We still had some daylight so we decided to stop off at the nautical museum on our way home. It was small as are most of the Noumea museums. We still found some fun things to look at and learned new things as well. Part of the museum was devoted to a French expedition of two ships that were lost on the rocks back in 1788. The loss of the Boussole and the Astrolabe was a mystery for over 39 years with several ships sent out to search for them. The survivors build a settlement and tried to eek out an existence in the jungles of the Solomon Islands, eventually building a make shift boat and sailing off never to be seen again. There were more artifacts that were pulled from WW2 era wrecks, most notable were the Coca Cola bottles. Coke was declared a vital war material and some 5 billion bottles were shipped to the troops all over the world and each bottle only cost a nickel. Other recovered "loot" was on display and the entire top floor was dedicated to the lost ship. the Monique. The Monique is a very interesting case where the ship was in contact with the shore at 2 PM on the 31st of July 1953 and was due into port at Noumea on the following day. It never arrived and no trace of the ship was fount except for one single lifesaver ring.
Fantastic nautical themed gates
Te sail boat gate
This is the barrier we have outside our place on the protected swimming beach
Funny nautical bathroom sign
Hers
Lighthouse lenses
A model of a Polynesian oceangoing sailboat
A carved oyster shell
Old photos
A coke bottle salvaged from the deep
This one was stuck to a corroded helmet
This was the typical uniform of the French Naval officers in the 1830's
Old style astrolabe
A sextant
This is how it was used where the sailor would have to look directly at the sun. Many sailors went blind in that eye after so many years of looking at he sun
Trade goods that would be used to trade with natives for food and water
Magnifying lensed were inset on this large map of the world
Looking into the lenses items specific to the area on the map could be seen
Like these coins from Thailand
Settlers on islands
Coins from South America
More treasure pulled from the sea
Ceramic dishes salvaged from where the wrecks were discovered
An odd bone amulet
Lots of model ships
Odd heads found in shipwrecks
Loading cars onto the Monique
Salvaged pipes from various wrecked boats
A bee brooch from the sea!
A necktie ring from 1881
The doomed ship
Tacky shirts are always out of style. This one was from the 40's
The only artifact ever recovered from the Monique
