Day 84
Treasures of Trinity House
Adam Gorysz, House Manager at Trinity House Maritime Museum, tells us about three of his favourite objects in the museum’s collections.
Trinity House is full of fascinating objects that reflect a range of seafaring activities. There are navigational instruments, whale bones, paintings, ship models, globes, maps, books and many others. Working here for many years has given me plenty of opportunities to learn more about these objects and their many stories. Read on to learn more about some of my favourites.
Navigation charts
In the entrance hall of the house there is a wall mounted cabinet that holds seven navigation charts. They were made in the early 19th century by chart making firm Laurie and Whittle. All have been hand coloured which is unusual and would have been for display purposes as working charts would not have been not coloured. Six of them are strictly maritime charts, but one is a geographical chart showing the North and South American continents. North America is divided into thirteen states, including British Canada, French Louisiana, the Spanish colonies in the wild west and Russian Alaska. South America is divided between the Spanish colonies and Portuguese Guiana – now Brazil. This particular chart was made in 1809, shortly after the Battle of Trafalgar and not long after the American War of Independence. The charts are very fragile, so we have to limit their handling and display.
Painting of Leith Harbour
We have over 150 artworks in the Trinity House collections. One of my favourites is this one which shows a galleon entering Leith harbour. It was painted in 1710, just after the union of the crowns. Some parts of the landscape are still visible today, including the Timber Bush, Arthurs Seat and Salisbury Crags.
Unfortunately, we don’t know who the artist was, but the painting style is Dutch. It was found by one of the previous Masters of Trinity House at an antique market in Amsterdam and brought back to Leith.
Ballot Box
One of the most important objects on display is the ballot box. It was made in 1792 and used to elect members. The inside of the box is divided into two – one side representing a ‘yes’ vote, and the other representing a ‘no’ vote. Members used tamarind seeds to cast their vote. They placed their hand inside the box and dropped the seed to either the left or the right. The seeds dropped down into a drawer and were then counted. The box is still used for voting today.
There are hundreds of other interesting objects on display at Trinity House. You can explore some of these on our website here: Search | HES Collections (historicenvironment.scot)