Heritage Open Days - National Maritime Museum

We managed to get ourselves onto a tour for a 'Behind the Scenes' look at the National Maritime Museum's stores. The tour was at the store, a mile from the museum where they keep anything that isn't on display. Exhibits change slowly over time. Father's Day, at the time the smallest boat to cross the Atlantic, is currently in store.

An Angolan boat made from a light hardwood was also in store, both father's Day and the Angolan boat have been exhibited before. Also in the store was 'Mirror Dinghy' number 1 and so many small boats, all waiting to be seen by the museum's future viewers.

In the workshop were a couple of boats undergoing some restoration, not something they usually undertake except in special cases.

Upstairs there are a variety of rooms containing various items relating to boats and boating. A model of Team Philips ill fated catamaran was hanging on the wall in the parts store.

Another room contained hundreds of boat building plans, being preserved in special cardboard boxes. In the adjacent room there were many pieces of art from the marine artists guild.

In some of the other rooms they had sail makers plan books and ships inventories. The top room was full of miscellaneous items, cannonballs, anchors, just a random collection of items that had been collected from various places.