Set Sail for these 5 Maritime Museums

From the Atlantic to the South China Sea

By Google Arts & Culture

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Maritime Museum of San Diego

Moored off the shores of America's Finest City is one of the largest collections of historic seagoing vessels in the United States. Among the collection are the 1968 submarine USS Dolphin, the 1904 steam yacht Medea, and the modern movie prop HMS Surprise.

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The highlight of the museum's collection is the 1863 Star of India. This iron-hulled merchant barque is the oldest example still afloat, and nearly all of her fittings and features are original. Amazingly, she still sails.

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Hong Kong Maritime Museum

Looming like an ocean liner out of Victoria Harbour is the Hong Kong Maritime Museum. You'll find it on Pier 8, next door to the berth of the famous Star Ferry. This museum documents the transformation of Hong Kong from a small fishing village to an international trading hub.

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It's not all plain sailing… perhaps the biggest attraction is the museum's exhibition of piracy. For centuries, the South China Sea was a dangerous place for merchant vessels. This 19th-century scroll in the museum's collection commemorates one major confrontation with bandits.

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Naval Museum Cartagena, Spain

The Spanish Empire stretched from Cuba to the Philippines. Holding it together was the might of the Spanish Navy. At the Naval Museum Cartagena, you can learn all about the vessels and weapons that helped Spain build an empire 'on which the sun never set'.

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This is the Peral, the world's first successful electric submarine, built in 1889 for the Spanish Navy by the engineer and sailor Isaac Peral. She pioneered many design features, such as torpedoes and periscopes, now used in modern military submarines.

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Malta Maritime Museum

For as long as boats have existed, people have visited the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta. The Maritime Museum in the city of Birgu documents this long associated with the sea, from ancient Roman anchors to 1950s steam engines.

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Perhaps unsurprisingly, Malta has found itself at the centre of many sea battles, as people sought to control passage across the Mediterranean. Much of the museum's collection is made of weapons, some of which were used in defence of this island nation.

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South Australia Maritime Museum

Housed in a former merchant warehouse, the South Australia Maritime Museum tells the story of the colonisation of the continent; the voyages of voyages of Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin, the traders of the south coast, and the experiences of immigrants.

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You'll also learn about the tourist trade, which continues to attract millions of people to Aussie shores every year through the museum's unique collection of vintage swimwear and surfboards!

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

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