Chatham Dock Yard. March 2015.

I spent most of the week indoors suffering from the most horrible manky cold.  I wanted to go out but because I looked such a wreck didn't want to be to close to other people. Malcolm thought the dockyard would be good as it's outside and contact with others could be avoided!

We got there as it opened and we were the only ones. A few more people came as we were getting tickets but it was pretty much deserted all day.

        

We went to the rope making room first. There were 4 of us so the poor woman must have felt a bit daft 

Doing her "act" to 4 OAPs. However,it was really interesting and we got to make some rope.

       Not this rope though!

                  This cannon is well tied up to stop it becoming the proverbial "loose cannon"

                 Rope is made from Hemp. It is very strong but not easy to work with. Making rope was a prized job and rope is still produced at Chatham.

             This is the rope making factory. It is a quarter of a mile long.

                       

Some of the different types of rope made at the dockyard

     

After the rope factory we had a wander round. 

They filmed Call the Midwife here

Recognise it?

   

                

 

     Later on we went on board the Cavalier

When it was in active service this deck was open to the elements. Whoever was sitting on this chair would most certainly not have been smiling. The ship was deployed in the Arctic. Touching any metal parts with naked skin resulted in serious injury and frostbite was common.

 

Aye-aye Captain!

Fairly cramped living quarters.

Next up, or rather next down, was HMS Ocelot, a submarine.

 I'm not usually claustrophobic but too long in this confined space would have been unpleasant. It was put to sea for 3 months at a time and must have been horrible.

Launch tubes for the weapons.

The captains cabin.

Dodgy wiring!

It's a bit hard to make out but this is electric wiring. It went the full length of the ship. Goodness knows what happened when there was a fault somewhere.

The walkways were all incredibly narrow. This was the engine room. The chap in front was a slim Jim but he had to turn sideways to walk through. 

These bunks were 2 ft wide.

I'm guessing none of the sailors had a fondness for all things Greggs!

The front of the Sub painted up for Comic Relief.

 There was so much to see. We were there all day and only saw a fraction of it. An excellent day out.