MARITIME MUSEUM

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 245, 28 July 1937, Page 8

MARITIME MUSEUM

EMPIRE SEA HISTORY. SHOWN AT GREENWICH The National Maritime Museum -it Greenwich, which the King and Queen opened .recently, is a worthy fulfilment of what has so long been desired by this island nation, says the ‘‘Manchester Guardian.” Until now wo have had to he content with the painted hall at Greenwich with its inadequate space and over-crowded walls, the good but small collection of naval relics at the Royal United Service Museum in Whitehall, the South Kensington models and pictures, and a few other scattered small collections.

Now in Inigo Jones’s beautiful “Queen’s House” and the two long side buildings connected to it, with their colonnades built to commemorate Trafalgar, there is an admirable seting for the wonderful collection that has been assembled there largely through the generosity of Sir James Call'd, who has contributed a fortune to the cost of preparing and reconstructing the building arid has presented a great number of the most valuable exhibits.

Naval Prints and Models. Tho famous Macpherson collection of naval prints, drawings, and books was saved from dispersal by Sir James Caird and forms and important part of tho museum. Another of his munificent collection of ship’s models that had been in the training-ship Mercury in the River Haihble; these he purchased and gave to the museum. Lord Sandwich, ai descendant of Pepys’ earl (whose portrait with Pepvs, and the faithful Will Hewer hang in the gallery), has given his famous collection of naval medals, and is now working on the arranging and cataloguing of it. Queen Mary has given many Nelson, and other relics, Sir Malcolm Stewart has given his Nelson relics, and Mr M. H. Brindley a fine collection of ship seats. Tho museum has the good fortune to have as its collector Professor Geoffrey Callender, secretary of the Society for Nautical Research, whose skill and taste as a practical director are equal to his erudition. Tho National Maritime Museum starts full grown, "with nearly every de-

partment splendidly provided in a spacious, noble, and historic setting. It will be a delightful place in which to spend an afternoon. Behind it rises the green slope of Greenwich Park, crowned with the Royal Observatory, which gives tlie time to so much of the world, and in front of it is the Thames, with great ships steaming out from and into the port, and every now and then the brown sail of a bargo to remind us that the past of sails h still alive before ns. The Queen’s House. The Queen’s House was a little riverside palace built for Anne of Denmark and finished in 1635 for Hem rietta-Maria, intended to link royal gardens with the royal hunting park and to serye as a bridge over the original Deptford-Woolwich Road. Tho building lias been restored as far as it is possiblt to its original condition, jmd apart from some painted ceilings which Sarah Duchess of Marlborough took away with her to London, this

elegant Inigo Jones house is littlo changed. Its beautiful “tulip staircase”—so called for its wronght-iron rails—is of the geometrical typo which Wren used afterwards in St. Paul’s. The black and white marble geometrical floor in the hall is another feature. The sixteenth and seventeenth century pictures are in the Queen’s House, and nearly all the heroes or villains ot Popy’s diary can be studied here in contemporary portraits along with tlieir ships and sea battles. The Tudor pictures include the portrait of Drake wearing the jewel Queen Elizabeth took from her neck and gave it to him in. reward for his voyage round the world, and a globe of the world lies unset on a table ready to be rolled about by his strong hand. Another Tudor treasure is the painting of the Somerset House Conference in 1604, when the treaty with Spain was being drawn up. In the Queen’s boudoir is a remarkable picture of Peter Pett, the shipbuilder, and the ship Sovereign of the Seas, which belonged to Lord Yarborough. It is traditionally ascribed to Willem van der Veldes —a singularly bold work good enough for a Dobson.

The Chatham Chest. The five-lock Chatham chest is here to revive a shameful memory of the fund founded by Hawkins, Drake, and others in 1590 to relieve and support disabled sailors (to which the sailors contributed) and misappropriated by the treasurers and officials of the Navy until William and Mary established the Greenwich Hospital. The handsome Caird galleries, which have a staircase of teak built of timber taken from the ships Defence. Defiance, Ganges, and Arethusa, display eighteenth-century and nineteenthcentury pictures, prints, and models and medals. It is impossiblt in the space to give an idea, of the richness and variety of the exhibits. Tbc pictures range from Dutch paintings el •Tames TI and William of Orange’s time to a grand series of the great Georgian admirals painted by Reynolds, Romney, and Gainsborough, and on to tho sea [pieces of Turner and Sten field and the drawings of Rowlandson. The Nelson relies, ineluding his uniforms and his silver plate and swords, are admirably displayed. Only one woman, apart from the Queens who rewarded the heroes or visited their ships, is honoured by being represented here. It is, of course, Emma Lady Hamilton.