Almost there!

Another trip to Tallinn, another continuation of wonderful feelings. Wonderful, because the object we’re working on, the medieval shipwreck, an amazingly rare example of a cogship, the shiptype used by the Hanseatic League back in the days, is simply just spectacular, and because our project of preserving and displaying it is approaching its end. Whoa, how wonderful is that!

Only after two years of more or less regular visits filled with work and consultation, we’re about to see the Fat Margaretha Maritime museum opening its door to a huge success for sure. The content is something never ever seen before anywhere! Not only because of the cogship, but thanks to the wonderful work done b the Estonian Maritime museum’s staff, who’re working long hours right now to finish the exhibition and everything in time before the opening set for Nov 28th.

So, what did we do? This time around we had the pleasure of having Ale Torkkel from Vuorio & Torkkel Computer Graphics working with us. Ale, who has a knack and gift to visualize cultural heritage by digital means, photographed the whole Cog, and based on these shoots and previous scannings, will build advanced models of our beauty, the kinds you can experience with your mobile phone, for instance, for better understanding and simply joy. We surely look forward to seeing the results, which make the cog even more accessible to public.

Meanwhile, while Ale was doing is thing, we were climbing up and down on scaffoldings, attaching loose caulking with thin thread and custom-made wood pieces, making sure not to touch the original wood and keeping everything reversible. (Some good conservation ethics there!)

Another thing we did was cleaning, there’s still plenty of that to do. We concentrated for instance on the spots previously covered by supporting structure and hence untouched by the dryice cleaning we did earlier. After brushing these untouched areas, the outside hull looks pretty even and nice. Plenty of vacuuming as well on the insides, that will continue to the very last moments before the opening!

We also did important structural reinforcements. The plank-joins originally attached together with wooden pegs and iron nails had to be secured because iron nails have corroded away long ago. New bolts (AISI 316) were attached to these areas, whose heads resemble the original ones, but can be easily identified when looking closer. (Another case of brilliant conservation ethics!)

One thing we deliberated was the environment, because the air-conditioning system is not yet working at the Fat Margaret and the environment is pretty dry. Is she in danger? No… When considering the environment history of the Cog, with all dramatic changes, we’re certain that she will tolerate this temporary dryness with no problem. She’s tough and beautiful beauty and remains so!