Napoleonic Newsdesk

National Maritime Museum Courses


This museum has sent me their programme of short courses, as part of their Open Museum. This is a programme of lectures and talks demonstrating the Museum's firm committment to wider public access to its collections, and to broadening an understanding of their significance. The courses and lectures are run in conjunction with Goldsmiths College, University of London, and explore diverse topics from aspects of the sea and shipping to time, astronomy and navigation, local history and the arts. The programme offers something for people of all ages, whether learning for pleasure or for academic study.

The one-day Hidden Collections seminars are for enthusiasts, and offer opportunities to go behind the scenes to view either some of the reserve collections of ship models, ceramics, oil paintings, prints and drawings, ship plans, historic photographs, scientific and navigational material, or to see conservators at work.

While these courses cover the entire history of the man and the sea, many of them contain subjects of Napoleonic interest, delivered by tutors drawn from the National Maritime Museum and other major museums, universities and specialist societies. The current programme runs from October 1996 to May 1997. I have picked out the courses that may be of interest to the Napoleonic enthusiast. Please note that there is a fee for each of the courses. According to the programme you can either pay the total for the entire course, or attend individual sessions at a reduced rate. The courses are held at either the National Maritime Museum, Royal Naval College, or Rangers House. Contact the museum for full details.

    Ship Design: Tuesdays 10.30am-12.30pm,1 October-19 November.
    A non-technical course for people who want to understand the basics of ship design through the ages.

    Infamy and Ignominy: Wednesdays 10.30am-12.30pm, 2 October-20 November. An examination of the great naval scandals in British maritime history; including the 1667 Dutch raid in the Medway, Edward Vernon at Cartagena, and Lord Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton.

    Wreck Diving: Friday 6 and Saturday 7 December, 10.15am-4.15pm daily.
    A look at historic diving expeditions, examining how wreck sites are researched.

    How to Trace Your Ancestor: Saturday 9 November, 10.30am-4.15pm.
    This course will examine the Museum's extensive manuscript and visual resources that can be of use in investigating your family tree.

    Magnificent Models : Thursday 10 October, 10.00am-4.30pm.
    The Museum houses the largest, most diverse ship model collection in the world. This seminar will examine it in great detail.

    Charting the Oceans: Navigation and Hydrography: Thursday 21 November, 10.00am-4.30pm.

    Deptford: Tuesdays 10.30am-12.30pm, 28 January-18 March 1997.
    This course looks at the origins and development of Deptford through to the present day, and at some of the figures, industries and buildings which have made it famous.

    Collecting Maritime Art: Friday 14 and Saturday 15 March 1997, 10.30am-4.15pm.

    Sailors' Rebellion: Tuesdays 10.30am-12.30pm, 29 April-17 June 1997.
    Mutiny is a resistance by force to recognized authority, applied particularly to any form of sedition in the armed forces of a nation and invariably with an element of treachery in it. Always tried by court martial, the penalty for being guilty of mutiny in the Navy was hanging at the yardarm. This course, which coincides with the 200th anniversary of the Great Mutinies of 1797, looks at conditions and discipline in the Georgian Navy; at the Bounty, Spithead and Nore mutinies, and asks questions about the nature of such a revolt against authority in the past and - perhaps - in the future.

    Great Sailing Ships: Wednesdays 10.30am-12.30pm, 30 April-21 May.
    A look at the Vanguard, the Endeavour, the Cutty Sark and the Moshulu.

    A History of Britain's Ports: Wednesdays 10.30am-12.30pm, 28 May-18 June.

    The Astronomers Royal: Saturday 17 May, 10.30am-4.15pm.

For full details of these and the other courses that the Museum runs throughout the year, contact: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, SE10 9NE. Telephone 0181 312 6747.

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