A week ago 32 students and 4 staff took the opportunity to visit the Golden Hinde II in London. The ship is a replica of Drake’s Flagship and the trip was at the invitation of the Golden Hinde Trust, who were celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the building and launching of the Golden Hinde II from Hinks’ boatyard at Watertown, Appledore.

On arriving at our destination the group were divided into different groups – the officers, the barber surgeons, the gunners and the lowest of all were the staff who were the cabin boys. The girls had to adopt boy’s names and speak in deep voices as back in Drake’s time it was considered unlucky to have females on board ship. We were assembled on the Gun Deck and then put through our paces learning about Barber Surgery, Navigation, and Firing Cannons. Any mention of the Spanish during the evening was greeted by spitting on the floor! During the evening the origin of a number of phrases such as ‘3 square meals a day’ and ‘on the fiddle’ were explained as was the need to not mention you were born under the sign of Scorpio if you needed blood letting by the Barber surgeon.

The final activity of the evening was a mock battle with the Spanish, which of course ended in victory. The students and staff then had to sleep on the Gun deck, which was only about 4 foot high, so resulted in regular banging of heads on the beams. After an uncomfortable nights asleep, breakfast was bread and cheese and plenty of fruit to prevent the onset of scurvy. Mr Nias then marched us along the South Bank to take in the sights – The Tower of London, the Globe Theater, the Tate Modern, the Houses of Parliament, and the London Eye.

The visit was great fun and quite nostalgic for Mr Ford, Mrs Nicholls and Mrs Trott all of whom were at the original launching dressed as Elizabethan children.