National Maritime Museum Cornwall
Encyclopedia
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. The building was designed by architect M. J. Long.
The museum grew out of the FIMI (Falmouth International Maritime Initiative) partnership which was created in 1992 and was the result of collaboration between the National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...
, Greenwich and the former Cornwall Maritime Museum in Falmouth. It opened in February 2003. It is an independent charitable trust and, unlike other national museums, receives no direct government support.
Its mission is to promote an understanding of boats and their place in people's lives, and of the maritime heritage of Cornwall. It does this by presenting the story of the sea, boats and the maritime history of Cornwall.
Boats
The Museum manages the National Small Boat Collection, which came from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, in addition to its own collection of Cornish and other boats. Famous boats on show in its collection include:- Waterlily, a Thames steam boat built by ThornycroftThornycroftThornycroft was a United Kingdom-based vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977.-History:Thornycroft started out with steam vans and lorries. John Isaac Thornycroft, the naval engineer, built his first steam lorry in 1896...
s in 1866 - Fricka, a gentleman's day sailor built by William FifeWilliam FifeWilliam Fife III OBE , also known as Wm. Fife, Jr., was the third generation of a family of Scottish yacht designers and builders....
- Champions like the Ventnor planing hydrofoil; the Flying DutchmanFlying Dutchman (dinghy)thumbthumbThe Flying Dutchman is a 20-foot one-design high-performance two-person monohull racing dinghy. Developed in the early 1950s, its large sail area per unit weight allow it to plane easily when sailing upwind. The boat utilizes a trapeze harness for the crew and hiking straps for the...
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Superdocious for short) in which Rodney PattissonRodney PattissonRodney Stuart Pattisson, MBE is a double olympic gold medalist in sailing won at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and 1972 Munich Olympics all in the Flying Dutchman class...
won a gold medal at the Mexico Olympics; Rita, the LaserLaser (dinghy)The International Laser Class sailboat, also called Laser Standard and the Laser One is a popular one-design class of small sailing dinghy. According the Laser Class Rules the boat may be sailed by either one or two people, though it is rarely sailed by two. The design, by Bruce Kirby, emphasizes...
in which Ben AinslieBen AinslieCharles Benedict Ainslie, CBE is an English sailor and three-times Olympic gold medalist. He started sailing at the age of 8 and first competed at the age of 10...
won an Olympic gold medal in Sydney; and "Defender II" - Thunder and Lightning the International 14International 14The International 14 is 14-foot double-handed racing dinghy. The class originated in England in the early part of the 20th century. It is sailed and raced in many countries around the world and was one of the very first true international racing dinghy classes recognised by International Sailing...
which was the first boat to use a trapeze competitively - Early examples of popular sailing dinghies like MirrorMirror (dinghy)The Mirror is a very popular sailing dinghy, with more than 70,000 built.The Mirror was named after the Daily Mirror, a UK newspaper with a largely working class distribution. The Mirror was from the start promoted as an affordable boat, and as a design it has done a great deal to make dinghy...
No.1, FireflyFirefly (dinghy)The Firefly is a two-sail, wooden or GRP sailing dinghy with no spinnaker, designed by Uffa Fox in 1938. Although designed as a double hander, it was selected as the single handed class for the 1948 Olympics but was subsequently replaced by the Finn class. The class then became popular as a double...
No.1 and DartDart (dinghy)-See also:* Article on Dart class * List of Townson Designs - from the Zephyr Owners Association website. * Grahame Anderson FAST LIGHT BOATS, a Century of Kiwi Innovation....
No. 1 - Curlew, the Falmouth Quay PuntFalmouth Quay PuntThe Falmouth Quay Punt evolved in the UK port of Falmouth, Cornwall around the beginning of the 20th century. Falmouth, with a good deep water harbour situated near the Western entrance to the English Channel, was a popular port for large merchant sailing ships to call "for orders"...
in which Tim and Pauline Carr sailed to the Antarctic - Wonderer-W48, a Wayfarer, in which Frank Dye sailed to Iceland and to Norway from Scotland (surviving four capsizes and a broken mast during a Force 9 storm) [Ref-7].
The museum is the country's premier museum for boats and maintains a national register of small boats (under 33 foot) and invites owners of historic craft to register them.
Cornwall's Maritime History
Three galleries are devoted to the maritime history of Cornwall. These cover topics such as Cornish fishing, trading, boatbuilding, wrecks and emigration.The Falmouth gallery also tells the story of:
- The Packet shipPacket shipA "packet ship" was originally a vessel employed to carry post office mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. In sea transport, a packet service is a regular, scheduled service, carrying freight and passengers...
s which operated out of Falmouth and which took the mails to the growing empire from 1668 until 1851 - The life of Falmouth in the late 19th century when "to Falmouth for Orders" was a familiar instruction to ships' captains and the harbour was filled with vessels returning to Europe from around the world; and
- The 20th century when Falmouth was a jumping off point for D-Day and the first and last port of call for sailors like Robin Knox-JohnstonRobin Knox-JohnstonSir William Robert Patrick "Robin" Knox-Johnston, CBE, RD and bar is an English sailor. He was the first man to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe and was the second winner of the Jules Verne Trophy . For this he was awarded with Blake the ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award...
, the first man to sail solo around the world, and Ellen MacArthurEllen MacArthurDame Ellen Patricia MacArthur, DBE is an English sailor, up until 2009, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in West Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. She is best known as a solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005 she broke the world record for the fastest solo...
who broke the solo round the world sailing record having left from, and returned to the museum
Main galleries
- The Main Hall - containing the Survival Zone
- The Hold - with changing bi-annual exhibitions
- Look-out - with views over Falmouth harbour
- The Quarterdeck - used for temporary exhibitions
- Nav Station - NavigationNavigationNavigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
and weather - Boat buildingBoat buildingBoat building, one of the oldest branches of engineering, is concerned with constructing the hulls of boats and, for sailboats, the masts, spars and rigging.-Parts:* Bow - the front and generally sharp end of the hull...
and its history - Tidal Zone - with underwater views of Falmouth harbour
- Waterfront - the small indoor lake, with fans creating a gust for radio-controlled model yachts
- Pontoon - with a changing display of boats on the water
- Maritime Cornwall
- Falmouth Gallery
- Cornwall and the Sea
- Cornish Quayside
Exhibitions
The museum has a programme of annual exhibitions including titles such as:- 2004 The Will to Win - an exhibition of Olympic and competitive boats
- 2005 Team Philips and Surf's Up - exhibitions about the round the world project and the history of surfing in the UK
- 2006 Endurance and Survival
- 2007 Mad Dogs, and Englishmen? - eccentric boats
- 2008 Under the Sea - diving and man's attempt to work under water
- 2009 Titanic, Honour and Glory
- 2010 Lighthouses - Life on the Rocks
There is also a programme of temporary exhibitions, talks and activities.