Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum

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If you have an interest in ships, sailing, or any kind of precision model building you owe it to yourself to visit the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum which contains ship models, paintings and artifacts, mainly from the days of sail and the early days of steam travel. It is housed in an elegant 19th century Greek Revival style mansion surrounded by beautiful and peaceful gardens located at the northwest side of the National Historic District, near the end of Martin Luther King Boulevard. Originally the home of William Scarbrough, president of the Savannah Steamship Line, it later became a school, an orphanage, and the offices of the Board of Education and the Historic Savannah Foundation. On 1976 it became a National Historic Landmark, and it was acquired by the Museum in 1996. What they have done with it in some twenty years is remarkable: the building is attractive, but its contents are spectacular.

All the model ships were built painstakingly in the scale of 3/8" = 1 foot, most by the great American craftsman William Hitchcock (1928-2006) whose works can be found in many major US museums. Among others whose works are included are Stephen Henninger, Richard Glanville and Joseph Gallettini. If you only have a short time to visit Savannah, and you appreciate detailed master craftsmanship, this is the one place not to miss! Here is a good site with lots more information:http://www.shipsofthesea.org

For a good video of the collection see

To give you a bit of insight into the collection, I am presenting a small sampling of the individual models followed immediately by the information plaque located right beside them. There are, however, some models that deserve more information than the plaque can contain. Here are some good sources of more information:

HMS "Shannon" 1806

She is famous for having defeated the USS "Chesapeake" during the War of 1812. During that battle the mortally wounded Captain of the "Chesapeake" uttered the famous cry "Don't give up the ship!", but he did so in vain. It is reported that the battle lasted only 11 minutes. For more details, go to http://www.eighteentwelve.ca/?q=eng/Topic/24

Ironclad "Savannah" 1863

A veritable treasure-trove of information about the naval aspect of the Civil War can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironclad_warship

CSS Atlanta 1862

For more information about this Confederate ironclad that became a Union ship see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Atlanta_(1861

cruiser USS "Savannah" 1937

After serving as a Midshipmen training ship for a time after the war, she was decommissioned in 1947. For more information go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Savannah_(CL-42

As always, to see any of the photos in full size, just click on it.

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Comments

[Rainyb]

Nice composition. Love the tree in the foreground ;o)

[Rainyb]

wow Bet it looked like something in full sail!

[Rainyb]

Nice pic of you Fred!

[Pierre]

Sharing the bounty
Fred - the fact that these pictures were so obviously photographed with a great deal of skill and care, it begs the question that you, who might have already done so, might want to contact someone from the location of these photos and inquire as to whether they would be interested in including some of them into their existing collection? I could see where some of your photos could displace some of theirs.

[Misty]

Incredible models! I can't even imagine how many hours of painstaking work went in to recreating those beauties- that being said, I'd have to say that my favourites are the scrimshaw carvings and the photo of you at the end :)

[George Lane]

SS Kansas City
Here is a painting of the SS Kansas City leaving the pier of the Ocean Steamship Co. on the North River, Manhattan NY. It was published in a pamphlet put out by the Central of Georgia Railway in 1895. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ssave/33529574662/in/dateposted/ This picture is in the public domain and would go nicely with your beautiful model of the ship. They claim it could make the trip between New York City and Savannah Georgia in 50 hours. Your web site helped me to confirm that the painting showed the SS Kansas City, as it seemed like a strange name for a ship owned by a company in Georgia. Thank You! George Lane