Moose on the Loose: Sydney - Australian National Maritime Museum

You drop two former Naval Officers in any port city and we naturally find our way to the water.

deep sea diver

About two blocks from our hotel is one of the world's best maritime museums. (Ivan, one of the docents, volunteered that it was #2 in the world... he didn't know who is #1, but he was very proud of everything this museum offers.) I had actually been to this museum in 1988 for an International Maritime Museum conference, so it was fun seeing what had changed.

Our first stop was the ships on the waterfront. While the destroyer HMAS Vampire wasn't open, the submarine HMAS Onslow was. It was old home week for Scott... from the first sniff of diesel he was happy.

Permission to come aboard!

torpedo tubes

in the control room

engine room

Had to climb down a steep ladder and bend way over to get thru hatches between compartments so both of us got quite a workout.

After the ships we went inside to the exhibits. On the historic side there was navigation and mapping, passenger ships, round the world sailboating, archeology (the raising of the wreck HMAS Endeavour), power boats, and Naval operations.

Aboriginal depiction of navigation
using sealife to tell you where you are

traditional mask relating to seasons
and voyaging

one room had the southern constellations
on its ceiling

The First Lady

Australian Kay Cottee became the first lady to circumnavigate the globe when she finished a 189-day trip on this 11.2 meter boat back in 1988. Other displays focused on speed.