National Museums Liverpool Blog - Monday, May 14, 2007

Model of the Agamemnon. Image courtesy of Liverpool Daily Post & Echo.

The legendary Holt family left their mark on Liverpool and I, Stephen Guy, have always admired their talents and business skills.

Alfred Holt (1829 – 1911) revolutionised sea trade with his remarkable fleet of steam ships in what became known as the Blue Funnel Line. In 1865 Alfred founded the Ocean Steamship Company with its technologically advanced ships featuring distinctive black and powder blue funnels which made them instantly recognisable around the world. He came from a family of five wealthy and talented brothers, the sons of successful cotton broker George Holt.

Alfred showed early promise as a railway locomotive engineer. However, it was as a marine engineer and ship-owner that he was to make his name. In 1864, when he was in his mid-30s, Alfred developed a type of compound steam engine enabling ships to travel much further and more economically than ever before. His engineering talent and business acumen were to make him a wealthy man living in an impressive mansion called Crofton, which still stands in North Sudley Road, south Liverpool (more on the Holt family and Sudley House here).

Alfred Holt was highly regarded by his peers and among the items in the collections of Merseyside Maritime Museum is the James Watt Medal awarded to him by the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1878. There is a scale model of the steam engine from the Blue Funnel Line’s Prometheus of 1886. Alfred designed this compound marine engine of the type used in all his ships until the 1890s. Compound two-cylinder engines made better use of steam than one-cylinder engines. The steam drove two pistons instead of one, producing more power at less cost. Like most great ideas, it was a simple concept.

There are two models of the Agamemnon of 1865 (one is shown here) – first of the Blue Funnel ships and one of the most influential steamships ever built. Agamemnon was important because she showed that long-distance ocean voyages were economically practical for a steamer.

The museum has personal possessions of William Elston of Birkenhead, a crew member on the Agamemnon between 1866 and 1873. Among other items is his concertina and an embroidered book mark believed to have been made for him by his first wife. It shows a sailing ship and bears the poignant message: “Think of me when far away.”

More about the Blue Funnel Line next week.

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

Planetarium operator John Moran explains all the fuss over the latest planetary discovery.

An artist's impression of an exoplanet. Image couresy of NASA.

After discovering some 200 or so planets orbiting distant stars, scientists have finally found what looks like an Earth type planet. Gliese 581c is the smallest "Extrasolar planet" ever discovered. Most Exoplanets discovered so far have been many times the size of Earth and more resemble gas giants like Jupiter. But the detection of a world so close in size to the Earth, has got the scientific community very excited.
 
But even more significant is the planets location around its parent star: Gliese 581c orbits around its Sun in a narrow band of space known as the "Habitable zone", defined as the region around a star where liquid water is stable. And as we all know, where there is water, there is a good chance that some kind of life may have formed.
 
Over the last few years, scientists have discovered hundreds of Exoplanets. How they do this is by studying a star's spectrum and looking for periodic shifts. These are tell-tale signs that the star is wobbling - rocking to and fro because of the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet. This wobble was detected in a small and quite dim star called Gliese 581, which is in our galactic  neighbourhood, 20.5 light years away. This wobble was the sign that it had a companion, and this companion turned out to be a Neptune sized planet orbiting very close to the star and completing its course every 5.4 days. But they noticed that the wobble did not fit the usual pattern, something  else seemed to be tugging at the star. As it turned out there where two more low mass planets  orbiting Gliese 581 and it is the middle of the three that has caught the attention. Not only is it the lowest mass planet ever found, but the distance from its Sun means it may  have a surface temperature of around 0 to 40 degrees Celsius and consequently water would be liquefied not frozen.
 
The fact that a Red dwarf is of much lower mass than our Sun makes the detection of small rocky planets that much easier. All in all, both the low luminosity and the low mass of Red dwarfs favour the detection of Earth-like planets around such stars, and with Red dwarfs being the most abundant stars in the Galaxy, the possibility for similar discoveries is very real. 
 
John Moran

Brian Jones in the wartime garden at the Piermaster's House

We've already brought you news on the archaeological dig at the former Manchester Dock. However, did you know about a much smaller dig at the Piermaster's House, nearby in the Albert Dock?

Museum staff planted a vegetable garden at the front of the Piermaster's House a few years ago, to complement the wartime theme of the displays inside. The garden shows the sorts of vegetables that people would have grown themselves to ensure a healthy diet when food was scarce during the Second World War and during the years afterwards, when strict rationing was still in place.

The garden is still maintained by green fingered museum attendant Brian Jones, with help from some ladybirds on pest control duty. Despite difficult conditions in the exposed location with salty air blown in from the mouth of the river, he has produced a bumper crop each year. Last year there was enough to cook a large pan of scouse for the attendants at the end of the summer.

Brian showed me how this year's plants were doing this morning. I was surprised at just how much was growing in such a small space, including rhubarb, tomatoes, strawberries, parsley, potatoes, carrots, onions, runner beans, lettuce, peas, some rather large leeks, plus a bed of herbs. You can see more photos of the garden in a Flickr slideshow.

If you are a keen local gardener and would be interested in helping out as a volunteer at the Piermaster's House garden, we would like to hear from you. Email the Museum of Liverpool team (who look after the Piermaster's House) for further information.

There are also some handy hints on creating a wildlife friendly garden from the experts at World Museum Liverpool's Bug House.

The Ellan Vannin. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

The tragic story of the Ellan Vannin has fascinated me, Stephen Guy, since childhood holidays on the Isle of Man. Everyone on board the Manx ferryboat perished in a terrible storm when 24ft waves sent the sturdy vessel to the bottom as she approached Liverpool.

Ellan Vannin (Manx Gaelic for 'Isle of Man') left Ramsey on 3 December 1909 with 14 passengers, 21 crew and 60 tons of cargo including sheep, pigs and vegetables. The weather was reasonable when she set out but deteriorated as the voyage progressed. By the time she reached the Mersey Bar the wind was near hurricane strength with mountainous waves crashing into the ship.

The court of inquiry concluded that the most probable explanation for the disaster was that the 339-ton Ellan Vannin was overcome by the huge seas, although the precise cause of the tragedy remains a mystery.

When the storm abated, her masts could be seen sticking out of the sea. Divers examined the wreck and found damage to the bows. The lifeboat davits were swung out ready for lowering. The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board later blew up the wreck as it was a danger to shipping.

In the Merseyside Maritime Museum collections there is a builder’s wooden half model showing the doomed ship when she was first built in 1860 as the paddle steamer Mona’s Isle. In 1883, she was converted to twin-screw propulsion and renamed Ellan Vannin. The model reflects the view that she was a strong ship. She had put to sea in many a storm when other vessels had run for cover in Ramsey Bay.

A contemporary broadsheet carries photographs of some of the people who died in the shipwreck. Dressed in their finery or everyday clothes, they are frozen in time. They include passengers Mr and Mrs Heaton Johnson looking the personification of respectability – he is in his immaculate high-collared shirt, she in a fashionable ruffled dress. Another passenger, WE Higginbotham, appears in full Highland costume. Manxman Mark Joughin stares out of the picture with a full beard, sporting a trilby hat. Captain Teare is in smart uniform while seaman T Corkish wears a lifejacket and sou’wester. Stewardess Mrs Collister has her hair in a bun. All very different people who shared the same fate.

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

Monday is the 92nd anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, one of the most horrific incidents at sea during the First World War.

You can see some poignant reminders of the ship in Merseyside Maritime Museum's recently revamped gallery, Titanic, Lusitania and the Forgotten Empress, including an unusual survivor from first class - the sofa cushion pictured opposite. Able Seaman Henry Grew spotted the cushion during search and rescue operations. He got hold of it with his boat hook but it ripped when he lifted it out of the water. You can see where the tear was repaired in this photo.

Marketing Assistant Enes updates us from "On the Road"

Geir Tonnessen, hotel general manager and Ben from Childwall

The latest addition to Museum of Liverpool - On the Road  was launched this morning at the Radisson SAS hotel. The child-sized post box was specially made for the children at Fazakerley Children’s Home to post their letters and cards.

National Museums Liverpool curator Kay Docherty, hotel general manager Geir Tonnessen, and local lad Ben appeared for regional press who attended the presentation.

Update 14.05.07: Sorry, we originally spelt Mr Tonnessen's name wrong.

The themes for Museums and Galleries Month this May are 'People: Who Are We?' and 'Night of the Museum'. To combine the two, the organisers are asking for nominations of a person, featured in a UK museum or gallery, who you would bring back to life as in the 'Night at the Museum' film.

Kay Docherty, assistant curator at the Museum of Liverpool has two great suggestions, the regal Statue of Liverpool that once graced the roof of the Walker and Leasowe Man, the oldest surviving skelton from Merseyside, who was conserved at the National Conservation Centre for our former exhibition Living with the Romans.

"I would love to see the huge Allegorical Statue of Liverpool, at the National Conservation Centre, which was on top of the Walker Art Gallery from 1877 until 1993, come to life. I'd ask her about the many Liverpool events she must have witnessed from high up on the roof and what she thinks of Liverpool today? Also does she like her new home and what does she think of the copy of herself now on the roof.
 
For Leasowe Man I'd ask him what life was like in Merseyside at the time of the Romans, what his name was and what it was like to live in a Romano British round house. From analysing his skeleton archaeologists believe that he was muscular and was used to heavy labour - I'd ask him what he did."

Installation of the glass elevator - if only there was a chocolate factory to go with it

I went for a look around Sudley House earlier this week. Sudley contains the only Victorian merchant's art collection still held in its original setting and is due to re-open its grand doors on Saturday 26 May after a period of refurbishment.

In addition to housing fabulous works by Turner, Reynolds and Gainsborough Sudley now boasts a special exhibition space, dedicated learning suite and has increased accessibility thanks to a great glass elevator Willy Wonka would be proud of.

Charlie Coburn one of our gallery attendants at Sudley has been keenly documenting the improvement works. His photographs provide an interesting insight into the hard work that happens behind the scenes at NML. Check out his images on our Flickr page - the builders have certainly been busy.

With venues re-opening and the prospect of another glorious night for the reds in Europe, the penultimate week in May looks set to be an exciting one. I can't wait. 

Curator of entomology (that's 'insects' in case you don't know) Guy Knight updates us on research the team is conducting in Cumbria. More on what they discover will follow over the summer, and more snaps can be found on our Flickr page.

Earlier this year, the Entomology Biodiversity Advisory Service at World Museum Liverpool was approached by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust to carry out a survey at Smardale Gill National Nature Reserve.

Smardale Gill NNR. A Malaise trap for sampling flying insects against the impressive industrial architecture of Smardale Gill viaduct, part of the disused Darlington - Tebay railway line.

The Trust aims to provide easy access for visitors to enjoy not only the spectacular wilderness views at the Smardale but also its rich wildlife habitats which include flower-rich grassland, ancient woodland and an unspoilt river. To make sure that these habitats are properly looked after and fully appreciated it is important that the site managers have the most detailed information available on the animals and plants they support.

We worked with the Cumbria Wildlife Trust a few years ago sampling insects at three of their other reserves. This work resulted in records of over 1,500 different species, over 100 of these were rare, threatened or scarce and several hundred had never before been recorded from Cumbria. Over the next year we expect to have similar results at Smardale and are pleased to be working with the Trust again. We will be visiting the site throughout the summer months and posting photographs and updates as the survey work progresses.

Entomology’s Biodiversity Advisory Service supports people’s enjoyment of the natural environment. Work relies on a mix of existing staff, associate and volunteer identification and field survey skills and our research informs species conservation and general site management locally, nationally & internationally. It also reinforces the quality and relevance of our nationally important insect collections. In the last ten years over 40 technical reports & publications have been commissioned, over 100,000 specimens have been identified - including new species to science, Britain and Liverpool.

This painting, May Morning on Magdalen Tower by Holman Hunt, would have been really appropriate if I'd written this post a few hours ago. I suppose it's still morning in some parts of the world - I'll just pretend I'm on New York time, it sounds glamorous. A complete aside, but on the subject of odd timing I noticed that this painting was the Lady Lever Art Gallery's Picture of the Month a few years ago. In July. I'm saying nothing.

Anyway, back to the point. As you probably already know, May is Museums and Galleries Month, an annual UK-wide celebration. As always, we've got lots of free events, activities and exhibitions taking place all month, way too many to list here. I will draw your attention to one in particular though.

The Merseyside Maritime Museum is holding 'The great museums debate', asking what the purpose of modern museums actually is, on Thursday 17 May, 6-8.30pm. Chaired by journalist and broadcaster Gillian Reynolds, speakers include David Fleming of National Museums Liverpool, writer James Delingpole, David Barrie of the Art Fund and Dea Birkett of Kids in Museums.

Do you think that there should be ‘as many people as possible visiting our great museums, not just the wealthy and overseas tourists?’ (David Fleming). Or is the ‘idea of ancient vases being mauled and chipped by mobs of primary schoolchildren’ abhorrent to you? (James Delingpole). This is your chance to have your say.

The debate is free for anyone to join in but places are limited, so please call 0151 478 4402 or email events  to request your free ticket.

See the What's On listings for further details of all our events in May, including the debate.