Ships in Bottles

Monday, August 8th 2016 - Wednesday, November 30th 2016
Shetland Museum & Archives, upper gallery

This is a new focus display for summer 2016 put together by collections curator, Jenny Murray.

The delightful display of ships in bottles is in the upstairs gallery at the entrance to the maritime section. Opening to co-incide with Shetland Boat Week, this will be a favoured display by those interested in maritime history, but also by anyone with an appreciation of the skill involved in creating these items.

Model ships in bottles began to appear in the 1850s, at a time when great clipper ships crossed the oceans delivering trade goods. They were often made by sailors who had many hours at sea. To pass the time they did crafts such as model making, as they did not have much free space in their living quarters.

Various types of model boats have been made and put into different sized bottles, even small lightbulbs!