Messing About in Boats: Admiral Nelson's Navy

Eli Whitney Museum

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for ages 9-11

Thumbnail of Messing About in Boats: Admiral Nelson's Navy project

2024 Summer Program

Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.
- Water Rat, Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Gramme 1908

Join us for a week devoted to learning about life aboard a ship of the line in Admiral Nelson’s British Navy. Born in 1758, Nelson died aboard his ship, the HMS Victory, at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Regarded as one of the greatest naval commanders of all time, Nelson had racked up an impressive career of service and command that is remembered and memorialized to this day.

~ Construct a small ship of the line to bring home and float or display.
~ Work on a cross-section of your small ship to see what went on below the decks in order to keep a ship of this size floating and fighting.
~ Each afternoon: join a team to glue up and paint a cardboard dinghy to paddle in a Friday Regatta in the shadow of our covered bridge.

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