Museum blog

Here in the Caird Library and Archive we are often asked about Royal Naval records relating either to specific individuals, events or ships. Most of the surviving records generated by the Navy during its long history are held by the National Archives at Kew. One set of records we hold on deposit here at Greenwich however are logs written by Royal Naval Lieutenants during the period of 1673-1809.

Seaspeak is a project conceived and created by 2018 National Maritime Museum Musician in Residence Joe Danks. It has seen him create an artistic, musical response to the National Maritime Museum's vast collection in the form of a 10 song album. This project has been a collaboration between The National Maritime Museum, The English Folk Dance and Song Society and Help Musicians UK.

“If, by repeated efforts, you find the index [of the theodolite] will not return to zero after taking a round of angles…unscrew the instrument from its tripod and replace it in the box, close the lid firmly, then gently roll the box one hundred yards or so down the hill side…”  

JOD/332 is a log kept by Captain Stanley Algar while a Prisoner of War at the Milag Nord camp near Bremen. However, the diary is not all it seems, while I was expecting to read Stanley Algar’s story of his capture and the gruelling day to day life in the camp, what it contained was quite different.

Were the lighthouse keepers on Flannan Island swept away? Or did something darker take place that night?

In 2019 new works by Susan Derges came to the Queen's House. We spoke to her about the symbolism within them. 

With 2019 marking the 150th birthday of the Cutty Sark, discover the story behind one of its ancestors. What part did The Tweed, an illustrious vessel in its own right, play in the Cutty Sark becoming the fastest ship of her time?