The Golden Hinde

The original Golden Hinde was the flagship of Sir Francis Drake, used during Drake's circumnavigation of the world. The ship had originally been called the Pelican, but as the ship was to enter the Straits of Magellan, Drake ordered that the ship be renamed in honor of his patron Sir Christopher Hatton (the golden hind was a feature of Hatton's family heraldry). She was originally built circa 1577, and was under sail until 1580, when she returned (with barely more than half her original crew still alive). Drake's voyage enriched both him and Queen Elizabeth (although the Spanish would complain that the enrichment was more or less at their expense) and the ship's voyage made Drake a household name in England.The ship, as with most vessels of the time, was broken up and essentially cannibalized for other ships' use after her voyage had ended. 400 years later, in 1973, at Appledore, in North Devon, a replica was hand-crafted, using the traditional building methods to recreate the ship. She has retraced the round-the-world voyage of the original, and was in San Francisco to celebrate the anniversary of Drake's claiming of California for Queen Elizabth. This ship has been used in three films: 1976's Swashbuckler (for which she received an on screen credit), the 1979 TV miniseries Shogun, and the 1979 film Drake's Venture. She still sails, and has logged more than five times the mileage of the original, although recently she has been berthed at London and is used as a museum ship. Show less «