Golden Hinde II

The Great Cabin

Sir Francis Drake's private quarters occupy the stern of the ship, demonstrating the stark contrast between the captain's privileges and the crew's hardships. This surprisingly spacious cabin features Drake's sleeping berth, a table for navigation and dining, storage for charts and documents, and windows offering views astern.

Period furnishings recreate the environment where Drake planned the expedition's route, entertained captured Spanish captains with fine dinners, and tallied the treasure accumulated during raids.

The cabin's relative comfort - with standing headroom and natural light - contrasts sharply with the cramped, dark conditions endured by ordinary sailors. Visitors can examine reproduction navigation instruments including compasses, astrolabes, and cross-staffs used for celestial navigation.

Maps show the route of Drake's circumnavigation, highlighting encounters with indigenous peoples, battles with Spanish vessels, and the challenges of sailing through the Strait of Magellan.

The Great Cabin provides insight into naval hierarchy, the loneliness of command, and how Drake maintained authority during three years at sea.

The Gun Deck

The gun deck housed both the ship's artillery and the majority of the crew, revealing the cramped, multipurpose nature of Tudor warships. Reproduction cannons sit ready for action, with cannonballs stacked nearby and gunpowder barrels secured. Between the guns, hammocks would have been slung for crew sleeping, creating a crowded space that served simultaneously as arsenal, dormitory, and mess hall.

The low ceiling - barely five feet in places - forced constant stooping, while the narrow width meant no privacy whatsoever. Interpretation explains how gun crews worked in coordinated teams to load, aim, and fire the cannons during naval engagements, including Drake's famous attacks on Spanish treasure ships.

Visitors can appreciate the deafening noise, choking smoke, and chaos that would have filled this space during battle.

The gun deck also shows food storage, with barrels of salted meat, dried fish, and ship's biscuit (hardtack) demonstrating the monotonous diet that led to scurvy. This deck powerfully conveys the harsh reality of naval service in the age of sail.

The Hold

The ship's hold in the lowest level reveals both the treasure that made Drake rich and the supplies essential for survival during a three-year voyage. Here, reproductions show how Spanish silver, gold, and precious goods were stored after raids on colonial ports and galleons. At one point, the Golden Hinde carried treasure worth millions in today's money - Drake's share made him one of England's wealthiest men.

The hold also contained water barrels, food stores, spare sails and rigging, weapons, ammunition, trade goods for purchasing supplies from indigenous peoples, and ballast stones to keep the ship stable. The dark, confined space demonstrates the constant danger of water intrusion, the challenge of keeping food edible for months, and the skill required to efficiently stow and access cargo while the ship rolled in ocean swells.

Visitors descending to the hold experience the claustrophobia and dampness that plagued crew members assigned to work in this lowest level, often in darkness lit only by candles.

Navigation and Sailing Displays

Throughout the ship, exhibits explain Tudor navigation techniques and the incredible skill required to sail around the world with 16th-century technology. Reproductions of navigation instruments show how Drake's crew determined latitude using the sun and stars, though calculating longitude remained impossible until the 18th century.

Charts and maps illustrate the route from Plymouth, south along the coast of Africa, through the treacherous Strait of Magellan, up the west coast of the Americas, across the Pacific to the Spice Islands, around the Cape of Good Hope, and home to England.

The voyage took nearly three years, covered approximately 36,000 miles, and only one of the original five ships completed the journey. Interactive elements demonstrate how crew members worked the rigging, adjusted sails to catch wind, and performed the constant maintenance required to keep a wooden ship seaworthy.

Visitors gain appreciation for the seamanship, courage, and endurance of Elizabethan sailors who ventured into uncharted waters with primitive maps and no accurate way to determine their east-west position.