National Museums Liverpool Blog - Wednesday, July 14, 2010

As part of National Museums Liverpool’s ongoing commitment to equal opportunities and diversity there are a selection of BSL events suitable for all the family to enjoy this Saturday 17 July at World Museum.

From 2.15-2.45pm visitors can take part in a hands on Samurai Armour demonstration suitable for all the family. Here you can find out about the history and traditions of the Samurai and see a volunteer get dressed up in replica armour. A BSL interpreter will explain how the armour was used 400 years ago.

Then from 3.30-4.00pm children aged 3-7 can join in our interactive story of a very brave whale! The story of Molly the Friendly Blue Whale will be British Sign Language assisted and audio described.

Best of all these activities are totally free, you just need to collect a free ticket from the information desk on the day.

Karen Charnock from Merseyside Maritime Museum's education team sent me this photo, which is a great example of the type of specialist sessions they can provide on request. She explains:

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"We received a special request from two visiting couples with visual impairments. They wanted an interactive, hands-on way to engage with the collections and the demonstration team were delighted to oblige by providing them with a one to one handling session on gallery. Here's a photo of our visitors with their guide dogs Kai and Corrie. They spent over an hour with demonstrator Jane Murdoch, who used objects that reflected all aspects of the museum collections from ships and shipping, to the Battle of the Atlantic, even incorporating the International Slavery Museum.

The session was thoroughly enjoyed by all and the group felt that it had completely enhanced their experience of the museum."

They say art can be very therapeutic and this must certainly be the case for prisoners of war.

Putting it down on paper not only fills time but also provides an opportunity to be creative in grim surroundings. I can well understand how even the most functional building or everyday situation was carefully recorded.

My father, a military policeman, was never captured but I treasure his wartime sketches from Italy and North Africa. He said opportunities to sketch were rare but not to be missed.

Many British and Allied merchant seamen became prisoners of war as a result of the Battle of the Atlantic with its large losses of shipping.

This was due mainly to the activities of German warships and armed auxiliary cruisers in the central and south Atlantic.

Crews were taken off sinking ships and from the sea and lifeboats in this vast arena of war. Most of the prisoners were held at Milag Nord and Marlag internment camps near Bremen in northwest Germany.

On display in Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Battle of the Atlantic gallery are postcards sent by British merchant seamen from the camps.

One from Christmas 1941 carries seasonal greetings from Stalag XB Marlag and features a windjammer ship in full sail.

There are sketches made by British merchant seamen at Milag Nord. They show wire fences and a watch tower, and accommodation hut labelled Barrack 7 and dormitory accommodation with men eating and relaxing on their bunks.

An Admiralty publication called Warwork News (pictured) shows 13 dishevelled men with the caption: “For 23 days these men were adrift in an open boat … their ship had been sunk by a German raider in the Atlantic … there were 82 men crowded into a boat built to hold 50 … one of the boats finally reached São Luiz, Brazil, where the men fell exhausted on the beach.”

In a rallying call to workers at home, Warwork News adds: “The men of the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy ask you to give every ounce of effort to speed up production.”

Dramatic photos show shipwrecked seafarers at the point of being rescued from the sea.

More than 5,000 Allied merchant seamen were taken prisoner by German forces during the Second World War – most were held at these two camps which also accommodated Royal Navy personnel.

Marlag was used as a location for the 1946 film The Captive Heart starring Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1 p&p UK).

Helen Gornall tells us about the upcoming festival and a visit from Snorri the Viking!

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Festival of British Archaeology – 17 July until 1 August 2010

The Festival of British Archaeology is here again and the Weston Discovery Centre (WDC) at the World Museum is leading the way with two weeks of fun-filled activities! The Festival is co-ordinated by the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) and is designed to showcase the very best of British Archaeology – which of course the WDC uses to showcase the very best of our archaeological collections!

The events are all pulled together by the CBA. Our events have got pride of place on their website next to hundreds of events across the country!

In the first week of the Festival we kick off with a visit from Snorri and friends, our ‘real’ Vikings who will be around to chat to all our visitors about how the Vikings used to live, what they used to eat and what they used to wear (modelled by Snorri himself)!

We continue with spotlight talks throughout the week about conservation, stratigraphy and the ancient Egyptians! As well as our family craft workshops on ancient writing, learning from poo (not real poo!) and Egyptian coffins. Also, as a special for the festival our hominid badge challenge and skeleton excavation and recording will be available with our staff on hand to help!

Our second week continues in much the same vein, with our hominid badge challenge and our skeleton excavation and recording continuing to be available with staff on hand! Our spotlight talks cover conservation and stratigraphy again, as well as talks at the weekend on the Vikings! Our workshops include ancient buildings, Greek pots and Viking craft activities to round off the festival! See the full list of events. 

The Weston Discovery Centre, from the World Museum is on Twitter. Follow us at @NML_Discovery and find out when our events are and what’s going on!

The last time I spent any time with five year olds was when I was five myself. From what I remember it's pretty tough - warm milk at break time,  bossy kids beating you to it to get to the wet sand and watercress that wont grow out of the Flora tub. I can only assume it’s the same for the five year olds of today too.

However it was lovely to see a school group of five year olds getting a much needed break from the stresses of everyday life at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

St Andrews C of E primary school came along to take part in the Little Smugglebusters Playday, part of the Seized! The Border and Customs Uncovered events programme.

Last week I arranged for a photographer from the Daily Post and Echo to come along and take a few snaps for the paper. While we were there children took part in customs themed fun, including dressing up and storytelling. We were lucky enough to have two little volunteers willing to have their picture taken and they did a fantastic job of posing for the camera.

If you have a little one who’d make a good little smugglebuster there is another playday on 2 September 2010 from 10.30am – 1.30pm where all little smugglebusters are invited to smugglebust for free.

 

Here are Clare Wolfarth's thoughts on returning home from her six week sabbatical in Haiti, where she has been helping her former employers Oxfam in their relief operation following the devastating earthquake in January.

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"Two missed connections, fourteen hours later than scheduled and I still haven’t been reunited with my luggage but am home. As I sit here in my house in Crosby, it’s difficult to know where to begin to answer the first question asked by friends and family: "How was Haiti?" I usually settle for "amazing" as my response as I struggle to articulate my experience of the place.

‘Rebati Lavi sou lòt fondasyon’ is Haitian Creole for ‘Renewing Life on new foundations’ and is the name given to Oxfam’s strategy for supporting the recovery of the Haitian people affected by the earthquake. Almost $10 billion has now been pledged by the international community to support the recovery of Haiti; an enormous sum and an opportunity that cannot be squandered. The emergency response to the earthquake is a short term intervention to meet acute need but I realised during my time in Haiti that there has been a chronic emergency of overwhelming proportions in this country for a long time.

I leave with many, many memories which will stay with me for a lifetime. Memories of the randomness of the destruction of the January earthquake that has left some houses unscathed and others reduced to piles of rubble whilst still others have been left like strange, life size dolls houses with the sides ripped off so passersby can see the rooms and furniture left inside. Memories of the squalor and the smells in the camps; the children and the elderly who were finding ways to live there; the art and the music and the spectacular scenery; the heat and the rain. But above all, memories of the pride and resilience of an embattled people who have found the strength to carry on living as they walk over the ruins of their neighbourhoods, their businesses and their homes. They have taught me that the will to live and carry on living is inextinguishable against all the odds.

I believe we all have a responsibility to these people and above all, whatever we can or can’t do in practical terms to help, our responsibility is to not forget them or their suffering when the media does; to take a moment to pause and be grateful for what we have got in our own lives."

Following the closure of Greenock Customs House the UK Border Agency National Museum (Seized!) recently collected an unusual array of objects. One of the highlights is this whisky bottle believed to be off the SS Politician - the cargo ship that was immortalised in the classic Ealing comedy 'Whisky Galore' in 1949.

Laden with goods, including 50,000 cases of scotch, the Politician left Liverpool in 1941 bound for the American market. However, during a heavy storm the captain was unable to keep the ship on course, and she ran aground on a sandbank off the Isle of Eriskay, in the Scottish Western Isles.
 
Once the local residents heard from the crew about the contents of the ship, they set about salvaging the whisky. However the local Customs officer regarded this as theft, and illegal. A series of police raids set about finding the looted goods.
 
The bottle acquired for the national collection still has barnacles attached, suggesting that it has spent some time in the sea. It will now form part of our reserve collection off display.

In the Seized gallery in the basement of Merseyside Maritime Museum there are lots more objects with fascinating stories behind them, including these display highlights. On the website there are also lots of objects from behind the scenes with unusual tales to tell.

I have climbed the tower of Liverpool’s Anglican cathedral – one of the largest cathedrals in the world - and enjoyed one of the finest views of the city.

I also attended the royal ceremony to mark the completion of this hugely inspiring building in 1978.

Years later I learnt that the tower is named after a well-known local family, the Vesteys, whose fortunes rose with the arrival of refrigeration. They paid for most of the 331-ft high tower.

The Blue Star shipping line was started by the family – originally Liverpool butchers – to carry eggs and other perishables from China.

They were among the first to introduce refrigeration into their shops - a milestone because previously meat had to be sold off cheaply on Saturdays as most shops were shut on Sundays.

This developed into a business importing meat from South America using refrigerated ships. Vestey Brothers had a huge processing factory in Buenos Aires which could handle 5,000 cattle a day.

The Blue Star Line was registered in 1911 and during the First World War its ships carried beef for Allied troops in France.

In 1920 the ships started to carry Star in their names. In 1927 five elegant sister ships of around 13,000 tons each were built – they would later be named Arandora Star, Almeda Star, Andalucia Star, Avila Star and Avelona Star.

All would have the sad distinction of being torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat submarines in the Second World War. Blue Star lost 29 of its 39 ships during the conflict, involving the deaths of 646 crew members.

There is a fine model of the most famous – the Arandora Star – on display in the Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Battle of the Atlantic gallery. Our picture shows the swimming pool complete with bathers and sun loungers. .

Arandora Star left Liverpool for Canada on 2 July 1940 carrying Italian male civilian internees and German internees and prisoners-of-war along with British troops. The following day she was torpedoed by the U-47 off County Donegal in Ireland with the loss of 805 lives.

From happier times, a colourful poster by Kenneth Shoesmith advertises an Arandora Star cruise taking in South Africa, Java, Malaya, Ceylon and Egypt in 1935.

The first sister to be sunk was the Avelona Star, victim of the U-43 on 30 June 1940 off Cape Finisterre.

The Blue Star fleet was rebuilt after the war with new ships and second-hand vessels. The company was disposed of by the Vestey Group to P&O Nedlloyd in 1998.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1 p&p UK).