The first time you enter the National Maritime Museum you might think it’s a bit light on content because all they’ve got on display in the main hall are some ship’s figureheads, the decorated wooden stern of HMS Implacable, Prince Fredericks golden barge, two old engines and a silver speedboat. Upstairs it’s just a cafe and a map of the planet painted on the floor. Where’s the rest of it?
What you have to do is grab yourself a map and explore all of the doors and staircases off to the side because it’s very easy to walk past some of them.
Photo: Craig Cross
Photo: Craig CrossJMW Turner’s ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’ painting
One of my favourite rooms contains some naval art (most of their collection is inside Queen’s House next-door). There are some decent views of the docks and wooden warships being built but the highlight is JMW Turner’s The Battle of Trafalgar – the largest painting he ever attempted. They’ve displayed it in a darkened room like the National Gallery does its Leonardo da Vinci, with some historical commentary and dramatic sounds of the battle playing out of the speakers.
Photo: Craig CrossTudor & Stuart Seafarers exhibition
The Tudor & Stuart room has some intricate little models of the Mary Rose and Restoration Naseby, some portraits of famous navy faces like Samuel Pepys, and a little bit about pirates and privateers with a cabinet full of muskets and guns – old musketoons, blunderbuses and cutlasses.
Traders & Atlantic Worlds gallery
Upstairs is where you’ll find an exhibition about the evil Empire (the British Empire). Every museum you visit these days seems obliged to apologise for our past and I think it becomes a bit tedious after a while. Yes we did some terrible things by today’s standards but the whole of Europe took it in turns to play the empire game so we were hardly unique. Why a modern day museum feels it needs to apologise for century’s old sins I do not know. I mean, who are they even apologising to? Anyone who might deserve it died at least 150 years ago!
To be fair, if you can stomach all the wokery then you do learn quite a bit about the merchant navy and the East India Company trading sugar and spices, textiles, tobacco and tea, and you get to see lots of guns and muskets, swords and uniforms of the era, lots of beautiful boxes, pots and porcelain, and some very fine portraits and seascapes.
Admiral Nelson, Navy & Nation gallery
Photo: Craig CrossThis is easily the most impressive part of the museum and starts by describing what life was like onboard for a lowly nobody sailor. Then you move onto Nelson’s officers, the story behind all his big battles, and the actual jacket that he was wearing onboard HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.
There aren’t many museums that can sell themselves on a single display case, and if you’re a godless agnostic like me then seeing this jacket for the very first time might be the closest you’ll ever get to a religious experience.
It’s set against a charred and tattered flag from the battle and apart from some bloodstained streaks on the sleeve, and the teared tufts where the French sharpshooter shot him, it’s otherwise immaculate with a stand-up collar, gold trim and four orders of chivalry sewn to the front.
Photo: Craig CrossIf you had to pick five items to represent British history then surely this jacket deserves to be up there alongside the Magna Carta, Shakespeare’s First Folio, the Imperial State Crown and what else… maybe Churchill’s cigar.
Polar Worlds exhibition about Scott and Franklin
The Polar Gallery tells the story of Shackleton and Scott and Franklin’s expedition through the Northwest Passage. His crew famously held out in their icebound ship for over a year and then disappeared in the snow, save for a few sightings by the Inuits.
Photo: Craig CrossIn summary then… I think the National Maritime Museum is worth a visit for the Nelson memorabilia alone, and if you want to berate yourself about the sins of the British Empire then this is definitely the museum for you. But if you’re hoping for some information on World War II then you’re probably better off going to the little museum inside HMS Belfast.
If you enjoy this then try Cutty Sark (you can walk it in 6 mins); Old Royal Naval College (you can walk it in 4 mins) and Royal Observatory (you can walk it in 6 mins). Other boats worth visiting in London are HMS Belfast and Francis Drake’s Golden Hinde. Or how about a day trip to Chatham Dockyards? You might also like to take a day-trip to Portsmouth to see HMS Victory and the Mary Rose
The author Craig Cross owns city-guide.london and has spent the last decade reviewing the capital’s landmarks, attractions and hotels. His guidebook London Squire is available from Amazon. This review was updated on
Your comments and questions
Cherry Would you be kind enough to tell me how far a walk is it from Cutty Sark Underground station to National Maritime Museum? I really appreciate your help. Cherry
Craig Hi Cherry, it's not far at all, about ten minutes. If you don't mind adding on five minutes it's a nicer walk if you go along the riverside for a little bit and then walk straight up the center of the Old Royal Naval College, between the two wings of it.
Feran We made a day of our visit and saw the Cutty Sark and Royal Observatory as well. The Cutty Sark is a great place to visit before the museum to get you into the right frame of mind, and then we had a lovely walk around the old shops and had a pub lunch
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