The Drake Fun Day was awesome, funny, interesting and overall, a great day out.
It took place on the Golden Hinde II, which is a replica of the ship which Sir Francis Drake used to sail all round the world and attack Spanish ships with. It was the first ever English ship that circumnavigated (that means went all around) the world, and this happened when Queen Elizabeth was on the throne. The voyage took place from 1577 to 1580 and before Drake left, the Queen said to him " Sail around the world for England's glory."
We played games and learned facts from the Captain and his stupid, disgusting assistant, Fart, who even wiped his finger (that he had used to scratch his his bottom) on me!
We played rock, paper scissors, Tudor sailing style. Captain was paper, officer was rock and sailor was scissors.
We also played hide and seek. We were trying to find the Spanish who Francis Drake hated. I was one of the people who hid and no one found me.
We also played a different version of Chinese Whispers, where we had to guess what the Queen was saying. The Queen let Francis Drake attack Spanish ships but in return she had to get half of the treasure that he stole.
No one was supposed to know that she was giving permission for this, so her majesty talked in code. We listened to a silly code like "birds and feet flavoured crisps" and then we had to guess which it actually meant, using some clues.
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The captain's room where
Sir Francis Drake would sleep. |
We also learnt how to fire a minion (a sort of gun) using all sorts of powder, pig dung, sheep wool and lots more. There were 14 minions on the cannon deck.
I thought it was interesting that the people who built the ship
put most of the rooms with the weight at the bottom of the ship and barely any weight on the top of the ship so the ship didn't sink. We stood in the room next to the water, the ceiling was very low, only about 1.28 metres tall and you couldn't even stand up. There wasn't very much space, even though 80 sailors would have been on the ship and nearly all of them would have slept in that room (on the floor!).
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You can see how small the rooms
were. Jess is taller than the door! |
I would recommend the Drake Fun Day to ages 7+ and I would give it 5 stars *****.
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| An actor called Michael played Lowman Fart, while one called James played the captain |
Sarah says: The Golden Hinde is situated right near London Bridge station. The Drake Fun Day cost £7 for adults and £5 for children, but we had a smartsave voucher which saved us 20 percent! The tour lasted for two hours and we thought it was good value, while there are regular guided tours and also sleepovers. It is also a lovely part of town, near the Clink (which we have written about before) and also near Borough Market, where we had lunch afterwards.
Also by me!
Our trip to Cadburyworld
Going back in time at Dr Johnson's house
Labels: days out in London, Francis Drake, Golden Hinde, Living history, London landmarks