Museum blog

Journals written by seamen can provide a rich source of information about life onboard both naval and merchant ships, and also provide a glimpse into how those seamen viewed the people and places they visited. 

Ahead of International Slavery Remembrance Day and Brolly Productions' The Powder Monkey, Maritime 1788 , composer Dominique Le Gendre, reflects on the opera's journey

Montagu’s journals revealed a subtle ability and versatility of character and in many ways he was quite similar to his cousin, Samuel Pepys, whom Montagu was patron to. He was many things: an able soldier, a distinguished admiral, a Fellow of the Royal Society and an ambassador and diplomat. He was highly valued and liked by both Cromwell and Charles II; and praised by Clarendon and Milton. He delivered Charles II to England from exile and fought in the Dutch Wars, but was killed at the Battle of Solebay before he could reach the age of fifty.

The Maritime Memories Machine – a van themed around the sea – tours England from June to August 2017 and visits sixteen different towns and cities along the way to collect people’s sea stories and memories.

The Caird Library’s collection of masters’ and mates’ certificates dating from 1850 -1927 (also available via Ancestry.com) is probably the most well-known example of evidence showing the capabilities of the those in charge of merchant vessels but what happened before 1850?