We visited the Maritime Museum today in Barcelona. They have a great deal of emphasis on the Catalan contributions to seafaring (even downplaying Columbus and the whole “sailed the ocean blue in 1492) and it largely started in the 1500s, which seems kind of late. They have an amazing replica of a galley (do they mean galleon?), which was quite a flat ship, with countless oarmen (read: slaves), sails that encompassed 700 square meters of fabric and a fancy housing on the stern, where the illegitimate son of the King hung out during the battles, with fine herringbone floors and elaborate paintings on the sides. It had a weird Oriental feel (I realize we shouldn’t use Oriental anymore as a word, but honestly, it was that).
I quite liked some of the decoration on it – like cranes painted on the side and in relief, to signify a metaphor for the Captain, who must be alert night and day. There was also a painting of Diana, which also symbolized the Captain, who is full of understanding and reason and the dog accompanying her, that symbolizes the senses and obedience, of the crew, naturally. These are definitely elements I can use in the story.
On the back of the galley there was a golden Medusa head, which was believed to have magical powers and strike terror into anyone who saw it. On the front, was the most amazing Neptune figurehead, symbolizing dominion over the sea. These are definitely ideas I can use.
Other ideas from the museum, were various maps and books kept by captains and aspiring sailors, featuring sketches of landscapes, maps, and bits of gear on board, including some that remind me of some of the things I’ve done for the Inspired by Place eCourse. I wished there was more of that sort of thing and that they had some posters or at least postcards of the maps for sale, but alas, they did not.
The museum itself was a lovely building that was almost Danish in its skillful combination of new and old. In the last bit, which was aimed at children, there were some cool animated illustrations of various legends of the sea – mermaids, Leviathan, the Kraken, and sea monsters. Much inspiration there and I even stood and took some videos to remind me. I’ll have to do research into the those – everything always leads to more reading. And some of it was Biblical, which keeps popping up as well.
I had hoped for more inspiration in the ships themselves, but alas, they were very focused on Barcelona-built ships, which were very different from the Dutch ships in our story. They played up their conquest of the Americas and there was nothing about the routes around the Cape to India and Java. This undoubtedly makes sense, as the museum is in Barcelona, but it wasn’t really what I was looking for.
Other things I learned, which are useful: the sextant was used to calculate latitude and the chronometer to calculate longitude. The items they had on board to trade – cotton, tobacco, sugar, slaves, “undeclared goods” or contraband. There were some very cool chests that had been used to carry goods, which I can use in the story. No talk of spices or even coffee, though the cocoa beans were mentioned, in this museum, and those were undoubtedly major items for the VOC.
I’ve been thinking about the figurehead on "our" ship. Weirdly, when I got home to the apt., I tried to Google what the Berbices ship looked like and I got no results for that ship. I asked Lynne and Judith if they had seen it and Lynne immediately came back with results, searching on the same terms I did! I wonder if Spain didn’t want me to access VOC ships when they are trying to sell me on their maritime heritage. That would be kind of funny and what else explains it? Just the vagaries of the algorithm.
There’s always more research to do and more to read to improve my writing and the story. It’s all part of the process and I’m very much finally truly enjoying it as I go along.
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