A Passage to India

When the director asked me if I liked curry, I should have suspected something. Apart from the routine debriefing questions, my director never asks me anything unless there's an ulterior motive of some kind. And here I am, having vowed never to risk life and limb on a wooden ship, sailing for India! We're only ten days out of Portsmouth and already I am developing a potentially lifelong aversion to salt herring. For variety we have some fresh fruit aboard, but it is strictly rationed, as is cheese and the rum which the crew gulp down like nectar but which in my opinion might serve as mouthwash.
The good thing about my growing aversion to dried fish is that I am developing a rapport with the ship's cat, very imaginatively named "Blackie". So, what else have I learned so far?

• Life at sea is damp.
• The crew aren't altogether happy about having a passenger aboard. Particularly a female passenger. But I am allowed on deck for a couple of hours each day as long as I don't distract the sailors from their duties.
• Since my (tiny - think broom-closet) cabin is relatively warm and comfortable the handful of books I brought along are relatively safe from the aforementioned damp and I have as much time for reading as I could ever want.
• In an effort to relieve the monotony of my diet, I tried a piece of hardtack. Hard is right. Even after soaking it in the soup of the day, it remains like homebaked concrete.
• Sailors are an impossibly superstitious group. I hope to write more about that later.

The best part of the voyage, in my opinion, is that the sailors are well-versed in all forms of recreation and during off-hours when more-or-less one third of the crew are off watch there is music, games and chatter to be found all over the ship. Which is to say, in an area roughly half the size of my front yard at home.
Having never been much of a knitter, I thought a lengthy voyage like this might provide me with ideal opportunity to learn and a couple of days ago I was on deck winding the yarn I bought before leaving Portsmouth when Blackie found me. The help of the ship's cat might have been enough trouble for me, but the ship's carpenter who also plays the viol saw the mischief that Blackie was threatening and struck up with the following ditty which has since been entered in my list of some of the most ribald I have ever heard!
                   

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Gloriana!

Some things never change: for a really good show, Londoners will always be ready to camp out on the streets overnight making sure they get a good view point. Despite the snow and the damp of the streets, little huddles of hopeful sightseers have set up braziers and the vendors of hot pies, roast chestnuts and soup have all been doing a brisk trade. And it's not mere chance that the coronation is to take place on Sunday, January 15th, 1599. The date was selected by Doctor John Dee as the date for which the astrological configuration would be most positive.
As I have been informed by various London natives, the first stage in ascending to the throne was for the princess to occupy the Tower of London, going by river from Hatfield in the state barge on Friday. And when I think about it, it makes sense. Since it was built the Tower has been the castle of the rulers of London.

Yesterday the crowds were treated to their first close view of their queen-to-be; along the planned route of the Royal Progress to Westminster the Guilds of the City of London presented a series of pageants: at Fenchurch the princess was welcomed on behalf of the City. At Fenchurch Street were three ceremonial arches, and above the greatest of them, figures representing Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth's late mother. And surmounting them all, a figure representing Queen Elizabeth herself. At the top end of Cheapside, the queen graciously received from the city a purse of a thousand gold marks, giving a short speech of thanks.
And what was I doing with all this merriment going on? well, for once I had a chance to peddle broadside ballads myself, the bestseller of the hour being this:

References

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth in detail.
Snapshots of the divers pageants that greeted the princess
                   

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In the arms of the Angels

Thank you, Sharon, for permission to share this song.

                   

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