We all care passionately about our respective maritime cultures and most of us have an eye for a fine ship, special or not. However, that caring should be for authenticity and not for some idealized era that did not exist in reality. The ships that we are involved in preserving, regardless of their current status, were built as functional objects with a limited life in mind. Though many were graceful and represented the peaks of technology in both sail and power, they were, in the main, as ordinary in their day as modern freighters or jumbo jets are now, and like all objects of trade or defence, time and development made them obsolete. While in service they were repaired or altered as need dictated, not always in original form, but more likely in line with contemporary technology. From the owner-captain of the humble coastal trader to the Lords of the Admiralty, there was no particularly interest in historic integrity or in saving what they saw as purely functional objects. Ships were sold, discarded or scrapped once the balance ledger moved into the red, much as happens today. However, and this is the core of our dilemma, the moment a ship is singled out to be saved for posterity, everything changes and historic and structural integrity become paramount. At least that is the way it should be. The reality can be somewhat different.
My particular concern is for the way in which we try to preserve unique and significant ships in the long term. Not just the famous ships, or the less important ones, saved because of nostalgia or as attractions at some 'Heritage' venue, but the representative ones through which we can trace the path of maritime technology and innovation. Methods and aims vary enormously between the many museums and organizations that care for these special ships................
