Museum blog

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.

Featuring polar bear and hedgehog sightings, our 2017 astrophotographers share their tales of freezing temperatures, far-flung travel, and police encounters

Every month, Documentations Officer Claire Denham takes us behind the scenes at Cutty Sark to give us an insight into the important daily research, documentation and maintenance work that keeps the ship preserved for many future generations to come.

Astrophotographers share their tips and tricks for taking the perfect astronomy photo.

In this guest blog Professor Andrew Lambert looks at an alternative reason why Franklin was employed to lead the 1845 expedition into the Arctic and why it is that this reason is often overlooked.

Having grown up in north Kent, I always keep an eye out for archive material relating to shipping on the River Medway and the naval dockyard at Chatham.  During cataloguing work earlier this year, I was drawn to some papers from the period when Admiral Sir Gerard H.U. Noel was commander-in-chief at the Nore station.  They include an appeal for the extension of Chatham Dockyard; see the items numbered NOE/51/5/9 in the Archive Catalogue. 

Regular readers may be familiar with the Lloyd's Register Survey Reports; a collection of detailed surveys on ships' materials and construction, used by underwriters and others in the shipping industry for reliable information on these vessels. You may not be aware that this collection was on loan to the National Maritime Museum for some 50 years.