Floating museums

Ranjita Biswas

   

People have been travelling by boats and ships for centuries, much before the mechanised means of transport took over.   The ships of yore have a fascinating history. Preserved as museums, ships from the past offer a glimpse into how mariners sailed centuries ago, spending months in the sea and lived to tell their stories after the voyage ended. Some of the best records of those times can be found in ‘memorial ships’, so called as they are preserved as a testimony to maritime ventures. There are thousands of maritime museums, also sometimes known as nautical museums, in the world. Here’s a look at some of these:

Raised from the bottom of sea

If Greenwich’s Cutty Sark clipper was towed to a dry dock, Stockholm’s Vasa Museum was literally resurrected from the bottom of the sea. The Vasa warship was built to show off the naval might of Swedish king Gustav II Adolf, ‘the Lion of the North’. The huge ship weighed more than 1,200 tonnes. But in 1628, belying the festive atmosphere of its launch, it ended in tragedy as it sank on its maiden voyage while just off from the shore.

Vasa remained under water for 333 years until Anders Franzén, engineer and amateur archaeologist, collected evidence that there was something big and wooden at the bottom of the sea,  near the island of Beckholmen. He convinced the navy to send a diving team to investigate. After a painstaking salvage operation, on 24 April 1961, people witnessed the astonishing sight of the three-century-old ship coming out of water, as if by magic.

The silt was cleaned, conservationists were brought in, and there emerged an astounding sample of craftsmanship with 700 carved wooden figures, rich in colour and detail. It is the world’s only preserved 17th century ship.

Going around the museum is like a reality show introducing you to lifestyle of the sailors at that time. Most of the original structure survives, including masts and sails, so you feel as if you are walking around a ship ready to sail.

On the Baltic waves  

From Warsaw, Poland’s capital, the drive to the historical city of Gdansk takes around three hours. Not far from here is the port at Gdyniaon the Baltic Sea. As you walk on the southern pier, a huge ship, painted grey and blue looms ahead, looking rather imposing. No wonder, because it is a Second World War era destroyer, called Blyskawica.

It was built in England as war clouds gathered over the European sky and Poland apprehended German invasion. However, just before the war started, Blyskawica was sent to England, much to consternation of the Polish Navy. The apparent reason was that Germans would find it an easy target to bomb.

During the war, Blyskawica was a feared destroyer. She returned to Poland only after it ended. Since 1976, Blyskawica has been turned into a museum, a great attraction for enthusiasts of wartime memorabilia. It is the oldest existing destroyer in the world. The exhibits are located under the deck. You can see the ship’s equipment and learn about the history and tradition of the navy.

Classic clippers

One such is the Cutty Sark Museum in Greenwich on the Thames. Cutty Sark was a British clipper ship, which reigned over the waves in the 19th century. Famous for its beauty, grace, and speed, Cutty Sark was built in 1869 for ship owners Willis & Sons. Sailing from Scotland. It competed to become the fastest ship in the annual race to bring the first consignment of the new season’s tea from China to British soil. The name came from Cutty Sark, the nickname of the witch Nannie Dee, in a poem written by Robert Burns.

The three-masted vessel served in the English-Chinese tea trade through the 1870s, later in the Australian wool trade, and finally as a training ship. It was one of the last such clippers to be built as steam propulsion took over and this design was abandoned.

In 1951, the ship was sent to London and was moored in the Thames as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations. Afterwards, sitting lonely and neglected, and perhaps heading for a scrapyard, it made a sorry sight. Maritime historians and lovers of heritage ships took up the cause of saving her from that destiny.

The Cutty Sark Society was formed, and in 1954, it was towed into a specially constructed dry dock in Greenwich. More than three years of meticulous restoration followed to bring back her younger-day appearance. It was officially opened to the public in 1957.

As you approach the dry dock, the beautiful silhouette of the clipper brings to mind the old ships featuring in Pirates of the Caribbean series. There are various modes of transport to reach the spot but the most interesting is to approach from the Greenwich side by actually walking beneath the Thames via the underwater Greenwich Foot Tunnel connecting the Docklands Light railway station.

You can admire the huge ship from outside but it’s worth buying a ticket to get an idea of the clipper. There are various combination tours that could also include the National Maritime Museum nearby.

At particular hours (and particular days), you would meet characters in period costumes to show you around. Like Captain Woodget, Cutty Sark’s longest serving master; Nannie the Witch in her white costume; James Robson, Cutty Sark’s cook, to find out what was for dinner on-board.