January 13 Nelson's Dockyard, English Harbour, Antigua

On Monday we left Falmouth Harbour and came back around the corner to English Harbour, where we pulled into Nelson’s Dockyard Marina. This dockyard, named after Admiral Horatio Nelson, is a national park which served the British Navy during the 17th and 18th centuries. Having the ability to completely repair and refit vessels locally in the Caribbean allowed the Brits to maintain a fleet at the ready to chase off French scalawags and privateers. They probably didn’t speak English back then either but cannon fire is an effective and universal language. Reminds of a line from a movie. "God didn't make men equal, Sam Colt did." But I digress.
This was also a Mediterranean moor and we are getting pretty good at the sport. This one has a different twist as you first drop anchor about 150 feet out and slowly back into you (tight) spot. Actually much easier than tring to feed out a line and back in. Hakuna Matata does not back very well so the dockmaster kindly gave us a nudge or two with his dinghy to keep us straight. Once we were secured with stern lines, he took a line out to the mooring ball and we were all set. It is really something to watch the 100foot+ sailboats do this maneuver, even if they have cheater bow thrusters. They do not get dinghy nudges.
We are immediately beset by men who want to clean stainless, scrub the hull or do whatever odd jobs we might need performed. It is hard to justify that expense when we have pulled in to have a high dollar marine survey. There is one lady, though, we cannot resist. The laundry lady. She leaves her throne under the shade tree and approaches each boat upon arrival to offer her services. Then she dispatches her helper to retrieve and deliver the laundry. More than likely she works all night actually doing the laundry but otherwise she spends her day under the tree, holding court. She is quite the queen at 81yo. Elizabeth has nothing on her. To that queen, though, we have observed a most interesting ritual that is performed precisely at 6pm every single day. The first time I saw it I thought somebody had died. All the British cruisers dress very nicely (dress shoes. slacks. belts even), dinghy to shore and gather for a “tot” to toast the Queen of England. Very civilized.

Totting the Queen and the real queen...

Views from Hakuna Matata:

We have not done the fort yet. These are shots from walking around the dockyard. This anchor marks the spot of a duel in which one man was killed. They were quibbling over rank. Petty!

This is a capstan. They did not have multi-ton travel lifts back in the day, so they "careened" the ships with capstans like this one so they could scrub the bottom and apply new tar and paint. One man sat in the middle singing to keep time while the rest of the men pushed the capstan.

This is the sawmill, now serving as a sail loft. They would roll the trees up the hill to get them inside.

All of the buildings have been restored and serve some modern purpose. There are restaurants, small inns, a market, a bakery, a spa, souvenir shops and marine businesses. Cruise ship people come over by the bus load for day tours.

The survey went very well. There is a small thing with the standing rigging up by the spreaders and we are having that addressed tomorrow. A screw need to be reset with some lock tite. Craig officially has a screw loose. I refuse to go up the mast and I ain't hoisting him up there either. I might have to reconsider that position when we get the bill....I just can't do it!!