Maritime Museum

Visiting this museum has been on my to-do list for many years; just things never aligned, all that changed today, and I made the time to finally visit.

But me being me, I did not just get on the MTR and head for Central Station and walk from there, but I decided to walk from my hotel in Happy Valley, and if that's not a bad idea, the day I picked was 35C with humidity off the scale.

This walk is one that I would recommend every visitor do, with the majority being along the waterfront from the convention centre to central, it's stunning. And no, I don't recommend most people do this in the kind of heat, as if you are not used to it, you could end up with heat stroke.

Anyhow, the museum is located on a wharf next to the Star Ferry Terminal in Central on Hong Kong Island. It's an interesting place made up of 4 decks A, B, C and D, with the entrance on B deck.

Heading in and buying my ticket, which was much better than expected, it was only HK$30. What was not so good was the lack of escalators to move between levels, the result my bad knees did not like the steps.

The very helpful staff on the front desk gave me a map and suggested starting on the lower level and working my way up.

Checking the map, the bottom deck is offices and various research areas, so nothing to see down there.

Moving slowly, I headed down the stairs to deck C, which is dedicated to Chinese Maritime Heritage, and given me being a bit of a history buff, I was expecting good things.

The first exhibit I saw was a stunning model of a Chinese Dragon barge.

The above came from the signage on the model, and has been translated presumably from Chinese to English. Yes, I could have fixed the translation, but I left it as it is, as it's authentic.

Some trivia: Back in school, I actually did some enamelling, while it was not even close to as good as this barge, but it still was something I remember enjoying.

Moving on, there is a collection of models showing various stages of Chinese maritime history, plus historical events such as the first Opium Wars, which led to Hong Kong Island being ceded to Britain.

Yes, I did learn from this visit; other than more detail on how the Opium Wars shaped Hong Kong, with more territory ceded to Britain. This stuff is fascinating to read about, so allow plenty of time when visiting the museum. Or check out this Wikipedia page which does a good job of covering major events, or this one at the Academy of Chinese Studies.

Then comes the Canton System, which was a new one for me, which ran from the 18th century through to the mid 19th centry, and was a method for Qing China to restrict trade with the Western world.

Before I shift fully into history buff mode, the Museum has examples of some of the trade goods sent to the Western world.

The above photo, which is far from my best work, but still good enough to show the type of goods shipped to the Western world from China.

This display not only appealed to the history buff, but also to the woodworker in me, and yes, I would have really loved to get a closer look to see how they are made, but this is a museum exhibit, and security was close by. Oh well, still interesting to see.

Continuing my wanderings through this gallery, I came across something I was not really expecting, canon, and no, not something mounted on a ship, but an artifact from the first opium war.

After reading the display information, it seems the story behind this canon is fascinating, with this canon being captured in the opening engagement of the first opium war. Not much more information on the exhibit, and something I will dig into as the story sounds good.

After spending way too much time going from exhibit to exhibit, I came to one that surprised me.

At first, I figured it was a type of Junk, just with some western influence, or is it just me, the stern of this one has a European look. Anyhow, reading the information on the exhibit shocked me.

Wow comes to mind, while I did read something about a Junk arriving in New York, it was light on detail. Now, just imagine sailing around the Cape of Good Hope in a Junk; that would be an example of skill combined with luck and the quality of the Junk construction.

Now, while I did spend quite a few hours on this deck, I do not want to spoil it for your visit. So now it's time to head up to the B deck.

After doing battle with the stairs to the B deck and waiting for my bad knees to calm down, the first exhibit that drew me in was a stunning bronze.

This bronze is of Li Hongzhang, a prominent Qing dynasty official, statesman, and diplomat who notably signed the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory in 1898

Moving past this bronze, this deck was covering more recent history and some of the development of Hong Kong, which, although fascinating, is not as much of an interest as the lower level. But then again, that could be just me preferring older historical events.

Another exhibit they drew me in was something more than a little unusual, it's the Rifleman's Bolt, which is a copper bolt installed by the crew of the survey ship HM Rifleman

Now, while I do not normally do this, I have included the exhibit details, as it's too small to read in the photo. It's important to get some history of its meaning.

Now, while I did spend quite a while going through each exhibit, just like with the previous deck, I do not want to spoil your visit. So it's time for the final deck, deck A.

Not too bad this time, the bad knees survived the stairs. Anyhow, Deck A contains the Swire Marine Discovery centre which is intended to provide an innovative method to discover the marine life found in Hong Kong waters.

While not too much interest for me, not that I expect I would be the target for this sort of place, a better match would be school groups who would love it.

But saying that, I did learn something. Over the years, I have seen strange-looking tiles on some sea walls, and never found out what they were for. All that changed, as while checking out the exhibits, I came across this

Interesting, and makes sense. And no its not just Hong Kong where I have seen these things, but also Singapore and at home in Australia.

Final Thoughts top

So, my final thoughts on the Maritime Museum are 100% positive. There is something for just about everyone, and I can imagine how popular it is with school parties.

For me, I spent about half a day during this visit, and I will freely admit that I learnt something on every deck. With the Maritime Heritage on Deck C being the highlight, closely followed by Deck B's Maritime stories.

In short, if you are in Hong Kong, make the time to visit this Museum, and yes even if you are not the type of people who live museums, there should be something for you.