Holy ship: Boaty McBoatface has arrived in Greenwich

Boaty McBoatface, perhaps the second most famous boat in the world after the somewhat less fortunate Titanic, has arrived in London.

The three day long Ice Worlds festival started yesterday (Oct 28) and runs until tomorrow (Oct 30) at the National Maritime Museum and sees Boaty McBoatface taking pride of place at the free event. Ice Worlds lets visitors know everything about what it’s like to work in the Arctic and Antarctic with various environmental science, engineering and technology displays. It’s also your last chance to gawp at BMcBF before it begins its first mission to the Antarctic after arriving earlier this week through the Woolwich Barrier and spending the past year taking part in shake-down trials all around the British coast.

Technically the hefty polar research ship is actually called the RRS Sir David Attenborough, but frankly, asking us to call it by its proper name is never going to happen. Once Boaty McBoatface, always Boaty McBoatface. Cast your minds back to the heady days of 2016 (The Brexit vote! The death of David Bowie!) to remind yourself about what utter turmoil the world was in when a public vote was announced to #NameOurShip. 

Of course, British people being the absolute kings and queens of banter that they decided the state of the art research vessel should have a silly name, and so Boaty McBoatface was born. Expect they didn’t actually let that happen, despite it being far and away the most popular suggestion. Instead it was christened the RRS Sir David Attenborough and a robotic submersible would be named Boaty McBoatface – which will also be on display at Ice Worlds. Boat-tastic. 

As well as that you’ll be able to see relics from HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, two ships which left England in 1845 to search for the North-West Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, though Both ships were lost and all 129 men on board died. Items belonging to Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton will also be on display. 

Ice Worlds is at National Maritime Museum, Romney Rd, SE10 9NF 

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