If you have visited the Time and Society gallery at the ROG recently you may have noticed a glorious, yet empty, 17th century parquetry longcase. The clock movement and dial were removed for routine conservation and further study of its curious and complex movement.

Longcase clock (ZAA0524)
Made by the ‘father of English watchmaking’, Thomas Tompion, the grande sonnerie movement runs for eight days. The term ‘grande sonnerie’ tells us that the clock strikes every quarter hour and follows each quarter strike by the previous hour. This particular clock counts the quarters on a high bell and the hours on a low bell. For example at half past 12 the clock will sound two high notes followed by 12 low notes.
Grande sonnerie clocks are rare, they were expensive to buy and far more demanding to make than regular hour striking clocks. In a 24 hour period a regular hour-striking clock will perform 156 hammer blows whereas this clock performs 768 blows in the same period.

Its ingenious design allows grande sonnerie striking using a single train and the same number of wheels as found in an hour-striking longcase clock. As far as we know this design of clock is unique. The quarter and hour striking is governed by a countwheel and cam system; one full turn of the countwheel equates to 384 blows of the hammer (12 hours striking) and each division counts the total number of blows required for the quarter; for example 11:15 requires 12 blows, 11:30 requires 13 blows and so on.
The method by which the hammers are activated or deactivated is dictated by a cam mounted in tandem to the countwheel. The cam follower is pivoted between the plates and has an arm that extends upwards through the movement terminating in a polished V section. This piece was humorously referred to as the ‘snotty nose’ by the late Dan Parkes, who restored the movement in the early 1950s. It was so-called because each hammer tail is combined with a small detent (finger) that ‘wipes’ with the V (nose) which flicks back and forth led by the cam follower and in doing so lifts the hammer tail away from the pin wheel. At any given time one of the hammers will always be disengaged from the striking train in this manner. The hammer tails are pivoted and sprung within a small frame (illustrated below) integral to the hammer arbor. This system has a very light action and requires minimal power from the train to engage and disengage the hammers though as can be seen from the dissembled arbor it would have been very labour intensive to construct and is a great example of Tompion’s extraordinary skill in metal working.

Hammer tails
The quality of construction is top class throughout and even internal parts that can only be seen when the clock is in pieces, such as the maintaining power bolt, are beautifully decorated and finished.
Maintaining power bolt
This clock is part of the R.K. Foulkes bequest and joined the collection in 1986.

The flag has just returned to the National Maritime Museum following extensive conservation treatment on outside contract through a very generous grant made available to us. The flag was recently acquired by us on behalf of the nation and the grant enabled the conservation of the flag to proceed soon after.

The union flag is a very rare example of the pre-1801 pattern which was made before the saltire of St. Patrick (the red diagonal cross) was added when the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was formed in 1801. It was the command flag of Richard, Earl Howe (1726-1799) as Admiral of the Fleet; it was flown on his flagship Queen Charlotte at the Battle of the Glorious First of June 1794.
It is very irregular in design and is made from a total of 31 different pieces of loosely-woven wool bunting all stitched together by hand using linen thread to form the pattern of the flag. It has a linen hoist with a rope running through it which was used to fly the flag.

The flag has lots of holes throughout, many with fraying edges; the damage is likely to have been caused by insect attack and through wear and tear. Some holes have been patched with other fabrics where people have tried to repair it in the past.
After careful documentation and photography the flag was very lightly surface cleaned with low powered vacuum suction. Following testing to ensure the dyes were fast and that the flag would benefit from the treatment it was decided to wet clean it. This is a huge undertaking with an object this size, measuring in at 4.5m x 5.81m!

A wash-bath was made up using polythene and 3″ square beams which would accommodate the flag when folded in half lengthways, over a roller. Two PVC drainpipe rollers were provided to roll the flag during washing. Special detergents are used in a very shallow bath of softened water, followed by very thorough rinsing in softened water with a final rinse in de-ionised water to ensure there is no detergent or hard water salts left on the flag.

After washing the flag was laid out, face down onto a bed of soft-board covered with plastic sheeting, it was pinned along all the seams aligning the weaves and the design a section at a time starting from the centre out and then allowed to dry.
Lengths of a very fine nylon bobbin net were dyed to match each of the three colours of the flag, it was then applied to each section while it was still laid out flat after
drying, aligning the weave of the wool bunting to the grain of the net and stitched into place.

The flag was rolled onto a large roller to enable the flag to be worked on a frame. All the weak areas and holes in the wool bunting were stitched down onto the net support using a laid and couched stitch.
When all the stitching was complete the flag was placed face-up and the upper layer of net was applied in sections to match the bunting. More lines of stitching were evenly spaced in a vertical and horizontal grid through all the layers of net and wool bunting so that the flag is fully supported. All the seams and edges were neatly finished.

At the top and lower hoist edge, where the bunting had pulled away from the hoist edge, added support was introduced in the form of patches of dyed cotton muslin applied to the reverse of the bunting and stitched into position.
We hope to display the flag at some time in the future in which case Velcro would be stitched along the top edge allowing the flag to hang evenly from a wooden batten fixed to a wall.
We would like to thank the funders as well as the conservators, Annabel Wylie and Poppy Singer for all their hard work in undertaking the conservation of this very large and complex project and for making such a good job of it! The flag looks wonderful and can now be seen in its true colours and will be preserved for many future generations to enjoy.

As Curator of Ship Models, I need to ensure that the Museum collects examples of vessels of historical and technical importance to expand our world-class collection of over 3000 models. As well as historical models we are always looking for examples which keep pace with current developments in shipping.

LNG Carrier Methane Heather Sally (ZBA4653)
One of our most recent acquisitions is the Liquid Natural Gas Carrier (LNG) Methane Heather Sally, kindly presented to the museum by the BG Group in 2009. As the UK’s natural gas reserves are diminishing, the gas supply companies have to import gas from abroad. Carrying this commodity in bulk – economically and by sea – is certainly challenging as the gas has to be refrigerated at a temperature of minus 161 degrees centigrade. The NMM’s ship model collection already includes examples of the earliest ships to transport this cargo, dating from the 1970s onwards, and this fine, full-hulled example brings the story right up to date. It is slightly unusual in that the hull includes a cut-away section showing the internal layout and construction of the gas cells.

As you can see, the port side towards the bow shows the various colour-coded layers of the membrane containment system which comprises stainless steel, glass-fibre cloth and an aluminum foam wood sandwich. The volume of gas carried by the vessel, once expanded from its liquid form, is 145,000 cubic metres, which is enough to power over half a million American homes for a month!
This vessel is also typical of modern shipbuilding, with most vessels designed with the greenest credentials and the ability to re-cycle the hull materials at the end of their working life. Some of the more notable green features on the Methane Heather Sally include:-

• Using the boil-off gas to fuel the boilers for both the main engines and electrical generators, rather than using additional energy for refrigerating the LNG

• Burning gas rather than heavy fuel oil, which reduces CO2, NO2 and SO2 emissions

• A waste oil incinerator and rubbish re-cycling and compactor

• A safe water ballast transfer system which prevents the movement of invasive marine species to undesired locations

These ships are theoretically able to circumnavigate the world around the zero meridians in about 44 days at an operating speed of 20 knots. They will be operating in and out of a new handling facility currently under construction at Milford Haven.

This month the NMM has released a cute and cuddly batch of historic photographs on Flickr. The new set depicts a variety of animals that travelled onboard ship around the world, keeping sailors company.

The mascot of HMS Renown
The images can also be found in a charming book of the same name in the Museum’s shop which tells some of the tales of these animals and the feelings that their shipmates had for them.