Eight intrepid members of HSSC braved the M25 in the pouring rain – in the comfort of their cars – to visit the historic dockyard in Chatham. It was still raining when we got there and during the day as well, so indoor attractions were most welcome!
Avi booked a guide who explained what we were looking at in the dockyard, starting with the covered shipbuilding area that was, in its day, the largest wooden structure of its kind. It was built in 1838 from the timbers of old ships to prevent ships from rotting while they were being built, this permitting all-year round construction. Next was the Gannet, a steam-assisted sailing ship with a propeller that could be removed to reduce drag when under sail. The spanner to undo the nut on the shaft was held more dear to the Captain than his sailors who were lowered down to loosen and tighten it through a well in the deck. The spanner was tied to the ship, the sailors weren’t.
We then walked past two restoration projects in progress – some of the deck fittings and deck cabins from the Cutty Sark and the centre deck fittings of a Medway Steamer. On past the HMS Ocelot, a Cold War submarine – more later, and destroyer HMS Cavalier, both of which can be viewed, and past the whitesmith’s workshop. A whitesmith makes anything that is not black, so it covers tin- and copper-ware for the lower ranks to silverware for the upper.
From there we toured part of the ¼ mile-long ropery where our guide explained how rope was made in those days. The ropery is now a self-sufficient entity in the dockyard that makes rope to order, still using the same methods and machinery as then. The largest size made is “24 inch” measured by circumference. On the upper floors of the ropery we were shown how the raw material, initially sisal from Indonesia or hemp grown on the Kent marshes, was carded and spun into fibres ready for making into rope on the ground floor. Because of the “medicinal” properties of the local raw material, the men and women working in the ropery had to be kept separate to ensure only rope was made.
Between the ropery and the river’s edge is the Museum of the Royal Dockyard that takes the viewer from sailing ships to the Falklands War.
Back to the Ocelot, which was was the last warship built for the Royal Navy at Chatham Dockyard in 1962. 
After a short wait for other visitors to clear below, we were escorted round from bow to stern. Relatively speaking there was a lot of room there – provided you did not take too much kit with you – underwear had to last for three months – that’s three pairs. Look, if all 90 of them smelt the same, no-one is going to complain, but they did have showers. Cold War submarines like the Ocelot gathered intelligence on the Russians (if others do it to us it’s called spying) and the story goes that they surfaced next to an American ship which did not even know they were there. Take what you will from that story. Other snippets of information – bread was freshly-baked daily,
On to the Wooden Walls interactive exhibition, where we joined William Crockwell on his first day at work in 1758 as an apprentice shipwright. The exhibition took us through to the launch of HMS Valliant around the time of George II.
A good time was had by all, too much to see in a day, and then time to brave the elements and the traffic again and back home.
Thanks to Avi for organising the visit.