The Birmingham Museum Collections Centre (MCC) in Nechells has brought together 80 per cent of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery’s stored collections under one roof. The 1.5 hectare site, close to Duddeston Station, holds hundreds of thousands of objects. Among the collections are steam engines, sculptures, an entire collection of Austin, Rover and MG motor cars, a red phone box and even a Sinclair C5.
In groups we need to select one or a range of objects that are housed in the MCC. It is important that we think very carefully about what we select as a group and what we can say about it, what the object/s can say about us, and how we can create a dialogue with more than one object.
Our challenge is to present these objects to the world without physically removing them them from their current location in Nechells.
As a group we chose the SS Arandora Star cabin model. Initially we liked it as it was different to a lot of the other things in the MCC and it had an unusual scale. We also found it interesting because of the story behind it and what is happening today in relation to the ship.
Type:Steam passenger ship
Tonnage:15,501
Owner:Blue star Line Ltd, London
Homeport:London
Dateof attack: 2 July 1940
SSARANDORA STAR was built by Cammell Laird & Company, Limited for the BlueStar Line in 1927.
Asoriginally built she measured 12,847 gross register tons (GRT), was 512.2 feet(156.1 m) long, had a beam of 68.3 feet (20.8 m) and accommodated 164 firstclass passengers. She had a service speed of 16 knots (30 km/h). A major refitin 1929 reduced her cargo space and increased her passenger accommodation toturn her into a cruise ship.
Capacityfirst class accommodation was increased to 354 passengers.
Beam:68.3 feet (20.8 m)
Height:34.0 feet (10.4 m)
Inthe course of 1927 Cammell Laird completed two sister ships, SS Andalucia andSS Arandora.
In1929 Arandora was converted into a cruise ship by reducing her cargo space andenlarging her passenger accommodation, and the three sisters were renamed SSAlmeda Star, SS Andalucia Star and SS Arandora Star.
On 30th ofJune 1940 479 German internees, 734 Italian internees and 86 Germanprisoners-of -war boarded the S.S Arandora Star to be taken to Canada. Alongwith 174 officers and men there were 1673 souls on board. At 06:15 on 2nd July 1940, 15 miles Westof Bloody Foreland in County Donegal, Ireland, the liner was struck by a torpedo, on her starboard (right) side, inthe area of her Engine Room. Her engine room was immediately floodedcausing all main and emergency power generators to be put out of action. With the ships position being plotted onthe chart, ChiefOfficer Brown sent her position to the wireless room with instructions totransmit an S.O.S. As no drill had been performed andunfamiliar ship, the crew struggled with no avail to coax passengers into theremaining lifeboats. Many of the prisoners refused to go over the side and safethemselves, choosing instead to cling on the the ship. After listing for an hour the shipfinally rolled over a 7.20, sinking to the bottom of the sea along with 805souls, including the Captain and Senior Officer.
TheArandora Star had been commandeered in 1939 as a troopship, but early in thewar, the British government began to fear that enemy nationals living inBritain could be a security threat. Tribunals were set up to investigateforeign nationals case by case, classifying them into 3 security categories,only the highest (category ‘A’) being liable to internment without trial. Byearly 1940, around 80,000 cases had already been determined, of which less than1% were category ‘A’. However, when Italy under Mussolini entered the war as anally of Germany, Churchill panicked and, famously issued the order to 'Collarthe lot!' ManyItalian and German men, who had been working in the UK, were rounded up andsummarily interned, although, according to Richard Sonnenfeldt inhis book "Witness to Nuremberg" some were actually volunteers. Theywere initially taken to local Police stations, then transported to army camps,hotels and holiday camps throughout the country. Wives, mothers and childrenwere left to fend for themselves without information as to the fate of theirloved ones.
Initially we took the brief too literally and decided that we wanted to recreate the model or parts of it to show as our final piece. After discussing the idea we realised that there wasn't much we would gain from doing this. Whilst researching we came across a survivor of the ships sinking and their account of the event. This made us take a different angle of ideas and inspiration.
Now we intend to create/replicate a life buoy from the Arandora Star.
Now we intend to create/replicate a life buoy from the Arandora Star.
This will represent the story of the survivors of the ships sinking.
With the survivors story we have found we will create a video/voiceover.
Original Survival Story
I was in bed when the ship was hit by the torpedo, I was fast asleep. The big bang woke me up and I was soon in a panic, my brother was by my side trying to calm me down. But I remember shouting ‘This is the end, we’re all going to die’.
I rushed out on deck and tried to get on to a lifeboat, but they were all gone and I could see them far away. I shouted for help but there was no help. Just innocent people running and screaming. People started jumping into the sea. But not everyone survived the jump. There were dead bodies floating everywhere. I then realised my brother was not by my side anymore. So I rushed round the ship looking for him, shouting for him.
20 minutes after the torpedo hit the ship, I decided to jump off and risk it, and luckily I survived the jump. I tried to swim away from the boat but the waves were huge and it was a struggle to swim to the lifeboats. I was also still searching for my brother.
The ship turned on the right side and submerged, people that were are on the deck poured into the sea. The ship suddenly sank and disappeared along with people’s lives. I found a bench floating in the water and grabbed hold on to it and tried to swim myself to safety. It was difficult because I had to push through the strong current of the sea.
It soon turned dark and the sea was dark with oil, it was hard to see. A member of the Arandora star joined me on the benched and told me to keep swimming towards the life boats ahead. We started to see a light in the darkness and thought it was a lifeboat. So we left the bench and swam freely. We thought we might reach them quicker, but as I kept swimming the lifeboat seemed to go further away.
I finally got to this lifeboat but it was full of British, who refused to let any German on board, I begged and begged. They left me in the middle of the sea surrounded by dead bodies and in the darkness.
I soon saw another lifeboat and started to swim to that, when I got to it I noticed the lifeboat was extremely full and I thought they wouldn’t let me on. But they did but by doing so the lifeboat started to sink and let water in. Everyone started to panic again. Especially I as I was pushed to the back of the boat and felt the water come in more. (There was 120 people on board). I looked to see if my brother had made it onto one of the lifeboats but there was no sign of him. As we swam we went across dead bodies but all I was thinking about was my brother.
We saw a flying boat at about 3.30 am which let us on board and rescued us. I got on the boat and was in search of my brother in a corner all wrapped up in a blanket was my brother but he had broken his arm, trying to jump of the ship. But I was happy that he was safe and I was safe.
Survival Story 2
I was with my boyfriend John, we went for a walk around Arandora Star. It was a beautiful clear night. We was suddenly hit by this big bang. We didn’t realise what it was, we now know that it was a torpedo.
We both went into a panic, John grabbed my hand and pulled me inside to see what was going on. We soon realised that people were racing for the lifeboats. We both ran to see if we could get a life boat.
When we found one, it was full of British and refused to let me on, but they allowed John as he was British but I was German. I told John to leave me and get onto the lifeboat. John refused to leave without me.
We carried on running looking for a lifeboat that I could get on, we soon saw people jumping off the ship, but we noticed dead bodies floating in the water, people who had tried to jump off the ship but didn’t make it out safe.
We considered our options and the only thing we could do was to jump off the ship into the water and hope we’re both okay. We counted to three and jumped. I hit the water and struggled to reach the top. I felt John’s reach out to me and pulled me up.
I felt this shooting pain in my back and then couldn’t feel my legs, I couldn’t move. John pulled me and placed me on a board floating in the water after pushing a dead body off it. John swam us to a lifeboat further on that we could just about see, in the dark. I couldn’t think of anything else put the pain in my back.
We finally got to a boat where they let us on, but I couldn’t move so several people lifted me up, I felt water leaking into the boat from my legs so I knew I wasn’t paralysed down, I was just hoping I had broken my legs.
We then saw a fly ship that got the whole of the lifeboat on board, everyone rushed to help me. John stuck by my side the whole time. The ship doctor came to me and told me that I have broken my legs but my back was fine.
After making the cast of the buoy, we decided that we didn't gain that much from making a replica out of fibreglass, we have decided to make memorial to those who lost their lives in the sinking of the ship. We will use concrete instead to make it out of stone.
The buoy will be presented on its own as a strong symbol of the event with only the plaque replicated from the ships cabin we initially drew inspiration from.
We have bought a buoy which we will cast from and research the best materials to recreate/replicate the buoy.
We researched into various materials to use to cast the buoy. Initially we decided upon fibre glass.
Having looked at the results we would achieve we then thought that we were being too literal. As we were using the story of a survivor we thought more about using stone or cement inspired by gravestones. This would then become a monument to represent the people who lost their lives.
Initially, a vector version of the text was created using Illustrator. This was done as we first planned to print on to the buoy once it was made. This idea then fell through and we decided to project the original text on to the buoy. Therefore, 2 versions of the text were created and can be seen below;
TEXT VERSION 1
The image was imported into illustrator and traced in order to get the closest resemblance to the original text;
The final image was then opened in photoshop in order to add the drop shadow effect;
Drop shadow;
Final outcome;
TEXT VERSION 2
The original image (sent from Phil) was opened in photoshop. The eraser tool was used to rub out all of the outside of the text. The image was then zoomed in on, this allowed a fine cut around the text.
Once the entire background image had been removed, the original text was left on a white background. The final .tiff version which will be projected, can be seen below;
After our first cast was unsuccessful we began to assess it more closely. We found the effect and intricacy that the plaster gave interesting and decided that this material would be successful to create our final replica out of.
We really like the effect the plaster cast gave, it worked really well and we looked into artists who had used plaster or stone in their own work.
This piece is by Rachel Whiteread, she has created a holocaust memorial of a house that was to be knocked down by filling it with concrete. You get the perfect impression of the fireplaces and windows. Rachel Whiteread is Turner prize winning artists who mainly uses sculpture in the form of casts.
Our next steps for this project are to create the memorial, fill the cast with the concrete/plaster/stone and to decide how the lettering will be displayed onto the buoy:
We decided to make the buoy memorial out of fast setting concrete
Making the plaque
Lindsey took on the responsibility of making the plaque. She decided she wanted to alter what it said on the original sign to best fit our recreation for this project.
The plaque we made for the project would read: "SS Arandora Star Memorial." and to include an inventory number and a creators mark like the original plaque we saw with the model at the MCC.
"INV.NO 72-2631" "Blue Star Line LTD"
In order to create the plaque Lindsey purchased an engraving tool in order to re-create the plaque in a authentic style to the plaque viewed at the MCC.
once engraved the plaque was flooded with black ink so that the text would stand out and mounted onto a white gloss panted angle mount of wood.
Our final display:
As a group we are happy with the final display. We found the casting a lot more difficult and time consuming than we had first anticipated. This led to a few complications and changes of idea throughout but we feel the final outcome is a success. We are glad we chose to project part of the original image onto the buoy, it added an extra element to the final piece.
To improve we could have possibly not had the dramatic music around the voice over as the reading itself was effective enough. The plaque we attempted to replicate was not an exact replica but we feel with more practise with the equipment it could have been more successful. Ideally we would have the whole of the buoy rather than half a cast but this was due to complications in the making process and would have been difficult to execute.
