The Golden Hinde

The ship in front of you is a replica of the Golden Hinde, which Francis Drake sailed around the world between 1577 and 1580. It was the first English ship ever to do it. She actually set out as the Pelican. Halfway through the voyage, Drake renamed her to flatter his main backer, whose family crest showed a golden hind, a female deer. Off the coast of South America he captured a Spanish ship loaded with silver and gold, one of the richest prizes anyone had ever taken. Only fifty-six of the eighty men who set out came home. Queen Elizabeth the First came aboard to knight him. But she had the French ambassador perform the ceremony itself. The real ship eventually rotted away, but a chair made from her timbers survives in Oxford. This replica is no museum prop. She was built by hand using traditional methods, and has sailed around the world herself. The street running west from here is Clink Street. The Bishop of Winchester's prison stood here, known as the Clink. The name probably comes from the clink of iron, and it lives on in English. If you're in prison, you're in the clink. Next stop: Borough Market, right next door, just round the corner on Cathedral Street.