Memorial Ship Mashumaru & Classic Cars Museum

SEPTEMBER 19, 2007 - Part 2

After going to the morning market, we returned to the hotel, packed our stuff and checked out. We then went to Memorial Ship Mashumaru. The decision to visit this place was actually a last minute plan, as we tried to make full use of our last few hours in Hokkaido before the ferry departs later in the evening.

Mashumaru is one of those ship which already stopped its service and turned into a museum.

Basically, it was a showcase of the history of this ship, as well as other stuffs which are related to shipping.

It didn't come to my surprise that we saw many models of ships in the exhibition hall.

There were quite a number of ships being displayed there;

Until it came to one point that I could not really differentiate all those ships from one and another, besides the fact that the have different colours.

There were so many ships there, that they eventually set up a ship race as well.

This is the steering wheel, which the ship captain use for maneuvering the ship.

And this one is used to attach the ship to the bottom of a body of water at a specific point to maintain the ship at its position.

Besides the structural model of those ships, there are also video showing how the ship was built, and also a corner where visitors can use strings to experience the knot tying.

The uniform for the captain and ship crews were on display as well. The blue one is for the Marine Girl. I wonder what does a Marine Girl do on board.

There was a corner, where they allowed us to put on the uniforms and have our photo taken. It turned me into Popeye Captain Calvin for a couple of minutes.

However, the next photo made me looked so fake, acting as a captain.

Later was the control room of the ship.

At both corner of the room, there were two lamps. As for this one on the right, it is the right sidelight with green lamp. It is lighten from dawn until the sun sets. However, if it is foggy or snowing during the daytime which reduce the visibility distance of the ship, this lamp has to be lighten up as well.

We later moved to the deck outside the ship, where Hakodate Port and a panoramic view of the mountains "seaside salons" are visible. There was this huge propeller along with an anchor chain.

This variable pace propeller is used for the ship to move forward, backwards and stopping the ship, as well as some minor coordination of the speed of the ship by adjusting the angle of the wing screw. The anchor chain meanwhile, weighs 21 kg and has a diameter of 62 mm each.

We later went to the Hakodate Classic Car Museum, just next to the ship museum.

Here, there are exhibition of 18th century carriages from the mid-50s in the evolution of automotive with various themes. It started with some antique carriages which looks like a trishaw.

Then, the cars being displayed slowly evolved from having those classical funny shapes and sizes.

Type T Ford Touring Car, from year 1911.

Right: Model T Touring Car (1911); left: Model T Speed Star (1913)

I could not remember all the models of the classic cars in the museum. However, here are some interesting ones which I have picked out.

There was a corner, where we could take photos inside the car. I know I look silly with that black hat.

In the next exhibition hall, there was a black sports car.

In the same hall, several models of Fort were displayed. I know my dad must be loving this.

Later we went downstairs, and the setting was like a bar.

It wasn't that tiring touring that museum, but we still take a break and had a bottle of Coke.

The number of cars on display looked like it was not going to end. The more we walk, we felt that there were more cars appearing in front of us.

It wasn't that bad that we finally came across something interesting. I feel that a police patrol car looks more elegant a few decades back.

The next one we saw was this orange car. We already have a police patrol car.

So, I will call this one a firefighter car.