National Maritime Museum & Royal Observatory Greenwich
- Taryn
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
When we arrived at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich we had to say our 'goodbyes' to our amazing guide, Kavin, who led us through London the last few weeks. We could not have had a better guide while in the city, and she had to deal with me and my wonky Tube Oyster card on several occasions as well as the time I got left behind at Liverpool Street station on the way to the Houses of Parliament.
Our time at the National Maritime Museum was self-guided. I learned that a naval art gallery had once been located on the site since the 1800s, but the current museum was opened in 1937 by King George VI. It is the most significant collection of materials on British maritime history and includes maps, manuscripts, art, ship models and much more.
Some of my favorite objects to view in this museum were the ship figureheads such as the one pictured above. There was also a wall that had about 20 figureheads displayed. There was a lot of superstition attached to these figureheads and it was believed that they could help calm seas, ward off evil, and even guide ships through fog.
As I've mentioned before, I have always loved maps. This museum presented many manuscripts with beautifully illustrated maps such as the one pictured above from 1588.
An enjoyable part of visiting the museum was joining a talk about two female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Both women were raised as boys, but for different reasons. Anne was illegitimate and her father hid this by passing her off as the son of friend. Mary, also illegitimate, was raised a boy after her infant brother passed away and her mother needed continued financial assistance from her mother-in-law, so Mary was disguised as her brother. The women both married in adulthood. Anne's husband put her on a path to piracy, but became an informant betraying other pirates and leading to the couple's separation. Mary on the other hand, joined the military in her adulthood still pretending to be a man, but revealed her gender to a fellow soldier she was in love with and they married and left the military. Mary's husband unexpectedly died and both women eventually found their way to Calico Jack Rackham's ship to live as pirates. In the end, they were caught by the British when they were cracking down on piracy, but escaped execution by claiming pregnancy.
Following our exploration of the National Maritime Museum, a few of us and our professor climbed up to the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Here, we were informed by a volunteer that they had telescopes set up for visitors to look directly at the sun. It was very cool to see the bright, red ball, but it kind of felt like I was having a retinal scan. However, without a doubt the highlight of visiting the observatory was checking out the prime meridian line and standing with one foot in the Eastern hemisphere and the other in the Western.
Finally, just before heading to catch the train back to Spitalfields, we viewed the Cutty Sark, an historic tea clipper .
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