We travel back to Napoleon's time for the day

I know you’ve heard us say it before, but today was just about the best day we’ve had in the United Kingdom. This morning, after a wonderful breakfast at the Rothbury Guest House in seaside Hartlepool, we set our course for the “Hartlepool Marine Experience” just minutes away down the quay. Oh, man, what a great place! We were there all day and I didn’t want to leave.

The Marine Experience is in a setting much like what we experienced in Beamish up in Northumberland in the first few days of our vacation. Like Beamish, the Marine Experience has constructed a complete village setting with shops of all descriptions, strolling musicians, and opportunities to talk to docents in period costume. But the best thing we found here was the H.M.S. Trincomalee, a 30-gun frigate built in 1817 of Indian teak and Europe’s oldest warship afloat.

I was just absolutely awestruck with the quality of restoration on the Trincolmalee. Plus, the restorers have provided the highest quality nautical interpretive interior mockups that I have ever seen, bar none. Everything from canons to crew hammocks complete with crew were done to perfection. As you can see from the photos, the captain was in his cabin, the table was set for the officers, and, though not pictured, the cook was roasting meat on the spit for dinner.

Concetta and I made use of the audio units that tell you all about the ship at the touch of a button. We wandered from stem to stern and back again on all three decks and every conceivable detail was explained in easily understandable language. We learned that a “little nipper” was the name given to the ship’s boy who kept the frayed ends of the halyards and lines trimmed. We learned that even today we refer to the toilet as the “head” because these deep-water sailors used a space next to the figure head at the head end of the boat as their latrine. And we learned that the purser was actually referred to as the “Pusser,” which explains why the grog served to British sailors up until fairly recently was called, “Pusser’s Rum.”

The first thing we did when we arrived was attend a presentation given on the “press gangs.” The British Navy was never able to attract enough volunteers to fill its many ships of the line, so they had to get creative. Gangs of British sailors would go out into the community whenever they were in port and “press” chaps into coming along with them for a life at sea. Often, they’d single out lone travelers coming home from a night of drinking who weren’t quite as quick on their feet as they might have been. These chaps would get a blackjack on the back of the head and would wake the next day to find themselves out at sea. Many never saw their homes and families again.

Our next adventure involved a walk-through, narrated tour through the various decks of a fighting ship which came complete with appropriately-dressed manikins, sound effects, and mood lighting. We learned all about life – and death – on board one of His Majesty’s warships as a French frigate closed for battle with our warship.

After all this Hollywood canon fire and hand-to-hand fighting, we decided it was time for tea. We had already learned that a discussion of tea in Britain and a full-fledged afternoon tea was being given in the next building so off we went to participate. As it turned out, we were the only ones to do so, which meant the young lady doing the talk and demonstration had us all to herself. She was charming and told us everything we ever wanted to know about tea and how it became the national drink in the UK. At one time, she told us, British were actually coffee drinkers and only started drinking tea in the 1600s when Portugese traders brought some to the island. Because it was so expensive, the rich people thought it had to be something they should have and viola, when the rich folks did it, everyone wanted to do it.

Part of the reason tea was so expensive is because the British government put a tariff of 190% on the product. This meant, of course, that the poor people just began to smuggle it. The more it was smuggled, the more was available for everyone to drink. Soon, tea was everywhere and had become the post popular drink in Britain.

After the tea drinking, we headed out onto the wharf area to visit the various shops. They had a chandler’s shop, a naval gunsmith’s, a swordsmith, a printer (I liked that one), a naval tailor, a ship’s architect, an instrument maker’s shop, and the Admiral’s house. Each one of these shops or homes was intricately decorated and “staffed” with appropriately-dressed manikins to give you an exact representation of how things would have looked in the late 1700s, early 1800s. I was just blown away by the attention to detail.

As our last activity of the day, we stayed to watch the 68th Durham Light Infantry Display Team, a red-coat re-inactment group, dazzle us with their close-order drill and weapons handling. This group is the premier Georgian-period drill team and performs abroad as much as they do at home. I was so enthralled with their uniforms and expertise with their replica “Brown Bess” muskets, that I kept getting too close to the column as they wheeled, kneeled and fired their weapons. Oh, well, at least they weren’t using live ammunition – I least I don’t think they were.

Tomorrow we’re off to Scotland for our last two days adventure before our flight home. Our final days of vacation are growing woefully short, but there’s still more fun to come. Stay tuned.

Ciao, tutti.