Mordu and Rachel in Providence: Greenwich

A few pics from a day that boasted some of the best weather we've seen yet (high 60's and sunny) in Greenwich:

With the DLR closed, a boat ride was the quickest way to get to Greenwich. I didn't complain!

Here we go under Tower Bridge...

The Cutty Sark.

This sailing ship was one of the last tea clippers that brought tea from China to England in the mid-19th century. It retired from the tea run in 1869 when the Suez Canal opened allowing steam ships to take over the job. The Cutty Stark switched for running wool from Australia. The name of the ship is a Scottish word for a lady's garment, something like a chemise. A fire did a lot of damage to the exhibit in 2007 and it just re-opened two months ago and everything is clean and gorgeous. As you can see, the ship sits on top of a glass building that looks like water. You go all over: inside, on top of, and under the ship.

Mordu take the wheel.

Nautical cup-holders.

Collection of retired figureheads.

Mordu holding up the entire ship.

National Maritime Museum. Mordu does some of his research in their library.

One of many nautical instruments we saw in the museum.

Figurehead of Tipu. Nowhere in the exhibit did it say that Tipu says "I'm sorry" -- clearly an oversight.

Prince Frederick's barge.

Lions on Prince Frederick's Barge.

The Tulip Staircase in the Queen's House. This house also featured many wonderful navy-themed paintings. My favorites were the ones done by artists who were brought to new worlds by various ships and sketched quick (and wonderful) paintings to bring back to England.

The Royal Observatory.

An explanation of Flamsteed's telescope built right into a well (he sat in the bottom of the well to make observations).

Much of the museum here was dedicated to the problem of solving longitude while at sea. In the 18th century, latitude could be calculated easily enough, but longitude was still a challenge. Two solutions were eventually found. One was to build a clock that kept very accurate time. The clock was set in London, and then at sea, the captain was able to calculate local time. The difference between the two gave the longitude. A clockmaker named John Harrison took 45 years and four attempts to build a clock that could withstand the high seas and keep adequately accurate time. Here they are:

TRY 1:

TRY 2:

TRY 3:

TRY 4:

Success! Fourth attempt worked and won him the 20,000 pound prize for solving the longitude problem (nearly a million dollars in today's terms).

Contemporary dolphin sundial.

If you look at the place where the dolphin tails meet and the markings on the side of the clock, you may be able to make out that I took this picture at about 4:20PM.

View of London from the Royal Astronomical Observatory. That stadium in the foreground is in place for the olympics; it will host the equestrian events.