The South Australian Maritime Museum preserves the oldest nautical collection in Australia. In 1872 the Port Adelaide Institute began a museum collection to complement its library and its educational and social programs. That collection grew over the following century reflecting the seafarers and the ships that visited Port Adelaide. It is now held in trust at the South Australian Maritime Museum.
The Maritime Museum’s collections ranges from the Port Adelaide Lighthouse that was first lit in 1869 to a plaque that explorer Matthew Flinders left at Memory Cove in 1802 to mark the loss of eight seafarers. It includes figureheads, nautical instruments, bathing costumes, shipwreck artefacts, paintings, models and vessels.
Our scope is the maritime heritage of South Australia from the coast to inland waters. The collection of over almost 20,000 objects and over 20,000 images is at once a window to the heritage of the local community and to the ships of the world.
Bottle of water from Cape Horn
Glass bottle of water collected from the oceans round Cape Horn during seafarer Lance Potter's voyage on the Moshulu in 1936. The bottle has another hand-written label 'Spice bottle from the Captain's larder to disguise salt horse'.
Lance Potter served on the Moshulu, a square rigged windjammer that was a regular visitor on the grain trade to South Australia's Gulf ports. He collected this water during a voyage rounding Cape Horn on 21 March 1936. Lance later became an active member of South Australia's Cape Horners association, an organisation that celebrated the achievement of rounding one of the world's most treacherous stretches of ocean in a sailing vessel. The bottle was donated along with a collage of windjammer paintings assembled from the front covers of Blue Peter magazines, and ephemera from the Cape Horners Association.
Caption: Cape Horn Water
AccessionNo: HT 2010.0623
Height: 78 mm
Diameter: 50 mm
Material: salt water, glass, cork, metal
Date Created: 21/03/1936
Physical Description:
Small, clear glass bottle with metal screw cap. Label says "Spice bottle from Captain's larder to disguise salt horse". This presumably means that this bottle originally contained spices used to disguise the taste of salted horse meat. A more recent label tied around the bottle has extra detail typed.
Significance:
Belongs to Cape Horners' Collection donated to SAMM by Allan Potter. Charming example of a sailor's sentiment. Reflects a sailor's attitude towards the ocean.
Provenance:
Collected, probably by Lance Potter, from Cape Horn by a sailor aboard MOSHULU.
Visit