Voyages. Britons and the sea. Greenwich

[VW1956]

Hello. I made it to the new Sammy Ofer wing of the National Marime Museum to see this exibition as it had a few items in connection with Titanic. There was lots to see but not too much in connection with Titanic. But what there was was very thought provoking. There was a section relating to Jakob Birnbaum. His pocket watch which had been returned to his family was on show. His family had a new case fitted and the watch restored. I was thinking on the way to the exibition that I would much rather have seen the watch as it was. But next to the restored watch was the original watch case with the hands rusted forever. Chilling knowing why they were like that. Also on view was the body tag label written on the Mackey Bennet. Number 148 was given to Jakob. Again chilling knowing who ever wrote that had the body of Jakob in front of him. There was also a Titanic Memorial card for Jakob.
In the next section was a picture of Edith Rosebaum with Teresa Thorne who played Edith in A Night to Remember. A Marconigram sent from Edith to a womans magazine which simply read "Safe. Carpathia. notify mother." The first words that had been written on the marconigram were "Lost all" but this had been crossed out. This very short message cost Edith 16 shillings to send which was quite a lot back then. But the whole trip was worth it to see the toy pig that Edith took into the lifeboat and amused the children with it. Haveing read about this pig in so many books and over so many years to suddenly have it just a couple of feet away was amazing.I stood there for quite a while imagening that pig in the lifeboat on that dreadful night, the noises, the screaming. I stood in front of that pig for so long that a lady attendant came over to me and said "Can I help you". I found it a very moving experience.
There were other things (non Titanic) to see that were stunning to look at. A sun jewel given to Drake by Elizabeth 1. A cup made from a coconut that Drake collected on his world voyage. It must have had 40 ounces of gold around it. There was letters (not just autographs) but letters written by Horatio Nelson. The original grave marker of John Adams (one of the Bounty mutineers.
Very much worth a visit. Although I was able to walk there as the museum is only 2 miles away. And it was free entry. Ken.

[pat toms]

Ken,good news about Greenwich and Queen Elizabeth the 1st,also Sir Francis Drake and his history,and the sadness about the titanic not a happy story.You are lucky to be near the museum I went in their once I think it was on a trip down the Thames with a mate of mine,when we visited London.

[VW1956]

Hello Pat. I went to see the items connected with Titanic only but there was some absolutly incredible things there. When you visited the National Maritime Museum did you walk up the hill on Greenwich Park at the top is the Greenwich Observotory. I walked past the Observatory to go down the grassy plain which is Greenwich Park and on to the Maritime Museum. I was stunned to find that about 75% of this very old park now a building site to be used in the Olympics next year. The park will hold the horse events. Within 40 miles of here are at least two race courses that are already set up for horse events. Such a big waste of money. Sorry about that. Had to tell some one. Ken.

[pat toms]

Ken,yes thanks for that i would like to go down the thames again and visit greenwich and look at the things that i missed.

[pat toms]

Ken thanks for the information about Greenwich, I was in London on the 20th of November, at Whitehall for a Parade unfortunately had to scoot back to Ulster on the ferry boat, next time will take a trip down to Greenwich again and see the way it has changed, thanks Ken.