Port of Portland Gallery Opens

Portland Maritime Heritage Committee has converted a coffee shop that no one could run at a profit, (sound familiar?) into a new display gallery that enjoys stunning views across the harbour. It was decided to highlight the ‘working harbour’ in the new gallery, and the Port of Portland was invited to buy naming rights in the project, and to join the committee in showcasing the working port.

Displays will highlight the imports and exports from the busy harbour, there will be video displays of tugs at work, the growth of the port from the old ocean pier to today’s modern harbour, and the ships that visit us regularly from all over the world. Displays will also show the development and operation of Victoria’s first, and busiest, fishing port.

The Gallery has opened with a The Bottom of the Harbour display, and Portland’s Professional Diving Services have emptied their archives and bottom shelves to provide a fascinating look at life six fathoms deep.

Dominating the gallery is a 'wet submarine', a submarine that two scuba divers can ride on underwater to check undersea cables and pipes. Similarly submarine-shaped is a towable video pod used for recording moving pictures of the deeps. Diving suits take an important place, and the equipment displayed for a helmet diver makes one wonder how one could ever work so encumbered.

There is the huge brass helmet for a start, and two big lead weights as well as a crutch strap to keep it on the diver’s head. The diver is equipped with heavy wool long-johns and socks under his canvas suit, and he is also weighed down with a lead weight waist belt, and unbelievably heavy lead boots.

What a revolution when scuba outfits were invented. The museum has a range of them from the first suit used in 1941 in Australia, a Siebie Aqualung from the UK, through similar suits to the one used by Buster Crabbe on his last ill-fated expedition, and finally to state-of-the-art outfits.

There is a case of treasures gleaned from the harbour floor, - coral rocks, (yes we do have coral in Portland!), fossilised shells and whalebone from an earlier century, and heavily coated items, both domestic and maritime, lost overboard from shipping.

There is a line-shooting rocket pistol and cartridges, used for rescue purposes, which also date from the earlier days, and 41/2" shell casings fired by the destroyer-escort Derwent have also been recovered.

The largest retrieved item is a sky-light hatch from the wreck of the Emily S which was sunk at Lawrence Rocks.

The Port of Portland Gallery is already attracting new visitors to our museum, and along with our whale skeleton, whaling displays and historic Portland Lifeboat, our museum has a rich trove of history to show everyone how our port has worked from the days of the sealers and whalers up to the international port it is today.

For more information, visit the Portland Maritime Discovery Centre Website