| It's obviously going to cost a hell of a lot more than the £25 million originally budgeted for! At least the Cutty Sark will have a roof over it and it's in dry dock whilst they debate about it's fate over the next decade or so!
I was reading about the paddle tug that was just sold as scrap by the Maritime Museum, the logic is really bizarre, because the tug was removed from the exhibition it was put into storage at the cost of £200,000 per year and used up 1000m2 of storage space, the museum would save a lot of money just by scrapping it instead...RESULT!
I also like the term dispersal as apposed to disposal, when the item is scrapped the parts (gascut chunks) are actually "dispersed" which sounds friendlier as if they will be stored for posterity at local scrap metal yards.
It's a bit like the British Museum putting one of their egyptian mummies into a Big Yellow Store and then looking at the bill after a few years and then saying we'd save £450 quid a year if we just let the bin men take it!! Why not just keep the thing in the museum, now the Maritime museum has spent a pile of cash tarting up the hall and now has a funky looking trendy modern space without any unsightly things that people might actually want to see - like irreplaceable historical artefacts and exhibits!
A press release from the museum dated 30th November 2004 explains:
An example of reform in action is the disposal of the steam paddle tug Reliant, which had been removed from display in 1996. Early in the reform programme, in 2001, the Museum established that such a large object could not be displayed intact and was too costly to preserve and store. The Museum retained some iconic items, including one of Reliant’s engines, which is on show as working exhibit. The remaining parts of the vessel were made available under the dispersal/disposal plans. Various bodies were contacted, including other museums, the lead professional body (the Museums Association), the Maritime Curators Group and DCMS. Several institutions agreed to take parts of the tug, while her other engine is now located at Markham Grange Museum near Doncaster. The remaining sections were disposed of after the Museum had made all reasonable efforts to find them an alternative home within the maritime community. This action released just under 1000m² of storage space, saving more than £200,000 per year.
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