The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a

maritime museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navies and the militar ...

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwic ...

, London. It is part of

Royal Museums Greenwich Royal Museums Greenwich is an organisation comprising four museums in Greenwich, east London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Tha ...

, a network of museums in the

Maritime Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, it has no general admission charge; there are admission charges for most side-gallery temporary exhibitions, usually supplemented by many loaned works from other museums.

Creation and official opening

The museum was created by the National Maritime Museum Act 1934 under a Board of Trustees, appointed by

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...

. It is based on the generous donations of

Sir James Caird James Caird may refer to: * Sir James Caird (politician) (1816–1892), Scottish writer and politician * Sir James Caird, 1st Baronet, of Belmont Castle (1837–1916), Scottish jute baron and philanthropist who sponsored Ernest Shackleton's ''Endur ...

(1864–1954).

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...

formally opened the museum on 27 April 1937 when his daughter Princess Elizabeth accompanied him for the journey along the Thames from London. The first director was Sir

Geoffrey Callender Sir Geoffrey Arthur Romaine Callender (25 November 1875 – 6 November 1946) was an English naval historian and the first director of the National Maritime Museum from its opening in 1937 until his death in 1946. Life The son of a cotton ...

Collection

Since the earliest times

has had associations with the sea and navigation. It was a landing place for the Romans,

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagr ...

lived here, the Navy has roots on the waterfront, and Charles II founded the Royal Observatory in 1675 for "finding the longitude of places". The home of

Greenwich Mean Time Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a co ...

and the

Prime Meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrary meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great ...

since 1884, Greenwich has long been a centre for astronomical study, while navigators across the world have set their clocks according to its time of day. The museum has the most important holdings in the world on the history of Britain at sea comprising more than two million items, including maritime art (both British and 17th-century Dutch), cartography, manuscripts including official public records, ship models and plans, scientific and navigational instruments, instruments for time-keeping and astronomy (based at the Observatory). Its holdings including paintings relating to Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson and

Captain James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and t ...

Admiral George Keith Elphinstone 1st Viscount Keith by George Sanders

An active loans programme ensures that items from the collection are seen in the UK and abroad. The museum aims to achieve a greater understanding of British economic, cultural, social, political and maritime history and its consequences in the world today. The museum plays host to various exhibitions, including ''Ships Clocks & Stars'' in 2014, ''Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution'' in 2015 and ''Emma Hamilton: Seduction and Celebrity'' in 2016. The collection of the National Maritime Museum also includes items taken from the German

Naval Academy Mürwik A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It inclu ...

after World War II, including several ship models, paintings and flags. The museum has been criticized for possessing what has been described as "

looted art Looted art has been a consequence of looting during war, natural disaster and riot for centuries. Looting of art, archaeology and other cultural property may be an opportunistic criminal act or may be a more organized case of unlawful or uneth ...

". The museum regards these cultural objects as " war trophies", removed under the provisions of the

Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris Pe ...

. The museum awards the Caird Medal annually in honour of its major donor, Sir James Caird. In late August 2018, several groups were vying for the right to purchase the 5,500 relics that were an asset of the bankrupt

Premier Exhibitions Premier Exhibitions Inc is an Atlanta, Georgia-based company that organizes travelling exhibitions. , the company owned 5,500 ''Titanic'' relics with approximately 1,300 on display in various countries. Its two most prominent exhibits are arti ...

. Eventually, the National Maritime Museum,

Titanic Belfast ''Titanic'' Belfast is a visitor attraction opened in 2012, a monument to Belfast's maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city's Titanic Quarter where the RMS ''Titanic'' was built. It tells the stories ...

and Titanic Foundation Limited, as well as

National Museums Northern Ireland National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) (formerly ''National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland'') is a museum service in Northern Ireland, consisting of the Ulster American Folk Park, the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the Ulst ...

, joined together as a consortium that was raising money to purchase the 5,500 artifacts. The group intended to keep all of the items together as a single exhibit. The oceanographer

Robert Ballard Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942) is an American retired Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology: maritime archaeology and archaeology ...

said that he favoured this bid as it would ensure that the memorabilia would be permanently displayed in Belfast (where the ''Titanic'' was built) and in

. The museums were critical of the bid process set by the Bankruptcy Court in Jacksonville, Florida. The minimum bid for the auction on 11 October 2018 was set at US$21.5 million (£16.5m) and the consortium did not have enough funding to meet that amount.

The site

The museum was officially established in 1934 within the of Greenwich Royal Park in the buildings formerly occupied by the

Royal Hospital School ) , established = 1694 Royal Charter1712 Greenwich1933 Holbrook , type = Public School Independent day and boarding School Royal Foundation , founders = William III and Mary II , head = Simon Lockyer , head_label ...

, before it moved to Holbrook in Suffolk. The gardens immediately to the north of the museum were reinstated in the late 1870s following construction of the

cut-and-cover A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

between

and Maze Hill stations. The tunnel comprised part of the final section of the London and Greenwich Railway and opened in 1878. A full redevelopment of the main galleries, centring on what is now the Neptune Court, which was designed by Rick Mather Architects and funded by the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

, was completed in 1999. In 2008, the museum announced that the Israeli shipping magnate Sammy Ofer had donated £20m for a new gallery. For a year between 2016 and 2017 the National Maritime Museum reported 2.41 million visitors.

Directors of the National Maritime Museum

*1937–1946:

*1947–1966:

Frank George Griffith Carr Frank George Griffith Carr (23 April 1903 – 9 July 1991) CB, CBE, MA, LLB, FSA, was director of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England from 1947 to 1966 and was responsible for restoring and preserving a large number of ships, such as ...

*1967–1983: Basil Jack Greenhill *1983–1986:

Neil Cossons Sir Neil Cossons FMA (born 15 January 1939) is a British historian and museum administrator. Biography Cossons was born in Beeston and studied at the University of Liverpool. He was the first director of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust fr ...

*1986–2000:

Richard Louis Ormond Richard Louis Ormond CBE (born 16 January 1939) is the former Director of the National Maritime Museum (1986–2000). He was also the Assistant Keeper and late Deputy Director of the National Portrait Gallery. He is currently the Chairman of t ...

CBE (born 1939) *2000–2007: Rear Admiral Roy Clare (born 1950) *2007–2019: Dr

Kevin Fewster Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant '' Kevan'' is anglicized from , a ...

*2019–present: Paddy Rogers

Caird Medal

National Maritime Museum - Greenwich (2887954170)

The Caird Medal was instituted in 1984 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the National Maritime Museum Act 1934 that established the museum. The medal is awarded annually to "an individual who, in the opinion of the Trustees of the National Maritime Museum, has done conspicuously important work in the field of the Museum's interests and is of a nature which involves communicating with the public." The medal is named for Sir James Caird (1864–1954), the principal donor at the founding of the National Maritime Museum.

Caird Medallists

* 1984:

Eric McKee The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ai ...

* 1985: Michael S. Robinson * 1987:

Jules van Beylen Jules is the French form of the Latin "Julius" (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar). It is the given name of: People with the name *Jules Aarons (1921–2008), American space physicist and photographer *Jules Abadie (1876–195 ...

* 1989: C. R. Boxer * 1990:

Helen Wallis Helen Margaret Wallis (17 August 1924 – 7 February 1995) was the Map Curator at the British Museum (afterwards the British Library) from 1967 to 1987. Biography Born at Dunkery, Park Road, Barnet on 17 August 1924, Wallis was the daughter o ...

* 1991: John F. Coates and John Sinclair Morrison * 1992: Richard Ollard * 1993:

Gerard L. E. Turner Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

* 1994: Glyndwr Williams * 1995: Margaret Rule * 1996: John de Courcy Ireland * 1997: Felipe Fernández-Armesto * 1998: Elly Dekker * 1999: Elisabeth Mann-Borgese * 2000:

John Hattendorf John Brewster Hattendorf, D.Phil., D.Litt., L.H.D., FRHistS, FSNR, (born December 22, 1941) is an American naval historian. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of more than fifty books, mainly on British and American maritime ...

* 2002:

* 2004:

Sir David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural history ...

* 2005:

Paul Kennedy Paul Michael Kennedy (born 17 June 1945) is a British historian specialising in the history of international relations, economic power and grand strategy. He has published prominent books on the history of British foreign policy and great p ...

* 2006: David Armitage * 2007: Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow * 2010:

Willem F. J. Mörzer Bruyns Willem Fredrik Jacob Mörzer Bruyns, (born 1943 in Gosforth, Northumberland, United Kingdom), is a Dutch historian of navigational science, specializing in the history of navigational instruments; he has also published on the history of the Dutch i ...

* 2011:

Daniel A. Baugh Daniel Albert Baugh (born 10 July 1931, in Philadelphia) is an American historian. He has been labelled "as the definitive historian of ritishnaval administration." Baugh has defined his own contribution in explaining "My research field is mainly ...

* 2014: R. J. B. Knight * 2015:

Simon Schaffer Simon J. Schaffer (born 1 January 1955) is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and was editor of '' The British Journal for the History of S ...

Other British maritime museums

The

National Maritime Museum Cornwall The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall is located in a harbourside building at Falmouth in Cornwall, England. The building was designed by architect M. J. Long, following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions. The ...

is a fully independent museum, a development of the original FIMI (Falmouth International Maritime Initiative) partnership created in 1992 and the result of collaboration between the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and the former Cornwall Maritime Museum in Falmouth.

References

External links

*
The official prints website of the National Maritime Museum
containing a selection of the museum's finest images
National Maritime Museum Photostream
(many photos labelled "no known copyright restriction") at Flickr.com {{Authority control Museums in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Grade I listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Grade I listed museum buildings Transport museums in London Archives in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Art museums and galleries in London Maritime museums in England Naval museums in England History museums in London Science museums in London World War I museums in the United Kingdom World War II museums in the United Kingdom Marine art museums Museums established in 1937 Exempt charities Charities based in London Maritime history organizations