When Michael Oddy volunteers at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, he’s adding something new to his model – a model he’s been working on for several decades.
“I’ve always been interested in naval matters, so it seemed like a good project at conception for the museum,” says Oddy.
The scene is the naval dockyard set in June 1813. British Royal Navy frigate HMS Shannon had just arrive at the base, victorious after one of the most celebrated and bloody ship-to-ship battles in history. The captured American frigate USS Chesapeake is also in port.
“He’s got incredible patience and dedication to research,” says museum staff member Derek Harrison. “He’s got a huge tub of research from the library that he’s put together over the last few years so that model is incredibly impressive because of the amount of research that went into building it.”
People who work with Oddy say it’s a delight to see him walk into the museum every week.
“He’s contributed thousands of hours of his incredibly skilled work on his diorama, but he’s really contributed to the sense of community down here as well,” says Rogers Marsters, curator of marine history at the museum. “He’s given so generously of himself for so many years.”
Oddy says he has no intention of slowing down. He’s already started working on another ship model for the museum, something he’s been interested in since he was a child.
“Well it keeps me busy and off the street and out of mischief, and especially out of the kitchen,” says Oddy.”Now that I’m retired, but yeah I enjoy coming here.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Suzette Belliveau.
