Volunteer Voices: Valiantly Keeping the Artefacts Dust-Free
Volunteer Voices: Valiantly Keeping the Artefacts Dust-Free
Conservation volunteer Perry discusses the important (but often overlooked) tasks of keeping The Historic Dockyard Chatham’s artefacts and galleries looking ship-shape.
Read Perry’s blog:
If youβve visited our Hearts of Oak interactive experience, you may have spied our model of the HMS VALIANT (2023.0084.01). This beautiful piece was built by Phil Rumsey of Bosham in 1990.
HMS VALIANT was a 70-gun third-rate ship launched at Chatham Dockyard on 1 August 1759. She was modelled after the French ship Invincible and was in active service until 1799. She took part in a minor battle during the War of American Independence, on the 4 January 1781, and in 1782 went on to see the Battle of the Saintes. Most notably, she served under Admiral Prince William in 1789 and fought the Glorious First of June in 1794. In 1798 she was captured by the French privateer Corvette Magicienne. It was 1799 when she was placed on harbour service until she was broken up in 1826-1827.
Dusting the VALIANT Model
This particular model is on open display, and this poses a risk to the item from dust, dirt and debris. A little layer of dust might not seem that harmful but over time those dust particles can cause a range of problems for our collections. We make sure to clean our VALIANT model once a year to make sure that weβre stopping any new damage from occurring or any preexisting damage from getting worse.
We like to take a minimal approach to our conservation work, meaning that we try to do as little as possible to the object to protect it from damage. Cleaning such a delicate and complex item required care and a steady hand. Using a combination of brushes and a special museum vacuum our collections volunteer Perry Durso was able to spruce up the model during our closure period.
About Perry
Perry is a retired lift engineer, as well as being a keen model maker and figure collector, originally hailing from the East End of London. 5 years ago, he became a Medway local and his interest in history brought him to the Dockyard in August 2024, with our connections to Lord Nelson a particular draw.
βOne of my heroes is Lord Nelson, so volunteering at the Dockyard where he first went to sea, and where HMS VICTORY was built is an absolute pleasure.β
His skills with miniatures and models come in handy for helping us get our model collection in tip-top condition. Of course, his βfavourite piece in the collection has to be the huge model of HMS Victory, the ship that helped change the course of history.β
You can check out Perryβs favourite object in our Victory Gallery and the now dust-free HMS VALIANT on your next visit.
