Museum blog

For over 200 years, British shipowners and companies have recruited sailors from the Indian Ocean region, more commonly known as lascars. These seamen have worked, fought and died on board British vessels yet have not always been given the recognition they deserve. The Caird Library and Archive holds phrasebooks which aimed to capture the language spoken by this diverse group of people serving on board European ships.

Collections Storage Officer Louise Bascombe and Object Conservation Manager Karen Jensen illuminate the history and future of some of the most vulnerable items in the collection and show how work continued safely behind the scenes while the museum was closed in 2020.

Assistant Curator Alex Grover gives a brief insight into his ongoing research into this small but significant collection of polar photographs

The Caird Library and Archive at the National Maritime Museum has a rich variety of items which include manuscripts, charts and maps, journals and diaries, prints and drawings, rare books, pamphlets as well as business records, crew lists and masters' certificates. Also included are the modern book and periodical collections. This article gives a taster of the types of documents and rare items that are under the care of the library team.

We have all heard the saying ‘clothes maketh the man’. Perhaps it’s doubly true for women – especially those women who disguised themselves in order to run away to sea.

Find out about the influential and iconic resistance fighter, Nanny of the Maroons.

This month we investigate a small notebook from the Journal and Diary collection (RMG reference: JOD/325), kept by Thomas Edward Chilvers from the time he was serving in the Merchant Navy onboard the ship Empire Baffin. The Journal and Diary collection offers a fascinating insight into life at sea in the Royal and Merchant Navy, the fields of exploration and leisure activities in the words of those who contributed to laying the foundations of Britain’s maritime heritage.