Argghhh!! Alex and Robert go to London

That would be Argghhh! as in what a pirate says.  By the way, what's a Pirate's favorite letter of the alphabet?  Yup, the might 'C'!  

This isn't a post about pirates, but it is about a ship, The Golden Hinde (well, a replica at least).  The Golden Hinde was the ship Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world for THREE YEARS!  The ship is permanently docked in the middle of London, just up the river from the tower bridge.  Alex's cub scout pack organized a "night on the ship" and so a bunch of us packed up sleeping bags and pillows and headed to London for the most unique slumber party of our lives. 

First things first, got to dress the part.  Depending on what clothes they were given, the boys were barber surgeons, gunners or officers.  Personally, I would have preferred Alex to be a barber surgeon, but he made a fine officer too. 

The three main actors were very engaging indeed.  They looked and, to the dismay of at least one child who was left in tears, acted their parts very convincingly.  (don't tell the littlest guy he's going to  get his hand chopped off).  They were also very liberal with the nicknames for the grownups.  I don't remember all of them, but our poor leader was branded "Beardy-Weirdy" and then also "Him-Her".  Thankfully the scouts didn't understand any of it.  My new moniker was "Drunken Fool".  I guess because either I look like I drink a lot, or maybe I'm just too happy.

Our newest trainees all had to receive instruction on how to perform their various tasks.  The Barber Surgeons learned how to amputate someone's leg with a rusty saw.  The Gunners learned how to load and fire a large gun (not a cannon, but looks just like one to me).  And the Officers learned how to. . . tell others what to do?  Actually, I don't remember what they taught the Officers to do.

It was a great evening on the ship learning how Francis Drake and his crew lived and sailed.  And then we learned how they ate.  Bread, Ale and rice with vegetables.  Hold the maggots.  No meat.  No fruit.  Ok, no Ale for us actually (to the dismay of this Drunken Fool).  Apple juice though and water of course.  Expectedly, most of the boys didn't take a liking to their dinner (which actually looked like maggots with vegetables).  I had seconds, or maybe thirds.

Time for bed!!  They told us on the ship that though hammocks were invented before Francis Drake's day, it was years before someone had the bright idea to use them in ships.  So we slept like they did: on the wooden deck.  We unrolled our sleeping bags anywhere we could find a space, and let me tell you there was very little space considering the lot we had. Most of us slept on the gunnery deck (here).  It doesn't look too bad now, but at 1am, you realize how hard wooden floors really are. 

In the morning we didn't need much motivation to pack up our stuff and get down to breakfast.  We were ready to go home.

We had a fantastic adventure on the Golden Hinde, in the heart of London, sandwiched between two office buildings.

And we will always have this unique memory.

The End.