Sunday’s a working day on the Sea Stallion. With a constant stream of visitors and working hands, it’s been lively on the ship since early morning. On the day’s first tour with the story about the toilet and sleeping facilities were two policemen in bullet-proof jackets who couldn’t resist the temptation.
We sail tomorrow so we are spending the day tightening up, fixing, optimising and replacing. The kitchen boxes need fixing down better, so they don’t move in high seas – our stewards live a dangerous life when the swells hit the ship and the soup is boiling. The pumps that worked so hard on Tuesday night need checking and valves and rubber rings cleaning or replacing. All the deck planks need lifting to check the hull underneath. We took in more water than expected on the trip to Torquay and we are looking for possible leaks – places where the hull has given way or rivets have broken and moved partly out of the planks. The day’s most important event is the changing of the rudder tackle. The birch roots that function as a knot on the outside of the rudder held well, but the rudder hole got worn in the heavy sailing and the roots are slipping inside.
Later this afternoon the ship will receive visitors from a big marine archaeology congress in London. But the ship attracts ordinary people too here in Portsmouth. The place of honour by HMS Warrior has generated great interest, and visitors from all over the world have been on board, sat on our thwarts, taken hold of an oar, looked under the decking planks, and asked about everything they have seen, felt and smelled.
The overwhelming interest has been a fantastic experience and as I write a large group of Danish tourists on the quay is telling us how they have been following our activities everywhere since last year.
But it will be nice to get going again. We are at our best on board and if we stay ashore too long, we get restless and lazy. The plan is to leave at 1 pm. We have to catch the tide out of the harbour and then wait two hours for it to turn. With a forecast of south-westerly wind, sunshine, and six hours of favourable current, tomorrow’s sailing sounds perfect.