Docks and Diving
- Location
- Second Floor
- Suggested duration
- 15 mins
- Open
- Permanent
- Cost
- Free
- More things about
- Engineering, Transport
Docks and Diving combines an exciting window into the world of the deep-sea diver with a look at how ports function to service ships and transfer goods.
The entrance to the gallery features a stunning bird's-eye-view diorama of the Port of London as it was in the 1960s. A recent update includes archival video and audio interviews to show how much the port has changed over the years and what life was like for maritime workers.
The rear of the gallery features a full-sized depiction of scuba divers at work uncovering a piece of maritime archaeology, the last remains of a sunken ship. Also featured are models – some fanciful – showing how diving apparatus has changed over the centuries. A cutaway of a diving pump shows the workings of the machines divers relied on before the days of scuba.
The gallery's models also trace the development of dry docks and floating docks, including such odd inventions as the camel, which was designed to carry ships over sandbanks that would otherwise block a harbour.
