Reading Text
The Old Admiralty Library—that staggering gateway to a bygone world which archived and catalogued millions of naval records (9) _______________ 1892 and 1924—has been converted into a high-tech museum. (10) _______________ lain derelict for decades after its decommissioning, the facility's vast purpose-built halls have been painstakingly restored. It has become a site of intense interest for the descendants of the sailors who navigated its labyrinthine corridors to (11) _______________ in registration logs in whatever nautical terminology (12) _______________ possessed. To reach the library, one takes a shuttle from the southern quay. (13) _______________ you drift past the lighthouse and dock at the entrance of that formidable structure, it is impossible (14) _______________ to reflect on (15) _______________ imposing it must have seemed to those young recruits who arrived with their sea-chests tied (16) _______________ them and their dreams packed into simple canvas bags. The transformation represents a remarkable bridge between past and present.