SAMPLES OF FULL TEXTS ACCOMPANYING THE EXHIBITS

 1. PUMP This is a general purpose pump that would have been used to move liquids from one part of a ship to another. A pump is a machine that draws fluid into itself through an entrance port and forces the fluid out through an exhaust port. A pump may serve to move liquid, as in a cross-country pipeline; to lift liquid, as from a well or to the top of a tall building; or to put fluid under pressure, as in a hydraulic brake system. A pump may also serve to empty a container, as in a vacuum pump or a sump pump. The kind of pump you see at the Maritime Museum is a reciprocating pump. It moves a fluid by using a piston that travels back and forth in a cylinder with valves to help control the flow direction. Ihe piston and cylinder are positioned vertically and when the piston moves upwards, atmospheric pressure pushes water into the cylinder to fill the empty space beneath the piston. On the downward stroke, the water in the cylinder is forced to flow above the piston. Reversing direction, the piston moves up, allowing more water to come up under it into the cylinder and lifting the water held above it to an outlet pipe where the water flows out of the pump. This particular pump is a general purpose ship's pump that would have been used to transfer liquids from one part of the boat to another, or for removing unwanted water from compartments. Although it is not a bilge pump, in its general purpose capacity, it could nonetheless be used to remove water from the bilge of a ship. A bilge is the lowest compartment of a ship, where the two sides of the ship meet. Water that does not drain off the side of the deck drains down through the ship into the bilge. This water may be from rough seas, rain, or minor leaks in the hull. The water that collects in the bilge must be pumped out if it becomes too full and threatens to sink the ship. Bilge water can be found aboard almost every vessel. Depending on the ship's design and function, bilge water may contain water, oil, urine, detergents, solvents, chemicals, pitch, particles, and so forth. By housing water in a compartment, it keeps it beneath the decks, making it safer for the crew to operate the vessel and for people to move around in strong weather. The pumping of bilge water into the ocean is now recognised as a significant source of ocean pollution, both because of the chemicals that may have found their way into the bilge water, and also because bilge water includes a build-up of bacteria. Cantiera Navali, the Italian company that made this pump, is still in existence today and still manufactures ships pumps. Additionally, it is involved in virtually all other aspects of ship building and ship repair. SMB Cantiera Navali is registered in the Italian National roll of naval Builders and is qualified to apply for government tenders in Italy as well as for international tenders for NATO. 2. HARPOON GUN AND THE WHALING INDUSTRY Background This harpoon gun was used for hunting whales in Durban during the early years of the twentieth century and was produced by the state run Norwegian weapons firm Konsberg Vapebfabrik. While whaling is a highly emotional subject today, for centuries it was a significant economic activity. The first evidence of whaling appears at least 6000 years before the birth of Christ in Korea but the whaling industry only began on a massive scale from about 1600 AD. Whaling was one of the first major sectors to contribute to the industrialisation of the world's economies, supplying a large number of products that were made from the body of the whale. By the 1800s, the whalers were part of a well-organized industry that turned the carcasses of whales into a great many useful and even fashionable items. The blubber was rendered down into oil - the most important by-product made from whales during the early years of whaling in Durban. The oil was used to make soap, margarine and cooking fat. Other products produced from sperm whales included lubricants for delicate machinery; wax used for candles and in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals; bone and protein meal, used for animal feed; and meat extract, used as a flavouring base for soups. In later years, frozen whale meat gained in popularity, especially on the Japanese market. One of the rarest and most costly by-products of whaling is ambergris, which is located in the whales intestines and which retains its smell for decades and is thus used as a fixative in the most expensive perfumes. As the 19th century came to an end, the whaling industry experienced a decline due to various factors including disasters at sea, and the rapidly declining whale population. However, whaling got a new boost from Norway as it introduced an effective, new whaling weapon: the harpoon gun. The harpoon gun was invented in 1864 by whaling captain Sven Foyn. Based on an earlier design by Erik Eriksen, the modern harpoon gun was mounted onto the bow of a steam-powered ‘catcher boat’. Even after the introduction of the diesel engine, whaling boats continued to use steam-powered engines since they resulted in a much quieter vessel, thus preventing the whales from becoming alarmed. Aimed and fired, the harpoon barb would hook into the whale. A moment later an explosive charge in the head of the harpoon would inflict a mortal wound. Then the whale was retrieved by a winch. Once alongside the whaling vessel, the whale was pumped full of air to keep it afloat, as the whale was moved to the processing location. With the introduction of the steam-powered boat and harpoon gun, modern whalers killed more whales in 40 years than had been killed in the previous 400 years, despite the decreases in the whale population. Together with the steam-powered whale catcher, the invention of the harpoon gun ushered in the modern age of commercial whaling, forever changing the whaling industry. This invention opened whaling to the larger and faster whales such as the blue whale and the humpback whale that previous whalers could never possibly catch. Whaling in Durban The Durban whaling industry started in 1907 after Jacob Egeland, the Norwegian Consul in Durban, together with fellow Norwegian Johan Bryde, started a processing plant. The two men formed the South African Whaling Company and brought two whaling ships to Durban from Norway. They started hunting whales in 1908, managing to catch and kill 106 of the huge marine animals that year. From this small beginning, in which a few steam driven whalers from Norway hunted the migrating whales off the Natal coast, Durban’s whaling industry quickly became the largest land based whaling operation in the world. The whaling season in Durban lasted from March to September, because whales would migrate northward past the city at the start of the Antarctic winter and pass by again on their return south. Whales are mammals and have to surface regularly to breathe. This makes it easy for whalers to locate and kill them. Whales breathe through a blowhole on their heads, and produce a large spout of water vapour when they exhale, making them visible at great distances. After hauling the huge animal onto the catcher, the whaler would then pump the dead whale full of compressed air so that it would float and, once the vessel had finished hunting, it would tow the whales back to Durban. The whales would then be brought into the bay and pulled up out of the water onto a slipway on the bay side of the Bluff. The carcasses were then taken to the nearby whaling station, where they went through a process called flensing, during which they were cut up and their blubber, meat and bones separated. The smell from the first whaling station drew so many complaints from local residents that it was decided to move the station to the less populated seaward side of the Bluff. Whales were still brought into the harbour and pulled up the slipway, but now they were loaded onto a custom-built train – the only one of its kind in the world – and transported to the whaling station. The war reduced the level of whaling in Durban, with many of the newer whaling vessels being used by the South African Navy as minesweepers. The Durban-based whalers continued to hunt, however. Although experience had made them adept at finding their prey, from 1954 onwards, whales were located by plane, and the details of their location radioed back to the whalers. The smells from the whaling stations had always been a problem, but complaints increased as the Bluff became more heavily populated. In 1965 the Union Whaling Company spent R65 000, a huge amount of money for the time, on foam scrubbing equipment in an attempt to eliminate the smell from the meat drying plant. By the late 1960s, the conservation movement was gaining momentum around the world, particularly in the USA, which had been a key whaling country, and there was growing pressure to abandon whaling. Ironically, although whaling was a significant engine in the growth of early capitalism and consumerism, the decline of whaling also had an inverse relationship with later stages of the industrial economies, particularly the rise of the oil and related petrochemical industries which produced similar products at a cheaper price. Pressure on the international whaling industry increased in 1974 when fuel oil prices skyrocketed as a result of the oil crisis. The company’s whalers used between eight and 16 tons of fuel oil a day, and the whaling station also used a vast amount to power steam winches, render down whale blubber and dry whalebone and meat. Moves to find alternate sources of raw materials and fuel came to nothing, and the Durban Whaling Station was finally sold. The old whaling station still lies on the Bluff Headlands within the military base and today it is one of the few symbols that reminds us of the whaling that took place off the coast of Durban years ago. Whaling is today a marginal activity and the small amount of whaling that still continues around the world remains hugely controversial. 3. STEERING ENGINE This steam powered steering engine was used for turning a ship's rudder and thus controlling the direction of the ship. In principle, it is similar to the the power steering mechanism used in modern cars, using gear ratios to amplify a small hand-based movement into a more powerful force. Gears are rotating disks or cylinders that contain teeth that interlock together. A gear ratio expresses the relationship between the number of teeth on two interlocking gears. When two or more gears rotate together they can change the speed, strength, and direction of a power source. Gearing ratios have existed since the first wooden gears were created to power pre-industrial machinery such as winches and windmills. While this steering engine is a steam-based engine, today electric, or hydraulic-powered machine are used for turning a ships’ rudder. Prior to the invention of the steering engine, sailing ships were steered largely by manipulating the force of the wind and with little or no use of the rudder. However in heavy seas, the rudder had to be used and considerable force was required to move and control it. This meant that large gear ratios between the helm and the rudder were required, which made steering an imprecise art. In warships, where such imprecision was not only frustrating but dangerous, the use of lower gear ratios meant that even more power was required to steer the ship. On some of the British Navy's warships, it required nearly a hundred men to exert force on the helm when the vessel was going at full speed. The advent of the steam powered steering engine meant that all that human force could be replaced with machine power under the control of a single person. The first steam powered steering engine was invented in 1849 by Frederick Sickels and patented by him in 1853 and 1860. After being exhibited in New York in 1853, the first such engine was installed in the coastal steamer The Augusta used successfully for two year. Sickel's engine was a simple step-by-step steam-powered mechanical amplifier that had no feedback mechanism. A few years later, a steering engine incorporating feedback was patented in 1866 by J McFarlane Grat. It is considered the first steering device in history to incorporate feedback, making steering far more precise and responsive. Appropriately enough McFarlane Grat's first steering engine was installed on the SS Great Eastern in 1866,by far the largest and most technologically advanced ship of its day. This was a steam-powered mechanical amplifier with feedback used to drive the rudder position to match the wheel position. The size of the Great Eastern made power steering a necessity and without the power steering engine, shipping as we know it today would simply not exist. The feedback mechanism is necessary in order to give the quartermaster a degree of precision and control that would otherwise not be possible. Before the advent of the steering engine, large steam-powered ships with manual steering required huge crews to turn the rudder rapidly. In a test of manual steering versus steam steering Britain's Royal Navy used 78 men hauling on block and tackle gear to manually turn the rudder on the HMS Minotaur. Not surprisingly, steam-powered steering engines took off immediately and were employed on large steamships thereafter. It is important to note that such engines were part and parcel of the industrial revolution and while this object may now seem archaic, its principles are still in use today. How the Steering Engine Works The ship-steering apparatus involves a negative feedback apparatus. When the quartermaster turns the wheel, it does not move the rudder directly. In fact the rudder of a modern ship is far too heavy for even a dozen quartermasters to do so manually. What happens is that when the quartermaster turns the wheel, he or she moves an element in the steering engine house which is connected with the tiller – or rudder – of the ship by another element. The difference between the positions of the wheel and the rudder is then conveyed to the steering engines of the two sides of the ship to regulate the admission of steam in the port or starboard steering engine. The steering engine moves the rudder head in such a way as to close the gap between the angle of the rudder and that of the ship's wheel. In other words, the rudder is moved by something representing the difference between the command position and its actual position. This is called negative feedback.

SAMPLES OF CONDENSED TEXTS FOR AUDIO GUIDES

 1. PUMP The machine you see in front of you is a general purpose ship's pump. A pump is a machine that draws fluid into itself through an entrance port and forces the fluid out through an exhaust port. A pump might be used to move liquid, as in a cross-country pipeline; to lift liquid, as from a well or to the top of a tall building; or to put fluid under pressure, as in a hydraulic brake system. A pump can also be used to empty or fill a container. This particular pump would have been used to transfer liquids from one part of the boat to another, or for removing unwanted water from compartments. Although it is not specifically a bilge pump, in its general purpose capacity, it would nonetheless be used to remove water from the bilge of a ship. A bilge is the lowest compartment of a ship, where the two sides of the ship meet. Water that does not drain off the side of the deck drains down through the ship into the bilge. This water may be from rough seas, rain, or minor leaks in the ship's hull or outer body. The water that collects in the bilge must be pumped out if the bilge becomes too full and threatens to sink the ship. Bilge water can be found on almost every ship. Depending on the ship's design and function, bilge water might contain water, oil, urine, detergents, solvents, chemicals and so on. The pumping of bilge water into the ocean is now recognised as a significant source of ocean pollution, both because of the chemicals that may have found their way into the bilge water, and also because bilge water includes a build-up of bacteria. This pump is specifically a reciprocating pump. It moves fluid by using a piston that travels back and forth in a cylinder with valves to help control the direction of the flow. Ihe piston and cylinder are positioned vertically and when the piston moves in an upwards direction, atmospheric pressure pushes water into the cylinder to fill the empty space beneath the piston. On the downward stroke, the water in the cylinder is forced to flow above the piston. Reversing direction, the piston moves up again, allowing more water it into the cylinder and lifting the water held above it to an outlet pipe, where the water flows out of the pump. Cantiera Navali, the Italian company that made this pump, is still in existence today and still manufactures ships pumps. Additionally, it is involved in virtually all other aspects of ship building and repair. 2. HARPOON GUN AND THE WHALING INDUSTRY Background This harpoon gun was used for hunting whales in Durban during the early years of the twentieth century and was produced by the state run Norwegian weapons company Konsberg Vapebfabrik. While whaling is a highly emotional subject today, for centuries it was an important economic activity which supplied a variety of goods. The first evidence of whaling appears at least 8000 years ago in Korea but the whaling industry only began on a massive scale in the seventeenth century. Whaling was one of the first major sectors to contribute to the industrialisation of the world's economies, supplying a large number of products that were made from the body of the whale. By the 1800s, the whalers were part of a well-organized global industry that turned the bodies of whales into a great many useful and even fashionable items. The blubber was turned into oil - the most important by-product made from whales during the early years of whaling in Durban. The oil was used to make soap, margarine and cooking fat. Other products produced from sperm whales included lubricants for delicate machinery; wax used to make candles and in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals; bone and protein meal, used for animal feed; and meat extract, used as a flavouring base for soups. In later years, frozen whale meat became popular, especially on the Japanese market. One of the rarest and most expensive by-products of whaling is a substance known as ambergris, which is located in the intestines of the whale. Ambergris keeps its smell for decades and is used to stabilise the fragrance of expensive perfumes. The harpoon gun was invented in 1864 by whaling captain Sven Foyn. Based on an earlier design by Erik Eriksen, the modern harpoon gun was mounted onto the bow of a steam-powered catcher boat. Even after the diesel engine had been invented, whaling boats continued to use steam-powered engines because they were so much quieter and didn't alarm the whales. The harpoonist would aim and fire the harpoon, and the harpoon barb would hook into the whale. A moment later an explosive charge in the head of the harpoon would cause a wound big enough to kill the whale. Then the whale was retrieved by a winch. Once alongside the whaling ship, the huge animal would be pumped full of air to keep it afloat, and then towed to the place where it would be processed. Prior to this, hand-darted harpoons, or irons as they were called by sailors, were used to harpoon whales. The irons didn't kill the whale but enabled the whaling crew to follow the whale until it was exhausted, at which point it was killed with a killing lance. The harpoons were attached to large wooden poles and were mounted on board the whaleboat just before they were needed. These poles were heavy, to give momentum to the darted iron, and were left rough, with the bark on, to provide a strong gripping surface. The poles were about two metres long and and slightly pointed at one end so as to fit into the socket of a metal harpoon. With the introduction of the steam-powered boat and harpoon gun, modern whalers killed more whales in 40 years than had been killed in the previous 400 years, despite the shrinking whale population. Together with the steam-powered whale catcher, the invention of the harpoon gun ushered in the modern age of commercial whaling, forever changing the whaling industry. This invention opened whaling to the larger and faster whales such as the blue whale and the humpback whale that previous whalers could never possibly catch with a normal harpoon. Whaling in Durban The Durban whaling industry started in 1907 after Jacob Egeland, the Norwegian Consul in Durban, together with fellow Norwegian Johan Bryde, started a processing plant. The two men formed the South African Whaling Company and brought two whaling ships to Durban from Norway. They started hunting whales in 1908, and managed to catch and kill 106 whales that year. From this small beginning, Durban’s whaling industry quickly became the largest land-based whaling operation in the world. The smell from the first whaling station caused so many complaints from local residents that it was moved to the other side of the Bluff where fewer people lived. Whales were still brought into the harbour and pulled up the slipway, but now they were loaded onto a custom-built train – the only one of its kind in the world – and transported to the whaling station. The war reduced the level of whaling in Durban, and many of the newer whaling vessels were used by the South African Navy as minesweepers. But the Durban whalers continued to hunt. Although experience had made them adept at finding their prey, from 1954 onwards, whales were located by plane, and their location radioed back to the whalers. The smells from the whaling stations had always been a problem, but complaints increased as the Bluff became more heavily populated. In 1965 the Union Whaling Company spent R65 000, a huge amount of money for the time, on foam scrubbing equipment in an attempt to eliminate the smell from the meat drying plant. By the late 1960s, the conservation movement was gaining momentum around the world, particularly in the USA, which had been a key whaling country, and there was growing pressure to abandon whaling. Although whaling was an important factor in the growth of early capitalism and consumerism, the decline of whaling was also related to the later stages of industrialisation, particularly the rise of the oil and related petrochemical industries which produced similar products at cheaper prices. Pressure on the international whaling industry increased in 1974 when fuel oil prices skyrocketed as a result of the oil crisis. The whaling boats used between 8 and 16 tons of fuel oil a day, and the whaling station also used a lot of fuel to power the steam winches and to process the carcasses. After failing to find alternate sources of raw materials and fuel, the Durban Whaling Station was finally closed in 1975. The old whaling station still lies on the Bluff Headlands, inside the naval base. Today it is one of the few symbols that reminds us of the whaling that took place off the coast of Durban so many years ago. 3. STEERING ENGINE This is a steam-powered steering engine that was used for turning a ship's rudder and thus controlling the direction of the ship. In principle, it is similar to the power steering mechanism used in modern cars, using gear ratios to amplify a small hand-based movement into a more powerful force. While this steering engine is a steam-based engine, today electric or hydraulic-powered machines are used for turning a ship’s rudder. Prior to the invention of the steering engine, sailing ships were steered largely by manipulating the force of the wind with little or no use of a rudder. However in heavy seas, the rudder had to be used and considerable force was required to move and control it, sometimes requiring up to a hundred men on a large ship. The first steam-powered steering engine was invented in 1849 by Frederick Sickels and first patented by him in 1853. After being exhibited in New York in 1853, the first engine was successfully installed in the coastal steamer The Augusta. Before the advent of the steering engine, large steam-powered ships with manual steering required huge crews to turn the rudder rapidly. In a test of manual steering versus steam steering, Britain's Royal Navy used 78 men to manually turn the rudder on the HMS Minotaur. Not surprisingly, steam-powered steering engines took off immediately and were used on large steamships. These engines were an important part of the industrial revolution and while this object may look old- fashioned, its principles are still in use today.