Admiral Cochrane - The Real Master and Commander

Today saw the opening of a new exhibition on Admiral Thomas Cochrane,10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão. esteven posted a note about this to anything_aos the other day, but it's worth repeating :)

Admiral Cochrane - The Real Master and Commander is the first exhibition to open at the newly refurbished National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. It's also, to my knowledge, the first major exhibition dedicated to Cochrane in his home country, where he is woefully unknown.

The exhibition tells the story of the many and varied highs and lows of Cochrane's life and career through letters, artefacts and portraits held in the collections of the National Museum and the National Records of Scotland. In addition to the exhibition there is also a programme of events scheduled, including a series of films at the Edinburgh Playhouse, and a lecture by David Cordingly, author of Cochrane the Dauntless which will explore the way that Cochrane has been brought to life through contemporary sources and naval adventure novels.

Even more excitingly, the opening of the exhibition coincides with nodbear's arrival in Glasgow next week :D and we hope to get through to Edinburgh to see the exhibition at the weekend. And as if that wasn't enough we also plan to meet up with esteven earlier in the week. How cool is that?! :)

The exhibition runs until the 19th February 2012. For more info follow the links below:

• Admiral Cochrane - The Real Master and Commander at the National Museum


• Admiral Cochrane Events at the National Museum


• Admiral Cochrane artefacts go on display for first time, BBC News Report

19th Century Naval Knitting

Any knitters on my flist? If so you might be interested in a large collection of 19th century knitting manuals from the Richard Rutt Collection at Winchester School of Art Library which have just been digitised by the UK Visual Arts Data Service. Although I'm not a knitter a couple caught my eye: The Mission to Seamen's - Ladies' work for sailors and Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen - Helping the Trawlers. The manuals contain some fascinating patterns, illustrations, advice and glimpses of life ashore and at sea in the 19th century. And there is even a pattern for sailor's mittens, which might be just like the ones Maria made for Hornblower!



( Mitttens, labradors and little boys! )