DRAKE'S SHIP

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 131, 24 August 1927, Page 6

DRAKE'S SHIP

THE GOLDEN HIND The Golden Hind was quite unlike the sailing ships we know. It was a deep-waisted, single-decked vessel, with high walls at the sides to prevent an enemy coming on board, and fore and aft were wboden castles, built up high and protected with bulkheads, wooden partitions which had loopholes pierced in them, so that should a boarding party from an enemv ship manage to get into the waist of the vessel, the men would be shot down from both sides by musketeers in the two castles. For this reason British ships were rarely captured by boarding until the castles had been shot away. As a still further safeguard against boarding the walls in the waist had nets spread across from side to side, so that if the enemy climbed up and over the top the nets would catch them as flies are caught in a spider’s web. Such was the general appearance of the hull of the Golden Hind. It had four or five masts, one of which was inclined forward like a modern bowsprit. Down below the ship was divided up into a number of compartments. Drake had a cabin in which a dozen men could sit at table, and below that was a small cabin which was used as a prison. Then there were quarters for the officers and crew, ail of whom were terribly cramped. A ship of this size had a crew of about 90. and as the vessel captured treasure ship the quarters for the men became more and more confined, owing to the need for finding room for the treasure. Although the treasure was largely gold and silver, there was such a vast quantity of it that never before had an English ship carried so much wealth. The Golden Hind was a tiny craft according to our modern ideas, but for those days she was very trim and efficient. It is not surprising that the Spaniards described her as “ a powerful vessel, with little top hamper and very light, which is a great advantage for close quarters, and with much artillery, the heavy pieces being close to the water.”