On this day in 1581, Elizabeth I visited Francis Drake’s ship, the “Golden Hind(e)” (*), which had been “drawn into a creek … at Deptford as a perpetual memorial for having circuited round about the whole earth”, and “consecrated it with great ceremonie, pompe and magnificence eternally to be remembered”; and knighted Drake. The ship remained at Deptford for about 100 years, until it started to disintegrate and had to be broken up. A plaque on the water-front there marks the site and commemorates the event.
The modern reconstruction of the “Golden Hind(e)” in St Mary Overie Dock is visited on our “Historic Southwark” standard walk and on our “Tudor and Stuart London” themed special.
Further details of all our walks are available in the Our Guided Walks section of this web-site.
Bookings may be made through the “Contact/Booking” section of the web-site, or by e-mail (lostcityoflondon@sky.com).
(*) Originally named the “Pelican”, the ship was re-named the “Golden Hind(e)” in honour of one of Drake’s patrons, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose coat-of-arms featured the device of a golden hind.
