4 historic vessels & a Lighthouse show life at sea from mid-19th century to mid-1980s offering “hands-on” activities, educational programs, overnights & rentals
Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD
Joined June 2016
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Are you ready for September 8-11th? youtube.com/watch?v=06k4_o5v…
On board a ship, even simple-looking objects can serve important purposes! Today's object is a tool used with the guns on #USSConstellation. When visiting the gun deck, you may notice wedge-shaped pieces of wood seeming to support the barrels of the ship's guns.
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Those aren't windows on a ship! A round opening designed to let in light or air is called a porthole. Portholes can be opened in fair weather to allow fresh air to enter the ship, or in emergency situations to bring hoses or pumps into compartments.
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When closed, portholes have a water-tight seal to keep waves and weather out.
This porthole, on the bridge of #LightshipChesapeake, affords a great view of the harbor!
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You will find today's object - an engine oil purifier - in the engine room of #USSTorsk.
Why did oil need to be purified?
When a submarine like Torsk is submerged, it must maintain neutral buoyancy (neither floating nor sinking) in order to control its dive.
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Torsk did this by taking in or releasing seawater from its ballast tanks.
The ballast tanks also contained the fuel oil that helped power Torsk's engines. Since oil and water do not mix, siphoning off the oil was not a problem - but the oil could still experience contamination:
from materials (and critters!) in the sea water. In order to remove contamination, oil was put through the oil purifier before entering the engines. The purifier operates as a centrifuge, spinning out anything that has worked its way into the oil.
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When you visit our fleet, you will see a blue flag with white stars at the bow of each of our vessels.*
This flag is the U.S. Naval Jack, which is flown by US Navy, Coast Guard, and other vessels while in port. The jack has one star for every state in the Union.
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*Due to the hazardous nature of climbing out on the bowsprit, and maintenance work being conducted at the head of the ship, we do not always fly the jack on #USSConstellation. However, you can see Constellation's jack in this photo.
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Note that it has 34 stars, rather than the modern 50, to match the 1861-1863 pattern US flag that flies at the ship's stern.
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The letter "A" may have been for anchor, but so is M! Today's object is the mushroom anchor used on #LightshipChesapeake. This special type of anchor was suited to a lightship's mission; its unique shape helped the anchor to be buried deep in the sea- or river-bed.#MuseumAlphabet
During the Civil War, #USSConstellation's 320-man complement included 255 sailors (the crew also included marines, officers and petty officers, and the captain).
When signing on to a ship, sailors were "rated" based on their level of experience.
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While new recruits under the age of 18 would be rated as ship's boys, inexperienced men over that age would be rated as "landsmen." These new recruits would have a lot to learn.
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Have you ever seen a ship's binnacle, and wondered what those spheres on either side are for?
It's all about magnetism! The compass in a binnacle is a magnetic compass, and is designed to point to the magnetic north pole.
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They are properly called correction spheres, but are often known as "Kelvin's balls," referring to William Thomson, Lord Kelvin who patented them in the 1880s.
Here is something that you won't see now on #USSConstellation, but something that has been present for much of her history. The jib-boom is spar that extends from the bow of the ship (attached to the bowsprit), and would support a triangular sail called a jib. #MuseumAlphabet
To see a jib-boom and a jib in action, we recommend checking out this graphic from our friends at Pride of Baltimore II: bit.ly/POBIISailPlan
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