The Golden Hinde
The Golden Hinde
Units 1 & 2,
Pickfords Wharf,Clink Street,
London SE1 9DG
Tel: 08700 11 8700
About The Golden Hinde
The Golden Hinde is a superb family attraction at St. Mary Overie Dock, Cathedral Street, London, replicating the Golden Hind galleon of Francis Drake that circumnavigated the globe between 1577 and 1580. The ship provides an informative, fun family day out, with the history of the original and its successor explained aboard.
A ticket to The Golden Hinde is a passport to the Elizabethan high seas. Drake’s ship – first christened The Pelican – was 120 feet long and weighed 100 tons. The family attraction includes armaments of 22 guns, comprising two short-range Peteras on each of the poop and fore decks, two long-range Falcons in each of the forecastle and stern, and 14 heavy-calibre Minions on the gun deck.
The Golden Hinde set off from Plymouth in December 1577 with four ships manned by 200 crewmen and reached Brazil in spring 1578. The Pelican was renamed by Drake ‘The Golden Hind’ - the heraldic term for a female deer – from the armorial crest of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton. Drake’s flagship stayed at sea for three years, as a privateer capturing Spanish vessels, notably the Cacafuego, whose treasure was so large that The Golden Hinde’s ballast had to be emptied and the booty stored in the bilge under the hold. In March 1579, the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción was taken and 360,000 Pesos and six tons of treasure took six days to unload.
Drake made San Francisco and staked claim to Nova Albion. He reached Sierra Leone in July, returning to Plymouth in 1580 with 56 crew – half the original complement. They were greeted by Elizabeth I at Deptford and she received £160,000, which paid off the national debt! All The Golden Hinde’s crew took a cut, even the cabin boy becoming a modern millionaire! Drake was knighted on The Golden Hinde, while Elizabeth decreed it be preserved as Britain’s first museum ship and Tudor family attraction!
Drake’s raids led to the Anglo–Spanish War and, after ELizabeth’s death, The Golden Hinde rotted away. However, the reconstruction is an authentic replica built by hand at Appledore, Devon, and launched in 1973. It provides a fascinating family day out, and ticket holders can marvel that the modern ship has circumnavigated the globe and sailed over 140,000 miles (225,000 km). Its maiden voyage was to San Francisco to commemorate Drake's, and in 1979-80, it emulated his greatest voyage, before berthing permanently in London in 1996.
The family attraction featured in Swashbuckler (1976), Shogun (1979) and Drake's Venture (1980), and The Golden Hinde hosts school groups who can dress as Tudor sailors and learn naval history. Private parties can book Guided Tours and Workshops from costumed interpreters who relate tales of life on the ocean wave, explain punishments, barber surgery and gun drill. Parties can stage a mock battle, move the yardarm and eat Tudor pottage.
Ticket holders can turn the capstan used to raise the anchor and learn how to fire a cannon. You can even swab the decks, me hearties, making for a fun family day out for pirates of all ages. Additionally, it’s possible to have a Sleepover, as well as book corporate meetings and weddings (detailed at the website).