collection. Nice design and lots of pretty pictures. That's my sanity preserved for a few more hours. Tune in tomorrow to see how far I've descended into the abyss...

Every year I plan to write all my cards at the beginning of December yet somehow my good intentions never materialise. This morning found me stuffing envelopes into a postbox in order to catch the lasting posting day for first class mail - just one of my personal Christmas traditions.

Of course in this technological age if you miss the post you can always send digital greetings with a Christmas e-card. So what are you waiting for? Spread a little festive cheer!

Those Victorians had some very funny ideas when it came to designing Christmas cards. Our selection of vintage Christmas e-cards, featuring cards from our decorative art collection, include crickets playing cricket and food racing on pigback, as well as the more common snowy scenes and Father Christmas.

A century later these more unusual designs still appear to be striking a chord though. I was really chuffed to see that the 'Pip pip' e-card (with that festive favourite image of a policeman narrowly avoiding being run over) was the image of the week in The Times on Saturday. You can't beat the classics! 

Note from Karen: introducing Stephen Guy who will be presenting a weekly maritime feature starting next week.

Stephen Guy, author of the new Maritime Tales blog feature

Merseyside Maritime Museum has stunning collections giving insights into this heritage and the unique port linked to the world’s trade routes. My new weekly feature, Maritime Tales, is inspired by those exhibits and collections.  

I'll look at the remarkable characters from Liverpool’s maritime history, many of whom left lasting impressions. They include Isambard Kingdom Brunel, J Bruce Ismay, Alfred and George Holt, William and John Laird,Samuel Cunard,  Captain Edward Smith, Captain Johnnie Walker and Jesse Hartley.

Then there are those who once played a big part in the Liverpool maritime scene and its triumphs and disasters but who may no longer be remembered by many. There is Able Seaman Joseph Rogers, hero of the wreck of the Royal Charter, James Baines founder of the Black Ball Line used by emigrants, William Burslow gallant captain of the first Royal Yacht Mary, John Towne Danson marine insurance pioneer, Sir Percy Bates chairman of the Cunard Line and William Inman with his pioneering emigrant steamships.

Then there are the immeasurable numbers of unrecorded people whose hopes and fears were inextricably linked to its ships, seafarers and docks. The dark days when Liverpool was Europe’s leading slave trade port were followed by 100 years as probably the greatest emigrant port in world history. The Tales recall the highs and lows over the centuries up to the present, when 2007 is Liverpool’s 800th anniversary and Year of Heritage.

Some of the legendary vessels I'll look at include the Titanic, Great Eastern, Thetis, Lusitania, Alabama, Ellan Vannin, Olympic, Carmania, Britannia, Great Britain, Prince of Wales, Bismarck and Tirpitz.

There are disasters and triumphs – from the successes of Brunel’s pioneering steamers to the terrible losses of the Second World War. I'll look at innovative ideas and how Liverpool has frequently led the way taking risks and pushing the pace of progress.

My ancestors settled in Liverpool around 1700 and many have been mariners and shipwrights over the generations.  I have worked for many years as a news reporter and journalist before joining National Museums Liverpool.

A new Maritime Tale appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo.

Have I mentioned that Christmas is coming? Only about ten times over the last few weeks. If you still have Christmas shopping to do then you could pick up some traditional gifts at the Croxteth Hall market on Sunday 17 December, which promises lots of festive stalls in the spirit of Christmas past. 

A special guest at the market this Sunday will be the Burrell steam traction engine from our popular land transport collection, which is visiting as part of the Museum of Liverpool on the road project. It's only there for the day, so you'd better steam over there if you don't want to miss it.

It's around this time that people start asking me what big exciting things are going to be happening in our venues next year. Something that I'm looking forward to is the reopening of Sudley House. The venue, in my old student stomping ground of south Liverpool, is currently being refurbished to improve access and create new displays. Dave Moffat, assistant curator of decorative art, is pictured above with two of the dolls that will be going in Sudley's new Toy Zone, which will feature vintage playthings as well as brand new activities for young visitors. Keep an eye on the website for details of the opening in summer 2007.

There are more dolls in the selection of Christmas e-cards on our website - our conservators have assured me that they have treated the dolls much more carefully than the girl on the Doll's bathtime e-card!