Hey everyone! For this week’s “Go Figure!” post I have chosen a 1700 French figurehead. This particular one came to us in in 1936 and was donated by Admiral Chambers. She has an interesting story so I thought it was worth a post!
This figure head is a full figured white sculpture of a young girl walking. A ‘walking-style’ figurehead was something that was very popular in the 18th century, making this style cutting edge for her time. Furthermore, when taking a closer look at the girl’s face, you can see that she has dimples, leading us to believe that she was based on a real person. She is wearing an empire-style of dress, thus her name.Read more
嘿!这周发布”去图!“features a beautifully carved woman in ornate clothing, named Lady Edmonton. I like this one because of the wood’s detail and the colors used in her clothing. She has swept back hair, strong eyes and blushed cheeks. She is wearing an ornate necklace and a gold crown paired with a blue cape which has delicate gold details. Even though there has been heavy research conducted on Lady Edmonton, we finally concluded that she is in fact.. not a real person. It was decided that she was created to symbolize the barkEdmonton.
As I was researching in our records, I came across several other figureheads what were strikingly similar to Lady Edmonton. To make matters confusing, I came across a Lady Edinburgh who was VERY similar, and their names just threw me off even more. However, through careful reading I figured out that this style of women is very typical of the work done by carvers.Read more
Hey everyone! This week I decided that we should take a break from the all the female figureheads and look at one of our males. King Neptune, god of the sea according to Roman mythology. While the mythological god has a lot of background, we do not know the exact origin of our figurehead. For this post, I want to talk about Neptune in mythology and give you all some more information on our figurehead.
In Roman mythology, King Neptune was the god of fresh water, which is something that I found interesting. It was not until 400 B.C. when he started to become identified with King Poseidon of Greek mythology, thus taking on the role God of the Sea. Typically he is depicted holding a trident, a common weapon used by fishermen and sailors on the Mediterranean. His wife, Salacia, was the goddess of spring water and was also associated with Poseidon’s wife, Amphitrite. In regards to Roman mythology, Neptune played a relatively minor role in mythology (Poseidon had a much greater influence in Greek mythology). Legend states that Neptune and his brothers, Jupiter and Pluto (Zeus and Hades in Greek mythology) split up the heavens into three realms and ruled them separately. In the Greek myth it was said that their father, Cronus, had swallowed him after his birth and Jupiter (Zeus) rescued him. In addition to being god of the sea, Neptune was also worshiped as god of the horses and was also referred to as Neptune Equester. With this title he was the patron of horse racing, which I personally find odd since he is more commonly associated with water and the two do not really go hand-in-hand.Read more
Yesterday was a very exciting day for us as we moved several of our larger objects out of the Chesapeake Bay Gallery, leaving some really large, empty spaces. We took the boats from the gallery out to our warehouse for storage. This is a big step for us in getting the gallery clear for future exhibitions. Next week we will get out the last few remaining objects, which are a steamboat mirror, 14-ton engine and large buoy.
The first to go was our Deadrise Oyster Workboat, ca 1955.
Marder Submarine, following restoration in 2005. Courtesy of The Mariners’ Museum.
For the March edition of our Artifact of the Month, we are taking a look at the German World War II Marder submarine. The one we have here at The Mariners’ Museum resides in the International Small Craft Center, and is thought to be one of four left in existence. It was received here in May of 1948, as part of an indefinite loan from the Army Ordinance Department at Fort Monroe, VA.
The Marder was known as one of the German’s midget submarines, and was an advanced design of the previous Neger design. The Neger design was unable to fully submerge, and therefore could only remain on the surface, making it extremely difficult for the operator to escape once firing the torpedo. The Marder is 26 feet long by 20 inches wide, and broken into three different sections. This particular artifact has been restored to a grayish-green color, with a white interior. The operator sat towards the bow of the submarine, under a plexi-glass dome that was fitted to the entry hatch. This dome allowed for better visibility and accuracy of the operator when firing. There was also a compass attached to the inside of the dome, so to provide addition navigational assistance to the operator.Read more
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