First museum boats find new homes

摘要

The first four of the boats identified by Ellesmere Port Boat Museum for 'rehoming', to enable the museum to concentrate on its core collection, have found new owners and will move once the current lockdown is lifted. Having taken on too many boats amid what it described as "save anything and everything" feelings in the early days of the 1970s and 80s, the museum has had to face up to the reality that it would never have the resources to conserve all of the deteriorating boats. Last year a panel of experts selected 12 craft, from a 12ft pleasure launch to an 80-ton barge, which for reasons such as poor condition, lack of authenticity, the survival of better preserved examples of the same type, or being peripheral to waterways history, were felt not to be a core part of the collection. These were offered first to other museums, second to other charities or trusts, and third for sale to individuals - with the last resort being documented dismantling of the vessels.