The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall is located in a harbourside building at Falmouth in Cornwall,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The building was designed by architect M. J. Long, following an

architectural design competition An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel ...

managed by

RIBA Competitions RIBA Competitions is the Royal Institute of British Architects' unit dedicated to organising architectural and other design-related competitions. Architectural design competitions are used by an organisation that plans to build a new building or re ...

. The museum grew out of the FIMI (Falmouth International Maritime Initiative) partnership which was created in 1992 and was the result of collaboration between the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

, Greenwich and the former Cornwall Maritime Museum in Falmouth. It opened in February 2003. It is an independent charitable trust and, unlike other national museums, receives no direct government support. Its mission is to promote an understanding of boats and their place in people's lives, and of the maritime heritage of Cornwall.NMMC website
/ref> It does this by presenting the story of the sea, boats and the maritime history of Cornwall. It maintains the National Small Boats Register (NSBR).

Boats

The Museum manages the National Small Boat Collection, which came from the

in Greenwich, in addition to its own collection of Cornish and other boats. Famous boats on show in its collection include: *''Waterlily'', a Thames steam boat built by Thornycrofts in 1866 *''Fricka'', a gentleman's day sailor built by

William Fife William Fife Jr. (15 June 1857 – 11 August 1944), also known as William Fife III, was the third generation of a family of Scottish yacht designers and builders. In his time, William Fife designed around 600 yachts, including two contende ...

*Champions like the ''Ventnor'' planing hydrofoil; the

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Du ...

''Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'' (''Superdocious'' for short) in which

Rodney Pattisson Rodney Stuart Pattisson, MBE (born 5 August 1943) is a British yachtsman. He is a double Olympic gold medalist in sailing won at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and 1972 Munich Olympics both in the Flying Dutchman class. He also won a silver m ...

won a gold medal at the Mexico Olympics; ''Rita'', the Finn in which

Ben Ainslie Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie (born 5 February 1977) is a British competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at the four consecutiv ...

won Olympic gold medals in 2004, 2008, and 2012; and "Defender II" * ''Thunder and Lightning'' the

International 14 The International 14 is a British racing sailboat, crewed by two sailors. The class was established in 1928. The boat is a developmental sailing class and so the design rules and the boats themselves have changed dramatically over time to keep ...

which was the first boat to use a trapeze competitively *Early examples of popular sailing dinghies like

Mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the im ...

No.1, Firefly No.1 and Dart No. 1 *''Curlew'', the

Falmouth Quay Punt The Falmouth Quay Punt was a type of working sailing vessel in the port of Falmouth, Cornwall in the 19th and early 20th century. They would be hired by merchant ships anchored in Carrick Roads – to carry stores, mail and passengers. Falmouth ...

in which Tim and Pauline Carr sailed to the Antarctic *''Britannia'' rowboat, in which

John Fairfax John Fairfax (24 October 1804 – 16 June 1877) was an English-born journalist, company director, politician, librarian and newspaper owner, known for the incorporation of the major newspapers of modern-day Australia. Early life Fairfax was bo ...

rowed across the Atlantik in 1969 *''Wanderer-W48'', a Wayfarer (dinghy), in which

Frank Dye Frank Charles Dye (23 April 1928 – 16 May 2010) was a sailor who, in two separate voyages, sailed a ''Wayfarer'' class dinghy from the United Kingdom to Iceland and Norway. An account of this was written by Dye and his wife, Margaret, publish ...

sailed to Iceland and to Norway from Scotland (surviving four capsizes and a broken mast during a Force 9 storm) ef-7 The museum is the country's premier museum for boats and maintains the National Small Boat Register (NSBR) of small boats (under 33-foot) and invites owners of historic craft to register them.

Cornwall's maritime history

Three galleries are devoted to the maritime history of Cornwall. These cover topics such as Cornish fishing, trading, boatbuilding, wrecks and emigration. The Falmouth gallery also tells the story of: * The

Packet ship Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed for domestic mail, passenger, and freight transportation in European countries and in North American rivers and canals, some of them steam driven. They were used extensively during the 18th and 19th ...

s which operated out of Falmouth and which took the mails to the growing empire from 1668 until 1851 * The life of Falmouth in the late 19th century when "to Falmouth for Orders" was a familiar instruction to ships' captains and the harbour was filled with vessels returning to Europe from around the world; and * The 20th century when Falmouth was a jumping off point for D-Day and the first and last port of call for sailors like

Robin Knox-Johnston Sir William Robert Patrick Knox-Johnston (born 17 March 1939) is a British sailor. In 1969, he became the first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe. Along with Sir Peter Blake, he won the second Jules Ve ...

, the first man to sail solo around the world, and

Ellen MacArthur Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur (born 8 July 1976) is a retired English sailor, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight. MacArthur is a successful solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005, ...

who broke the solo round the world sailing record having left from, and returned to the museum

Main galleries

* The Main Hall – containing the Survival Zone * The Hold – with changing bi-annual exhibitions * Look-out – with views over Falmouth harbour * The Quarterdeck – used for temporary exhibitions and home to the Treasure Island Play Zone * The Bridge – with changing exhibitions *

Boat building Boat building is the design and construction of boats and their systems. This includes at a minimum a hull, with propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other systems as a craft requires. Construction materials and methods Wood Wo ...

and its history * Tidal Zone – with underwater views of Falmouth harbour * Waterfront – the small indoor lake, with fans creating a gust for radio-controlled model yachts * Pontoon – with a changing display of boats on the water * Maritime Cornwall :* Falmouth Gallery :* Cornwall and the Sea :* Cornish Quayside

Exhibitions

National Maritime Museum Cornwall - Monsters of the Deep 11

The museum has a programme of annual exhibitions including titles such as: *2004 The Will to Win – an exhibition of Olympic and competitive boats *2005 ''Team Philips'' and Surf's Up – exhibitions about the round the world project and the history of surfing in the UK *2006 Endurance and Survival *2007 Mad Dogs, and Englishmen? – eccentric boats *2008 Under the Sea – diving and man's attempt to work under water *2009 ''Titanic'', Honour and Glory *2010 Lighthouses – Life on the Rocks *2012 Search and Rescue – the work of the Rescue Services *2015 Viking Voyagers *2017 Tattoo: British Tattoo History Revealed and Bligh-Myth, Man and Mutiny *2018 Titanic Stories *202
Monsters of the Deep: Science fact and Fiction
There is also a programme of temporary exhibitions, talks and activities.

Other facilities

The museum has a waterside café overlooking the harbour, a shop, space for temporary exhibitions, and the Sunley Lecture Theatre.

Bartlett Library

The Bartlett Library is the centre of the museum's research and provides answers on maritime matters for specialists and amateurs alike. As well as holding many of the original port records for Falmouth, it has over 16,000 books and a very large number of magazines, cuttings and illustrations.Bartlett Library online public access catalogue.
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Awards

The National Maritime Museum Cornwall has been nominated for and won a number of awards including: *2004 - nominated for a Silver Award for most outstanding environmental design *2005 - ADAPT Trust Awards for Excellence in Access for Disabled People *2013 - Silver Award for Best UK Heritage Attraction at British Travel Awards *2014 - Best Museum in Cornwall - ''Cornwall Today'' Awards *2014 - Silver Award for Best UK Heritage Attraction at British Travel Awards *2014 - Marsh Trust Award *2014 - Learning outside the classroom quality badge *2014 - Winner of The Telegraph Family Friendly Museum Award *2015 - Winner of the Sandford Award for outstanding quality of education work *2017 - Best Gallery - What's On Cornwall Awards *2021 - Silver in the Cornwall Tourism Awards *2021 - Winner of the Sandford Award for outstanding quality of education work

References

External links

NMMC website
{{Coord, 50, 09, 05, N, 5, 03, 42, W, type:landmark_region:GB-CON, display=title Buildings and structures in Falmouth, Cornwall Maritime museums in England Museums in Cornwall Charities based in Cornwall Cornish culture MJ Long buildings