Scapa Flow Museum Part 2, The Galleries

Scapa Flow Museum Part 2, The Galleries

The new Scapa Flow Museum opens on Saturday 2nd July 2022. It is still based at the former fleet’s pumphouse at Lyness, next to the ferry terminal, but a new building has been erected to house the internationally important collections of artefacts from both World Wars. This blog is just a taste of what is in store for the visitor.

Entrance and the new café windows.
The entrance lighting is based on the hoops of the boom defence nets, while the walls are painted with a ‘dazzle’ pattern, as used on warships to break up their profile. These are working shots taken when work was still being carried out on the museum.
Reused boom defence nets.
Model of the German battleship SMS Baden. It was beached at Swanbister Bay, Orphir, during the scuttling and was later sunk off Cornwall when it was used for target practice by the Royal Navy.
Display in pumphouse with signal lamp.
Small room showing computer graphics of Lyness during the war. A short film, ‘The Fleet in Action’, is shown in another part of the pumphouse.
Embroidered tablecloth, Caldale Air Station, World Was I and home made toys from World War II.
Children friendly research area with the painting, ‘The Dome’ by Jim Baikie.
Wash stand from HMS Iron Duke (right). The Union flag was flown by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe on his flagship, HMS Iron Duke, during the Battle of Jutland, 31st May/1st June 1916. Later that year he sent it south to be draped over his mother’s coffin as he was unable to attend her funeral. It was flown from HMS Duncan over the site of the battle during the centenary commemorations of the Battle of Jutland in 2016. It is a new exhibit, kindly donated by the Jellicoe family.
Display on HMS Hampshire, lost off Marwick Head, Birsay, on 5th June 1916. 737 men lost their lives when the ship struck a mine during a storm. Among the dead was Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War. Some items were illegally removed from the wreck in 1983 and were returned to Orkney by the Admiralty.
A gun from HMS Hampshire.
Items from HMS Hampshire, including souvenirs made from wood that washed ashore after the ship had sunk.
Items from the battleship HMS Vanguard, which blew up through an internal explosion of its magazines on 9th July 1917 in Scapa Flow. 843 men lost their lives, there were only three survivors but one died of his injuries soon after.
The destroyers HMS Opal and HMS Narbourgh were lost in a blizzard when a navigational error saw them collide with the cliffs at Hesta Head, South Ronaldsay, on 12th January 1918. The blizzard was the worse in living memory with visibility down to virtually zero. 188 men lost their lives, there was only one survivor, William Sissons, who clung to the cliff for 36 hours before being rescued.
Artefacts relating to Ernest Stanley Cubiss, who was lost on HMS Opal. His fascinating story unfolded after a diver found his engagement ring (front left, centre) during a dive on the wreck site. The destroyers were salvaged after the war and very little of them now remains.
The battleflag from SMS Hindenburg. It was taken as a souvenir and later used in Orkney as a children’s play tent. It is another new exhibit which has undergone conservation.
Road sign damaged by shrapnel during the air-raid on the Brig o’ Waithe houses, 16th March 1940. James Isbister became the first British civilian casualty of an air-raid on that day.
Propeller blade from a JU 88 German bomber, shot down at Pegal Burn near Lyness on 17th October 1939.
The battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk in Scapa Flow on the night of 14th October 1939. The German U-boat, U47, had penetrated the defences and found the old battleship at anchor near Scapa Bay. 835 men and boy sailors lost their lives. The Royal Oak name plate was illegally taken from the wreck in the 1970s before being handed back to the Admiralty, who donated it to the museum.
Model of the tender Daisy II, which served HMS Royal Oak and saved many of her crew on the night she was sunk.
Whisky barrel from HMS Royal Oak.
As a result of the loss of HMS Royal Oak Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, ordered the building of the barriers that bear his name. Many Italian POWs were used as labourers during their construction.
Italian POWs were employed to work on the building of the barriers after the capitulation of Italy in 1943. This gave them some freedom to leave the camp and sell trinkets that they made. Many were given as gifts to local friends.
The reception desk, with ‘Rosie the Riveter’ duck.
Enjoy a break in the new café.

Orkney.com have made a lovely wee film about the new museum, featuring our Ellen and Jude who explain the process. Click on the link.

To make a donation to any of the museums please follow the link and support us. Thank you.

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