Henry the Navigator was a prince and he single handedly set the stage for the modern ascension of the western world. He funded and planned multiple expeditions. He brought together an array of mariners, astronomers, ship designers, mathematicians, and cartographers to Portugal. Although Henry was a Christian, his scholars included Jews and Muslims. This set the stage for Portugal to set up trading routes, amass wealth and establish colonies in the islands off of Africa. Although Henry died in 1460 this tradition of exploration, trade and colonization continued until the Portuguese had created trading ports all along the Indian Ocean and as far as China and Japan. Along with this came improvements in navigation and ship building technology that allowed the Portuguese to cross the Atlantic and settle in Brazil. We wandered through displays that started with rudimentary canoes and fishing boats and continued to tall ships and even submarines. It was a big museum and just when we thought we had reached the end there was a huge open area containing the royal barges. It was delightful and a great way to get out of the rain that was coming down heavy as we were leaving.
Museu de Marinha
The entry way
Vasco de Gama
Blow the man down, matey
Various expeditions were traced on the map
\Here Vasco de Gamma rounds the Horn in red and flags show trading ports
Simple models of the earliest ships
Huge models of later tall sailing ships
Elaborate and detailed models of submarines
Band on the ship
More of the famous expeditions to Canada and Brazil by the year 1500
Figureheads were prominent
Early navigation tools included the astrolabe
Globes showing the night sky
Fellow museum visitors strangely dressed
I recognize Taurus the bull, but is that an ostrich next to him?
A collection of blades from the time of Napoleon. The Portuguese navy evacuated the entire Royal court to Brazil plus many others 15,000 people in total, to escape the French
Carved whale tooth from 330 AD
Nothing much else to do on a long voyage
Bit carve away
Accurate watches made a huge difference in navigating safely
More navigation tools
Great carving skills
On the figureheads of the ships
More modern uniforms
Various styles of floating modern mines
Artillery used to combat u-boats
And here were the u-boats themselves
Smaller fishing boats that would sail the Tagus River
The stairs up
More paintings as we moved into the modern era
Looking into a hatch of the Kings Yacht
The kings quarters were very opulent
A roulette wheel, of course a casino on the ship
The king was said to be a good sailor
Too many sails to keep track of
Nautically themed
The upstairs was mostly an art gallery
A huge watercolor
A fire like sea
The Portuguese Wright Brothers
Submerged
Nice hat indeed
This huge painting should have been titled, everybody died
A steel door to nowhere
Actual damage to the hull of a ship
A cavernous hall
Grrrr
Very colorful paint jobs
The propeller seemed redicusly small for a ship of this size
This is a royal brigantine built in 1784.
40 oars operated by 87 orsmen
It was last used in 1957 during a visit by Queen Elizabeth II
Row row row your brigantine
Royal splendor
Fierce!
Colorful Carlitos
If the Wright brothers had lived in Portugal
After some lunch we headed back
It has been 1 year 97 days since we began our Migration
