Autumn 2008

The grant contract with the National Heritage Memorial Fund ended in November 2008 so the summer was a busy one.  One of the biggest jobs was the re-roofing of the Windermere Building.  The roof was constructed of ageing asbestos sheeting so the whole roof was replaced to alleviate any risk from the asbestos and make sure the boats below were well protected from the elements.  The work was plagued by summer rain but the roofers battled the elements and managed to complete it on time!

There has been a wealth of specialist surveyors visiting the site too.  Colin Henwood, who has advised the Lakeland Arts Trust from the early days of the project, was on site for a week conducting detailed surveys on the wooden hulled boats.  These surveys looked at the condition of the hulls and their structure as well as providing vital information relating to the originality of the boats.  Specialists from Graham and Woolnough, a maritime company based in Liverpool, were brought in to look at the metal hulls of Esperance, Raven and Otto.  They again looked at the condition and the originality of the hulls and produced detailed reports on each of the boats.  Alan Bulmer came to the museum for a couple of days to carry out cold inspections of the boilers that have been removed from the boats.  These are being stored, along with engines, in the old shop area where it is warm and dry.  With the help of our engineer, Dick Younger, Alan thoroughly inspected each of the boilers and together with the existing pressure tests, produced in depth reports for each of the boilers.  The textile conservator Michelle Harper also spent a day on site looking at the core collection of fabric objects from the steamboats.  This again included condition reports along with advice on restoration of the objects.  All of the information from these surveys is being fed into the Conservation Management Plans which are now nearing completion.  These will provide useful and historic information about the vessels and will inform the processes of restoration for the collection.

NHMF funding was also used to hire a specialist archivist to sort through the Museums vast banks of data that have been amassed over the years.  This has enabled us to see exactly what we hold in the archives and therefore improve our knowledge of both the social history and technical side of the collection.  The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall has also been a great help through their archive service providing us with lots of information and help.  Captain George Hogg, Trustee of the NMMC, made the long trip up to the Steamboat Museum in 2008 and we returned the visit in August.  We were able to see their collection and facilities and even the local boat building units in Falmouth.  As well as the NMMC, we have also been visiting other maritime heritage attractions such as the SS Great Britain and are continually expanding our contacts in the sector; also attending the Maritime Heritage Forum held in Liverpool in December 2008.