Eyemouth Maritime Museum

[anteros_lmc]

Over the bank holiday weekend we went to visit Eyemouth, a little fishing port on the south east coast. It's a pretty spot to visit but the main reason we went is that there is a small maritime museum there that bought several props and sets at the Hornblower prop auction in 2007. Sadly there was no sign of the scale models of the Indefatigable which the museum allegedly bought but they did have a couple of interior sets on display. It's a fascinating museum built on the quayside and designed to look like a frigate from the outside, complete with stern gallery, gun ports, chains and prow. Inside it's stuffed to the gunwales with an enormous and seemingly random collection of nautical bits and pieces. In fact there's so much stuff there you can barely move without tripping over cannons, creels and goodness only knows what. The place is also somewhat over populated with a whole host of dusty and rather sinister looking wax models which only add to the weirdness of the place. Most of the museum is currently given over to an exhibition on smuggling, a trade which Eyemouth was infamous for in the 18th century. Sorry the pictures are so ropey, it's was really hard to get a decent shot due to the light from the huge windows lining one side of the museum.

Is this Hotspur's cabin? Looks too small for the Indy.	Blue sequence? Did I miss is?! Or are they referring to the deck shower?
Exterior of set. No idea who the portrait is of and neither do the museum!
Galley from the Hotspur
Replica gun deck.	Don't know if these are props from the series.
Cabin reconstruction.	No idea what the capstan is doing up there!
Fyffies and Zulus.
French nautical instrument makers sign.	That's a big one!

Directly opposite the museum on the far side of the quay stands Gunsgreen House a beautiful John Adam house built in 1753 for Eyemouth "merchant" Robert Nisbet. Gunsgreen has a few features not usually found in Adam houses including false floors and cellars leading directly to the sea, as Nisbet was in fact a notorious smuggler. One of the most unusual features of the house is a concealed tea chute used for storing and dispensing smuggled tea!



Cross posted to following_sea

Comments

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

At first glance, I thought the guy with an octant/whatever was a ship's figurehead. Would be nice for a some scientific expedition. :)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

He'd make a lovely figure head :) I've seen one or two of these come up at auction, they're pretty rare and can sell for surprising sums!

[esmerelda-t.livejournal.com]

The museum sounds like a delightfully quirky place!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

"Quirky" would be putting it kindly. It really is quite a bizarre place! We loved it :D Toots got to dress up as a pirate and run about with a sword, while I stroked Hornblower's stern windows. What more would you want from a family day out?!

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

How fabbie. Thanks for posting these.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Y'r welcome m'dear. It's a delightfully mad place!

[katriona-s.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh I envy you! Not only this museum but the town itself seems wonderful place to stroll...(I searched some photos of Eyemouth). Your post really made me want to visit the Borders!!!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

The scottish Borders are lovely. Very different from the North West where I grew up, but very beautiful in their own way. One of the things that we really liked about Eyemouth is that although it's a popular holiday destination, it's also still a working fishing port. And they're very proud of their history as notorious smugglers!

[vespican.livejournal.com]

The kind of place I'd like to visit! Seems that the guns on the replica gun deck are rather closely spaced, to my way of thinking.
Dave

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

You'd have loved it! It was a veritable nautical treasure trove. Everything was a bit of a jumble though, guns included!

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Smashing stuff.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Ta! It was quite a place!