18/12/2025
Chapter One The Beginning
The Hope was a grand wooden sailing ship and a survivor from Elizabeth I fleet that repelled the Spanish Armada. She was built of the finest English Oak and was one of the frontline battle ships that helped keep Elizabeth safe on the throne. Inevitably the ship had been damaged in the famous battle but it had been fully repaired and had patrolled the high seas for many decades and had many encounters with foreign ships but had always come out the victor despite losing many sailors over its lifetime.
The ship had been hauled out of the water many times to clean its Hull of boring worms and other parasites. Ships like this were expensive to maintain but they were a clear signal of power to any wood-be invader. Like any form of technology, time passed her by and for all of the time of the Armada, the Hope had been a standout vessel, by this time she was being seen as out of date and in desperate need of being replaced to keep the fleet modern and effective. That didn’t mean she would be sunk or wasted, far from it, she was a valuable source of material that could be re-used. The decision was taken to send her to a ship yard on the Humber and have her taken apart and given over to the making of new cargo vessels that were desperately needed for trade.
Timbers like the Hope’s, once re-treated and re-worked would make the finest and strongest trading ships and because of her size she could be used to create several new ships and it was promised that each new ship would have a reference to her original name. The shipyard was in the city of Hull on the river of the same name that ran right through the centre of the city cutting it in two. There were many docks for landing trade in various materials such as timber, tea, coal, metal ores and lots of other commodities. In support of these there were several dry-docks for ships to be repaired and built. It was to one of these that the Hope was taken and no time was wasted in de-masting the ship and stripping it down to the bare timbers.
Some of the main structure of the ship was very old but the wood was in perfect condition thanks to the English Oaks that had provided it. Ship builders in these days were very similar in nature to sailors and were a very superstitious lot. They knew the history of the ship and they knew many men had lost their lives on board either from disease or enemy fire. She had been a Ship O’ the Line and so always carried a compliment of marines, fighting men in addition to the sailors and so the ship was crowded most of the time. If these timbers could talk they would tell some scary stories the workman would say to each other. They used lanterns to provide light to work by but also to try and keep naked flames away from the very combustible wood.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Robin-.S.-Goodfellow/author/B0DNWGLY3P?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=truehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Robin-.S.-Goodfellow/author/B0DNWGLY3P?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
