NAUTICAL MUSEUMS TRUST the “Seascape Heritage” Vision for the Future

NAUTICAL MUSEUMS TRUST The “Seascape Heritage” Vision for the Future.

1. The “Seascape Heritage” vision –

The Shipwreck Museum’s exhibition of displays and audio-visual shows in the Theatre will be reordered as the interpretive hub which will encourage the public to explore and understand the remarkable history of the changing coastline around Hastings, from Rye Bay to Pevensey Bay, by telling the story of –

The Shipwreck Museum in Hastings; the prehistoric forest 4000 years old at low tide at the Amsterdam wreck site, Bulverhythe.

1. The changing coastline as reflected by (a) the Cretaceous coastal geology of the age of the dinosaurs 135 million years ago, (b) the coastal prehistoric forest of about 2000 BC and (c) the rising sea level that, since the last Ice Age ended about 14,000 years ago, has flooded land, created the English Channel and threatens the coast today.

2. The Roman Imperial navy bases at Hastings (the Classis Britannica or British Fleet) and at Pevensey Castle, and features parts of the Roman ship of c. 150 AD from London that sailed in the Channel.

3. The Norman invasion of 1066, including reference to the invasion period ship found at Eastbourne.

4. The medieval Cinque Ports of Hastings, Winchelsea, Rye and Pevensey, and features the Tudor ship found in the Rother at Wittisham in 1822.

5. Historic shipwrecks of Anne 1690 and the Dutch wreck in Norman’s Bay being studied by the Nautical Archaeology Society, and the Amsterdam 1749 to be seen at low tide, and their stories, including that of the local smugglers who plundered the Amsterdam.

6. And the underwater sites of the wrecks of the Thomas Lawrence, 1862, (owned by NMT and 10 miles off Hastings), and the nearby SS Storaa, torpedoed in 1943 with the loss of 21 lives.

This enables NMT to move forward and undertake the major projects outlined in Section 6.

2. The target audience –  Local people.  Schools.  British visitors to Hastings.  Foreign visitors, especially Dutch (wreck of Amsterdam) and French (wreck of Anne).  Disabled people, especially the blind and those in wheelchairs.  Immigrant population, especially Asians through the East India trade.  Members of the Nautical Archaeology Society, Sussex Archaeological Society and other interest groups.

3. Maintain a sustainable income through (a) project grants, (b) subscriptions from a Friends organisation, (c) donations, and (d) by charging visitors for –

Visiting the wreck of the Amsterdam at low tide.

 Visiting special exhibitions.  Attending special events.  Listening to talks by experts.

 Joining guided tours of the Museum, the Cinque Port of Hastings, and the Amsterdam and Anne wreck sites at low tide.  Attending workshops to examine the Museum’s collection and archive.  Buying goods in the museum Shop.

4. Tasks that require staff and volunteer leaders with relevant skills and experience –

The Museum’s shop is currently the main source of income for the Trust, but the new projects will enable to Trust’s income to be increased significantly, and would fulfil the aims of the charity.

 Directing and administering the museum and the projects.  Organising events.  Co-ordinating volunteers.  Fundraising.  Financial management.  Administering the Museum.  Caring for the collections by a curator, archivist and librarian.  Managing the shop.  Managing public relations, publicity, website and social media.  Organising and informing the Friends, staff and volunteers by a Newsletter.  Providing teas, coffees and refreshments.  Cleaning and maintenance of the museum.

5. Facilities required (some of which can be combined into one room) on the entire site of the Shipwreck Museum, on two floor levels, to achieve the “Seascape Heritage” vision –

The yard of the Shipwreck Museum has space in which to build the Roman ship ‘Fortuna’ and provide the extended facilities that the Museum and the projects require.

(a) Permanent exhibition areas. (b) Temporary exhibition room.

(c) Channel viewing room with telescopes, radar and information on modern shipping movements. (d) Kitchen, bar and tea room. (e) Collections store that is accessible for workshops. (f) Archive and library. (g) A research room. (h) Meeting room for Trustees, schools. (i) Toilets, including for disabled. (j) Shop. (k) AV Theatre. (l) Administration office. (m) Workshop and equipment store. (n) Project office (Anne and Fortuna). (o) Space in the yard to build the Roman ship Fortuna. (p) Lecture theatre for 80-100 people. (q) Exhibition space Primrose (if needed).

6. Stages in developing the plan and seeking the capital funding – (1) In 2017-8 the Trustees begin by developing a report that develops the concept outlined above, and examines how it can be made financially sustainable.

(2) In 2018 expand the Trustee Board membership and develop a support group of people with relevant skills to oversee the major components of the entire project and its running. Also, establish a Friends group to support the plan.

(3) In 2018 apply for a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund under its “Resilient Heritage” scheme to develop the project in greater detail, and if successful * To employ a Museum and Projects Director to take the plans forward. * Meanwhile, to develop a programme of events at the Shipwreck Museum to take advantage of the 270 anniversary in 2019 of the loss of the Amsterdam, and the 330 anniversary in 2020 of the beaching of the Anne. * And to develop a working partnership with the Nautical Archaeology Society to explore and preserve the wreck of the Anne.

Undertaking these tasks at an early stage will help define in a practical way the future needs of NMT so as to enable it to progress to the next stages.

(4) The Director of the museum and projects will work with Trustees to seek outline Planning Permission from Hastings Borough Council to extend the Museum.

(5) With that plan agreed, NMT will apply to the HLF and other bodies for the capital funds to redesign and extend the Shipwreck Museum to enable the plan to be achieved.

(6) Assuming success in raising the capital funds, the Director will oversee the building works and bring the project into daily use.

(7) The Director will then co-ordinate the major community projects listed in section 7.

7. After the ‘hub’ museum exhibition is created, NMT should seek grant funding for the following major community projects –

(a) THE ANNE PROJECT:

The lower part of the English warship Anne survives on the beach off Winchelsea and is of national importance. Protected by the government as an historic monument, she is owned by NMT. She has an amazing story involving Barbary pirates, and an attempted French invasion of England and was the result of a plan by Samuel Pepys and Charles II.

Using the Shipwreck Museum as the project base from which to excavate and plan the preservation of the Anne (1690), the aim of the project, in partnership with the Nautical Archaeology Society, to tell the story of the ship and the English Restoration Navy (c.1660- 1700). The wreck is owned by the NMT whose responsibility it is to ensure her preservation, already endorsed by a committee of experts, should take place. Her eventual display has to be elsewhere since much more space is needed than exists at the Museum in Hastings.

(b) THE FORTUNA PROJECT:

The Roman goddess Fortuna on the luck coin from under the ship’s mast; the ship timbers being excavated, now dry and stored at our Shipwreck Museum; the ship as reconstructed. Building this reconstruction and sailing her in the Channel will enable us to discover how the vessel was used and will excite international public and media interest.

To build in the Shipwreck Museum’s yard a full-size floating reconstruction of the Roman ship (to be named Fortuna from the goddess of Luck on the coin originally placed beneath her mast) from about 150AD discovered in the River Thames at Blackfriars, London. This is the oldest discovered seagoing sailing ship found in northern Europe and she sailed in the Channel about 1800 years ago, and our Shipwreck Museum has most of her surviving timbers in storage. The construction and use by NMT of this reconstruction will attract international public and media interest because of the unique importance of this ship in naval history.

Primrose, the last Rye Barge, was rescued from the bed of the River Rother by members of the Nautical Archaeology Society, and brought to the Shipwreck Museum for display.

To create a small Rye barge history museum (as a satellite museum of the Nautical Museums [nb: plural word] Trust) in the Rye area in which to preserve and restore Primrose and tell the centuries-old story of these river craft. If it proves difficult to relocate the barge in the short term then her display at the Shipwreck Museum should continue as a desirable feature of this maritime museum, particularly if it is linked to the discovery of the Rother ship of c.1550 found at Wittisham in 1822.

Peter Marsden October 2017.