National Historic Ships UK has published a three volume series entitled Understanding Historic Vessels which provides guidance on conserving, recording and deconstructing vessels.
Volumes 1 & 2 - Recording Historic Vessels and Deconstructing Historic Vessels are now available to download at no charge.
Download Recording Historic Vessels Download Deconstructing Historic Vessels
Volume 3 - Conserving Historic Vessels
This guidance is a richly illustrated 200 page printed publication, produced with funding support from The Headley Trust and The Society for Nautical Research. It is an invaluable resource, designed to explain the key principles behind conservation, which will help specialists and non-specialists alike develop an understanding of their project, its significance and the most appropriate conservation route to adopt in each circumstance.
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Readers are free to use these publications for reference, but we kindly ask that you quote the source if they are reproduced.
Other Publications
Heritage Transport Survey
In 2021, National Historic Ships UK collaborated with the Federation Skills Trust to carry out a national survey of over 1,200 British adults to better understand the level of interest and support for the heritage transport sector in our country. This research has provided some key insights into public perception and set a benchmark so that, going forwards, we can continue to measure changing attitudes and progress.
Survey Headlines:
As many as 1 in 4 (24%) of British adults like to visit heritage transport sites and as many as 1 in 5 (20%) have done so in the last 5 years.
An estimated 20% of British adults have visited a heritage transport site in the last 5 years.
18% of adults say they have an interest in heritage transport. As many as 1 in 5 (18%) say they have an interest in heritage transport and 14% want to learn more about heritage transport projects - including ships, boats and vessels - that are near to them.
These baseline results demonstrate the sense of value which heritage transport - such as ships, boats, planes, railways and road vehicles - has for the British public.
Download the full report
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