Museum blog

This blog looks at how a seemingly insignificant bean provided the stimulus to advancements in naval intelligence, technology, trade and science

The Royal Navy developed some of Britain’s earliest welfare schemes in order to look after disabled and aged seamen.

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.

Sir John Franklin's expedition to map final part of the Northwest Passage departed on 19 May 1845. The two exploration ships, HMS Erebus and Terror were towed from Greenhithe in Kent at 10.30am.

The recent discovery of Frankin's lost ships reveals more than artefacts and history. Amber Lincoln of the British Museum discusses the impact of Inuit oral history on locating the ships and what this means for the future of research in the Arctic.

At sea if you were visited by other sailors and the ship wasn't in top condition you are going to get talked about. The same standards are expected here.

Ship's biscuits or hard tack was a vital part of a seaman's diet in the years before the introduction of canned food in the mid-nineteenth century. Try the ship biscuit diet for yourself by following our recipe!