Port 98 Tilbury, United Kingdom

by Ed · July 2, 2022

Hello! Good morning! (Hello! Good morning!)

I want to start with an apology for my absence. My computer crashed and still has problems staying connected to the internet, plus we had to begin packing to get four bags into storage for Luggage Forward (reference the very first post on Pre-Cruise Prep). Now we need to start final packing for our disembarkation in New York! I’m several ports behind, but will continue to work on the blog when I can!

We start into the Thames River entrance under very cloudy skies on 19 Jun, 2022 enroute to our Tilbury berth for a two-day visit to London! Weather forecast calls for possible showers, but comfortable warmth.

The north bank of the Thames has a section of city walls that run for several miles! There are little huts along most of the wall that appear to be for people to sit out and enjoy the view! Much of the wall has been painted white, and people were painting murals on the wall!

We are in the channel for over an hour as the river narrows bit by bit. We pass an industrial port that handles oil tankers. Then…

…we finally arrive at our berth in Tilbury!

They have a great maneuverable gangway! This means no Oceania variable step gangway! Yay!

As I mentioned, we are in Tilbury for two days! Joy and I are on the same tour today to visit the Tower of London. We board the bus and head west!

Leon, our tour guide, informs us that Tibury is a significant town in English history! Before an awaited invasion by the Spanish Armada in 1588, Queen Elizabeth I gave her rallying speech in Tilbury. She stated, “I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too!” The Spanish Armada attack did not work as intended by the Spanish due to problems the fleet encountered with the weather in England, losing many ships in the storm, plus the English ships were more nimble against the remaining Spanish ships! England had a significant victory, and sealed Queen Elizabeth I’s importance to the people!

Further, at Tilbury docks in 1948, post World War II, the ship Windrush became the first ship to bring immigrants from the Caribbean who offered to help rebuild London after the war. We arrive here in Tilbury and London just three days before a planned celebration of the 74th anniversary of the Windrush landing!

OK, back to our tour!

Very quickly we see an Amazon distribution center right here in Tilbury! Not important, but interesting!

As we get closer to London I catch this scene! Lots of building is going on in southern England!

Beautiful tower alert! I’m not sure what town this is or what building/church this may by, and I don’t care if I don’t figure it out! But this is lovely, and worth sharing!

We get into London, and get our first view of the Tower Bridge!

We catch our first glimpse of the Tower of London! Misnomer – should be Towers of London… I will discuss this later.

Our tour takes us on a spin through the boroughs of London. What was most remarkable to me, and something I never knew, is that one area called The City of London is forever free from the rule of the Parliament and obligations to the royal house! The City of London has its own government, and anytime the Queen needs to pass through there is a detailed ceremony to “allow” the Queen to enter the city!

Dragons mark the entrance to the City of London. I’ll show you one later!

This is the City of London School! Very stately! This was the original school, but does not appear to be the current school.

This beautiful building is next to the City of London School, but I don’t know what it is or was. I just like it!

Leon tells us that companies are not allowed to have signs with their names on display above the roof. This company, Oxo, cheated by designing their ventilation ports to represent the company name!

We arrive near the heart of London, at the Westminster Bridge, with the London Eye ferris wheel across the river. You would never know COVID cases are rising here!

The statue at the foot of the bridge is a beautiful, dynamic bronze titled The Boudiccan Rebellion, depicting the Celtic queen Boudicca and her two daughters on a horse-drawn cart!

Big Ben and its tower look amazing! It just underwent cleaning. Did you ever know…

…Big Ben’s hands and numbers are blue? This tower and clock are far more stunning than I ever knew or imagined! I’m glad we can see this today!

This is King Charles I! He was the King of England, Scotland and Ireland in the 1600s.

What I didn’t capture is the column behind this statue that is a monument to Lord Admiral Nelson of the Royal Navy.

Winston Churchill presents an imposing figure in front of Parliament. But he’s not looking at Parliament – he has his eye on the pub across the street! (The statue in the background is David Lloyd George, fun for the flowing coat, but I’m not gonna talk about him.)

I catch this view of the east end of Parliament. Even through the bus window it’s beautiful!

We have a chance to get off the bus at Westminster Abbey. Did you know that over 3,300 people are buried in the Abbey? No more are allowed.

The column in front of the Abbey is a memorial to those educated at Westminster School who died in the Russian and Indian wars during 1854-1859. Three queens and one king are represented on the four faces near the top!

This unique monument is for the Royal Regiment of Artillery in World War I.

Nearby is the Wellington Arch. A fabulous work of art at the corner of Hyde Park!

We get to see the Royal Albert Hall. But we don’t have time to figure out how many holes it can hold. Ok, bad joke. I love to turn you on…

Prince Albert felt creating this venue is a good way to give back to the people of London.

The monument to Prince Albert is across the street. It is amazing! You need to see this for yourself – there is much more that I’m not showing you here!

Then we get to drive across Tower Bridge!

We hop off the bus to go visit the Tower of London. We start here at the Tower Hill Memorial, a war memorial for the Mercantile Marines.

On our way in to the Tower of London we see this great view of Tower Bridge! I love this bridge!

I am surprised to see this cruise ship in the heart of London! It is the Silver Sea’s Silver Wind!

We finally arrive at our main attraction – the Tower of London!

It is beautiful here!

We cross a drawbridge to the entrance.

On the left there is a part of a moat visible!

In the center of the Tower of London is the White Tower. This is the original Tower of London. Since then additional walls, towers and buildings have been added. Now there are 22 towers! This is why I stated “Tower of London” is a misnomer. But, hey, I’m not gonna make them change the name.

Isn’t this a beautiful building? Hard to believe it has such a dark history!

We head to join the line for viewing the crown jewels. This remarkable cannon is on the way! The gun’s cradle is incredibly beautiful with dragons outlining the cradle and lions at the center of the wheels!

This is where the Crown Jewels are stored!

While we are slowly moving along the line Leon, the tour guide, tries to explain what we are going to see because we will actually be put on a people mover walkway to keep traffic flowing. We will not be allowed to take any photos.

There is a quick change of the guard, and the relieved guards walk right by us to enter this door!

We are finally at the entrance!

Here are a few of the items we saw:

The Soverign’s Orb and Soverign’s Scepter – the scepter holds the Cullinan I 530 karat diamond known as the “Star of Africa” in its head! Stunning!
The Imperial State Crown – it has the Cullinan II 317 karat diamond known as the “Lesser Star of Africa”, the large Black Prince’s ruby, and Edward the Confessor’s sapphire. There are four pearls dangling just below the top, two of which are believed to be from earrings worn by Queen Elizabeth I. The Koh-i-nûr 105 karat diamond is also set in the Crown. We were told this was “borrowed” from India to be recut, but was never returned.
St Edward’s Crown – weighs over 5 pounds!
The Coronation Spoon and Ampula – made of gold and used to anoint the new King or Queen with oil – a drop on each hand and one on the forehead. The spoon is incredibly ornate, and the Ampula holding the oil is in the shape of an eagle!

At the exit we are greeted by several wire mesh monkeys! Here we learn that there used to be a zoo here with exotic animals to impress visiting dignitaries! So the monkeys were here…

…and elephants were here…

…and a polar bear! …

…and we can’t forget the lions!

The Queen’s House surrounds a green area. This is now where part of the crew that run and protect the Tower of London live. There are Yeoman Warders, better known as Beefeaters (like on the gin bottle label!), who provide tours and take care of the facility. They also live in the Tower of London, but not in the Queen’s House.

Finally, we are shown the Traitor’s Gate. There are steps out of the water that you can’t see here. This gate is where the condemned would enter the Tower of London to meet their execution inside the walls. Being executed inside the walls was preferred to being executed outside where throngs of people would come to watch!

Tower of London tour over, we have a little free time to grab lunch! Along the river I see this collection of glass! The oblong building on the left is a government office, and the tall building on the right is called the “Shard” and is currently the tallest building in the UK.

On the sidewalk I spot a sign of the recent celebrations in town!

Here’s the dragon I promised! This is the protector that is at the entrances to the City of London! If you are facing the dragon you are entering the City of London. If you see its tail you are leaving.

We have our lunch at Wetherspoon’s across the street. Fish and chips and a cold pint! Yum!

Near the entrance to the Tower of London is the All Hallows by the Tower church. This is the oldest church in the City of London, founded in 675 AD (CE).

We reboard the bus to head to St Paul’s Cathedral. This beautiful tower appears on the way! It is the tower for St Mary Aldermary Episcopal Church.

Then we arrive at St Paul’s Cathedral! Many royal functions occur here, including royal weddings, and since this is inside the City of London, the Queen has to get permission to enter the City to attend! Crazy, huh?

People buried here include the architect of this and many other beautiful buildings, Christopher Wren. Something was mentioned about Mary Poppins,too, but I am still trying to verify that.

Queen Anne stands out front with her crown, sceptre and orb finished in gold! This cathedral was built during her reign. Like King Charles before her, she was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland at the start of the 18th century.

Here is another view of St Paul’s Cathedral as we returned to the bus. So beautiful!

The spire on the right belongs to the St Paul’s Cathedral School, a separate building next to the cathedral.

On the way out of town we pass The Hung Drawn and Quartered Pub. Ouch! If anyone doesn’t know what this punishment is, please email me and I will explain it individually.

We return to the ship in Tilbury in time to see the Silver Wind heading out down the Thames. We missed seeing the Tower Bridge raise up to let this cruise ship pass!

On day 2 I have a separate tour from Joy. She is going to see Canterbury, and I am goung to see Greenwich, the Home of Time!

Today our tour guide is Mark and bus driver is Cammi! I mention Cammi because she is a native of Tilbury and because after 98 ports of call and over 80 tours, Cammi is the first female bus driver I have had on this cruise!

Cammi said I gave her goosebumps telling her this, and she gave me a hug!

Mark is a native of Greenich, so we have both ends covered!

Once in Greenwich we pass by this gorgeous neoclassocal structure, St Aflege Church. Look at the wind vane – it is depicting Halley’s Comet! Edmund Halley lived and worked in Greenwich. This church and two other buildings that I will show you soon have Halley’s Comet wind vanes!

I am humored by a pub named Greenwich Tavern! Little did I know I’d be coming back here for lunch!

We enter the Royal Maritime Academy at the statue of King William IV! This statue was relocated here after it became obvious the building it was in could not support the weight!

In front of the Academy is this beautiful ship in a bottle sculpture with Lord Admiral Nelson’s HMS Victory inside! The real ship still exists in Portsmouth. The artist is Yinka Shonibare who is bestowed the honor of being an MBE (Member of the British Empire). He is an African sculptor who brought his home’s batique patterns to the sails of this model.

Also, the UK is preparing to celebrate Windrush Day, the anniversary of the landing of the Windrush in Tilbury to bring Caribbean emigrants who wanted to help rebuild England after World War II.

At the top of the hill on the grounds is the actual Royal Observatory – the Flamsteed House – the site where many astronomers made their early discoveries, Einstein’s theories were tested out, and the Prime Meridian is established!

The red ball on the pole is interesting! It is actually a timing device that drops at precisely 1:00 PM every day! This type of device is employed on multiple structures along the English coast so the ship captains always knew to syncrhonize their ship clocks before they left port! I’ll show you some of the clocks in a moment.

This is the Queen’s House on the grounds of the Royal Observatory. It was being built by King James I as an apology to his wife, Anne, after she accidentally shot his favorite hunting dog and he publicly humiliated her for it. But it was never used by Anne – she died before it was complete.

What is striking about the house is that it is designed in a new classical style, departing from all other structures in England. It is perfectly square in floorplan making it an excellent structure for grand parties!

The National Maritime Museum is nearby. The glass extension on the far right side houses a large turning propeller for a type 23 frigate. It is actually turning in the museum!

Apart from the Queen’s House which was designed by architect Inigo Jones, the rest of the Royal Academy retains the Roman gothic trademarks of architect Christopher Wren. You heard his name earlier – he designed and is buried at St Paul’s Cathedral!

The weather vane on the tower, and it’s twin (and the church outside the gate!), are depictions of Halley’s Comet! Edmund Halley was one of the royal astonomers!

Here is another view of that dome – it’s on the left of this photo – and its twin on the right! The library is in the right side.

What is wonderful about the weather vane on the right is that it turns an arrow that points out wind direction on the side of the dome, and under the dome inside the building so the people always know which direction the wind is blowing!

The dome on the left simply has a clock.

At the far northern boundary is this gate into the Royal Observatory from the River Thames side. Beautiful gate, huh?

We make our way to the Cutty Sark Museum!

Sir Walter Raleigh exhibits a masterful pose in front of the Museum!

I was pleased to see restoration work in progress on the museum!

But then – Cutty Sark! This is a beautifully restored vessel! Cutty Sark was once one of the premier cargo ships on the ocean. I built models of Cutty Sark a couple of times from Revell model kits as a kid. Now I get to see if the details I slaved over are real!

This is a partial view of the foremast and bowsprit!

These are the main mast (right) and the mizzen mast (left). I’m getting goose bumps seeing this and the lifeboat davits that gracefully bow to each other on the side rail!

Next I get to stare at the aft end of the ship. This is everything behind the mizzen mast, and includes the helm!

I was absolutely surprised to learn that Cutty Sark’s frame was made with steel! I thought this was a museum shortcut, but learned the original ship has a steel frame and wood hull stringers. We don’t see this level of detail in a Revell plastic model kit, so I though Cutty Sark was a standard wood framed ship. Surprise!

Here is the ship’s bell. 1869!

Now we come to the details I want to see on deck! Here is the windlass used to hoist yard arms! Yup! Had those in the model! There are also bilge pumps behind the mast that are finely detailed, operable top deck mechanisms in the Revell model kit! They look the same here!

I love seeing the chaos of standing and running rigging! There is order in this chaos if you know how to perceive it!

What was fun about this shot is the crewman on the main yard arm. I did this on the HMS Endeavour! It’s scary and thrilling at the same time!

I don’t remember the chicken coops in the model, but the museum made these fun by putting two stuffed chickens in the coop and playing audio with chicken clucking and occasional crowing sounds!

The helm’s gear box is on the aft end, but in the Revell model is simply a string that goes down to the rudder. Nothing as complex as I see inside this gear box!

A level below the street lets us see the entire copper bottom of Cutty Sark! The cantina down here serves food and drink to folks on tables underneath the keel of the ship.

Underneath and before the ship is a collection of figureheads from 49 different ships! The top right figurehead, the woman in white holding a braid of hair, is the same that is on this ship and is called “Nannie”.

Here is Cutty Sarks beautiful Nannie figurehead!

I am on free time now and decide to grab lunch at the Greenwich Tavern, then head to the Royal Observatory at the top of the hill! Once there, this sign holding several standard measurements is there to greet me! This displays a 24-hour clock and distance measures. The distance measures have D-shaped pins on each end, and the offical measurement is between the flat sides of the D-shaped pins.

In the courtyard of the Flamsteed House I see this remarkable sundial! I want this one! Time is measured by where the shadow of the two tail tips fall on the curved plate below! It is now 12:30 PM!

I mentioned setting clocks a while ago. There were a series of Longitude Prize Events hoping to find a person or company who could create a clock that behaved normally on a ship of the line or cargo ship! A £20,000 prize was offered. Let me explain why this event is significant in case don’t understand how difficult is was to navigate on the ocean.

It is easy to determine your Latitude on the sea, how far north or south you are, by measuring how far the sun is off the horizon as close to noon as possible. This is what a sextant provides. But it is impossible to measure your Longitude, how far east or west you are, without knowing the precise time at your home port and the precise time of your location. Time difference and apparent high noon position of the sun can tell you where you are east or west. The better the clock time knowledge at sea, the better the position estimate! Pendulum clocks do not work at sea – the wave motion upsets the pendulum motion. So new clocks that don’t care about wave motion needed to be developed. Hence the Longitude Prize event!

John Harrison created this clock as his first entry for the prize. It is about the size of a 1 cubic foot refrigerator, and was tested in sea trials from Greenwich to Lisbon and back. Harrison’s clock kept the best time of any clock, but the administration refused to give him the prize! They tightened the accuracy requirements.

Harrison created his second entry, then his third entry, getting them smaller each time. And now his fourth event entry is a large pocket watch that was a fraction of the sizes presented in the first three entries, and more accurate, down to less than a half-second loss per day! But the Society still refused to provide the prize money to Harrison! He finally received a half of the prize money! Charlatans!

I love this! The museum has on display a copy of Captain Cook’s packing list for one of his world voyages! At the top of the list is 1) an astronomical clock, 2) an alarm clock, 3) an astronomical sextant, 4) a Hadley’s achromatic telescope, and 5) a reflecting telescope! He truly believed in the value of these tools!

This is the Octagonal Room of the Flamsteed House. This is where the major experiments and observation occurred to identify comets, starts, constellations, and make observations of local solar and lunar eclipses and plan remote solar eclipse viewings. They used solar eclipse viewings to confirm Einstein’s gravitational theories by observing the bending of star light around the rim of the sun. The apparent positions of known start changed when they were viewed on the rim of an eclipse!

This building has several different meridians that were used by the Royal Asctonomers. John Flamsteed, for whom this observatory is named, had this prime meridian.

Edmund Halley used a slightly different prime meridian for his observations. His is located here, about 10 feet away from Flamsteed’s.

I did not include a picture of Bradley’s meridian line because it was just an information plaque that says “You are now standing on James Bradley’s meridian line.” It is about halfway between Halley’s line and the current Prime Meridian. all of these meridians are within about 40 feet of each other. On an astronomical scale this is amazing considering the tools they had available in the 1700s!

The current Prime Meridian in common use now is here and is marked across the ground rather than on a wall. I stand with my right foot in the western hemisphere and my left foot in the eastern hemisphere!

This dome is the small observatory used by the Royal Astronomers. It is called the Airy Transit Room, and they made over 600,000 observations from here!

I’m about to enter the large dome behind me!

Inside the large dome is this telescope! This is the Great Equatorial Telescope, a 28 inch refracting telescope. This is the largest telescope in the United Kingdom!

I was surprised to learn this facility was bombed in World War II! This dome was almost completely destroyed by a V1 “Buzz Bomb”! Fortunately, the people had the foresight to protect the optics of the telescope by removing them and storing them for safety.

The time has come to return to the ship. It has been wonderful being in London again! And the weather could not have been any better!

Our tug arrives to help us turn around in the river.

That’s Gravesend on the other side – again, Pocahontas is buried over there! She is in the graveyard of St George’s Church, which is the one with the white-topped belltower to the right!

Turn-around complete, our tug says farewell! We are ready to leave! That’s our cruise terminal in the background.

The engines rev up the screws and we move out!

About an hour later we are out of the River Thames.

We saw these coming in, and this is a better shot leaving. A little research uncovered these are abandoned navy sea forts, called the Maunsell Forts, from World War II! Their mission was to destroy enemy boats and planes before they reached the shoreline. They were successful in downing 22 planes and 30 bombs. I assume the latter to have been the V1 “Buzz Bombs” that flew from Germany to England using ramjet engines.