All the museums described in this two-part article publish information leaflets describing the road and rail routes that visitors should use to reach them. I suggest that a letter and return postage sent to the museum beforehand would be appropriate when planning your visit.

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Set in Greenwich Park, the National Maritime Museum is an impressive site, encompassing the Old Royal Observatory, the 17th-century Queen's House, and a wide sweep of colonnades and galleries, against the back-drop of Wren's Royal Naval College. Aside from the impressive architecture, the contents of the museum are impressive in their own right as well.

The museum contains not only a superb collection of everything to do with the sea, the ships and the men who built and sailed them, but has a number of galleries in which specific exhibitions are staged each year. All Hands describes what life was like at sea, and explains the skills needed by people who work afloat. This gallery encourages exploration of a range of scientific principles through a hands-on approach. Nelson is a new display that is the finest and largest display ever mounted about this great man, who was a legend in his own time. Utilising over 500 objects, this exhibition looks at his battles, his love affair with Emma Hamilton and the effect of his death upon the nation. Included in the display is the uniform in which Nelson died and the musket ball that killed him. This particular exhibition is open throughout 1996. These exhibitions are quite large and so require some time to view them.

Other galleries in the museum house collections of ship models, paintings, naval artefacts from throughout naval history, including many to do with the Napoleonic period. However, only a fraction of the museum's collections can be displayed. Behind the scenes are manuscript records, historic photographs, charts, ship plans, prints, drawings and paintings. Other important collections cover the history of exploration and navigation, sea trade, seapower and colonial expansion. Anyone may gain access to this treasure trove of naval history.

The museum holds frequent Hidden Collections Seminars at which items not normally seen on display are examined and described by the curators. Throughout the year are held a number of Short Courses, either during weekdays or at the weekends. Such courses held in 1996 include Seaborne Invaders of Britain and The Royal Dockyards from Pepys to Brunel. This programme of education ensures that the National Maritime Museum is at the forefront of naval historical research in the country.

In her honour the Library stages the Nelson Birthday Lectures each year, at which four Speakers present papers on various naval topics. Details of this conference are usually available in May of each year. The collections are housed on the Second Floor of Portsmouth Central Library, which is located in Guildhall Square, only two minutes walk from the main railway station. To gain access to the collections, readers must have a Portsmouth library ticket, or some means of identification such as a driving licence or passport. For further details contact: The Central Library, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2DX. Tel. 01705 819311.

The Nelson Society

Anyone with a strong interest in the naval side of the Napoleonic Wars should consider joining this society. The aims of this organisation are to promote interest in, and appreciation of, the outstanding qualities of leadership and patriotism shown by Admiral Lord Nelson, to encourage research into his life and career, and to study the Royal Navy of his time. The society organises visits, social events and lectures around the country. They publish a very good quarterly journal called The Nelson Dispatch, which contains many and varied article about all aspects of Nelson, Trafalgar and British naval history. The society also has a range of other publications to do with Nelson. The annual subscription is 15 pounds. For further details contact The Membership Secretary, 39 Woodland Mount, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG13 7JD.

Books on Napoleonic Naval History

There are a number of specialist publishers who produce very good books on various aspects of naval history. Conway Maritime Press [an imprint of Brassey's (UK) Ltd] produce a very wide range of books, within a number of series. The History of the Ship series contains works covering naval history from earliest times through to the 20th century, an example being The Line of Battle: The Sailing Warship 1650-1840 (Edited by Brian Lavery) looks at the development of the Royal Navy over this period, especially during the Napoleonic era. Other titles in this particular series look at merchant vessels and the advent of steam ships.

Conway's Ship Types include The Bomb Vessel: Shore Bombardment Ships of the Age of Sail, by Chris Ware, which looks at these vessels during the period from 1689 to during and after the Napoleonic Wars. Other Napoleonic titles are The First Frigates: Nine-Pounder and Twelve-Pounder Frigates, 1785-1815, and The Heavy Frigate: Eighteen-Pounder Frigates 1778-1800, both by Richard Gardiner. All of Conway's titles are written by specialists in these fields, utilising the plans and prints in the National Maritime Museum. This is especially so of the series entitled Anatomy of the Ship, which document individual ships such as the Bounty, Endeavour and HMS Victory to name but three titles, showing how they were designed, built and fitted out. While they retail at between 25 and 30 pounds, which some might think expensive even for books these days, they contain a wealth of information and are usually crammed with illustrations and tables of data. The researcher will not find any other works so comprehensive as these.

Other titles look at the history of the Royal Navy and of shipbuilding in general (including dockyards). One title that is especially useful is Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation 1793-1815 by Brian Lavery. If you want to find out something about the Royal Navy of Nelson's era, then look no further than this volume. It is the most comprehensive and encyclopaedic guide to the subject ever produced, and while it retails at 35 pounds, is worth every penny.

For further details of the vast range of naval books published by Conway, write for a catalogue to Marketing Department, Brassey House, 33 John Street, London, WC1N 2AT.

Other books that I would recommend are:

Sea Life in Nelson's Time by John Masefield. Published by Conway (1984). A good guide to the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic Wars.
The Naval Heritage of Portsmouth by John Winton. Published by Ensign Publications, Southampton (1989) price 9.95 pounds. A detailed history of the Royal Navy and its association with Portsmouth.
Trafalgar: Countdown to Battle 1803-1805 by Alan Schom. Published by Michael Joseph (1990) price 17.99 pounds. This work looks at the reasons for the campaign of Trafalgar, the campaign itself , and the effect it had upon the Napoleonic Wars. A very good guide to this aspect of the period.
Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections: Man-of-War by Stephen Biesty and Richard Platt. Published by Dorling Kindersley (1993) price 12.00 pounds. While this is aimed at a younger readership, it contains a fantastic amount of information presented in the form of cross-sections through a Napoleonic warship, based upon HMS Victory. A lot of information crammed into a slim volume, and one of those detailed works in which you will see something new every time you look through it!