The British being defeated by the USA at sea
The French saluting the victorious USA

July 2007
Paintings on the walls of the residential block again demonstrate that the British were seen as the enemy and the French as allies.
The bust of Tecumseh is decorated by each graduating class in a style in keeping with the theme of their graduation celebrations. The paint used must be washable since he returns to his former glory after the celebrations are done. The bronze bust is a copy of the original figurehead from USS Delaware III, scuttled at the start of the Civil War. The figure is actually Chief Tamanend of the Delaware Indians and not Tecumseh at all!
We came back on another day to visit the museum. The ground floor contains exhibits from the War of Independence right through to the Gulf War. The real treasures from our point of view were hidden away in the basement underneath all this.

One of many similar cannons at the Naval Academy
The bronze bust of Tecumseh contains some of the wooden original in compartments inside
Tecumseh decorated for graduation
And another decorative paint job
A model of an Admiral's Barge in the Academy Museum
A dockyard model from 1630 made by apprentices at the time
Angie, Susan and Al watching the evening racing in Annapolis
Wreathed gun ports were typical of 17th century British warships
Dockyard models of two British East Indiamen

Here lies a collection of models donated mainly by one collector to the museum. Most are originally from an English collection of models made by shipyard apprentices in the Royal Naval Dockyards in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Models of real ships as they were being built in the yard at the time!

The detail was incredible and when a fibre optic camera was used to examine the interiors it was found that they were also correct. One of the models had the names of the apprentices inscribed below the deck and the name of the ship could be narrowed down from dockyard employment records.

What happens when you try to sail between a yacht and her mooring with your spinnaker flying!
Wednesday night racing in Annapolis

Back to the boat for the evening we were looking forward to Susan and Al visiting us for supper. They were a little delayed but no matter, this was Wednesday Night which seems to be the night for local racing the world over. Here the racing started out in the main river but the finish was right in the harbour where the tributary river narrows and goes through a bascule bridge. To get to the finish the yachts have to thread all through the moorings where we had ringside seats. Only one racing yacht went between a yacht and her mooring... How embarrassing!

We headed out from Annapolis for the eastern shore and a little cruising alone while we waited for our friends Gail and Tom from Colorado to join us for a week of cruising before we visit our family in the UK.

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