TS Royalist Tallship Sailing
In August 2004 I was lucky enough to go on T.S. Royalist, the
flagship of the Sea Cadet Corps. It was an amazing week. We all learnt so much
and made a whole new group of friends too.
When we arrived we were made to peel potatoes and polish brass – the week looked promising! Then we were allocated our beds. The beds folded out and were three bunks high. It was very cramped inside, I was sleeping in the same room that I was eating in which meant it was very important I stowed my belongings tidily
After a safety briefing we were told where we would be working on the ship for the week. To my great joy, I was the lucky person who got to clean the heads (toilets). Then we were shown our stations for different tasks needed to be done when sailing.
We also had the opportunity to climb right to the top of the mast. It was very frightening doing it for the first time and the scariest thing about it was climbing onto each platform because you found yourself having to dangle underneath it and not being able to where your feet are. Fortunately we were provided with a safety harness each.
We were sent to bed at half 10 for an early start of 4AM! I was in shock; I could not believe I had to get up that early! After breakfast we were told to take off our shoes and socks and then we were made to scrub the decks with freezing cold water.
That day we sailed from Shoreham to Poole. We didn’t have to do much work that day because of it being our first day and we were just settling in. A lot of people were really sick; my friend Kat threw up 16 times! And once from the top of the mast! We spent about 8 hours at sea before arriving in port. It was incredible when we came in because crowds of people were watching as we came in. It was weird to be the one being watched rather than being the onlooker.
That night we had shore leave and we were back in bed for 10:30. Again I had to get up at 4AM because I was on watch until 8.
The next day we couldn’t go far because of poor weather conditions but
we still spent quite a long time at sea. We did more work that day and learnt
more things. Most people had gotten over their seasickness too.
We anchored up for lunch but then discovered there was a rock stuck in the
anchor. The Bosun and Quartermaster went out in the dinghy to sort it out.
It was very entertaining for us to watch them arguing (the Bosun clearly
thought that the Quartermaster was completely incompetent).
Back at Poole that day we all got to climb the mast and roll in the sails.
It was a really exciting experience although rather scary. I felt really
lucky when I was looking down on all the people watching us in awe.
The next day I got up at the later time of 6 and we sailed to Cowes in the
Isle of Wight and the day after that we sailed to Gosport.
On the penultimate day a film crew came aboard to film us for the new SCC recruitment video. It was a very tiring day because the film crew wanted us constantly doing things so they could get some good shots. The Sailing Master was shouting, ‘Bracing stations!’ every 2 minutes so we all had to run back to our job (without slipping!) and get back to work. We didn’t time for any breaks.
When the final day arrived we were all really sad to go. It was such a brilliant week and it really leaves you wanting more. I’m booked ons for next Summer and I can’t wait!
Flo Oakley, August 2004