Britannia Week – more booze

As for defence, the Britannia came compete with a complement of marines who, because they bunked next to the bar below decks, were kept short of sleep, drunk and surly. Just the thing to have if some joker pitches up and tries any high-seas jiggery-pokery.

With so many armed men living in an enclosed space, it was important to observe protocols and manners. The last thing you want is to offend anyone who you have to share a small cabin with for month’s on end. One of the innovations on the ship was the ‘Gin pennant’, a small mast, about ten inches tall, with a small pennant attached to it. The officer who was buying drinks that evening would run up the gin pennant and so misunderstandings about rounds would not happen. An excellent idea that should be adopted more widely, if only because pennants are not used as much as they should be and, given the way that English people like to cover their cars, houses and selves with flags whenever the football team are engaged in some tournament, there would seem to be an appetite for flag or pennant related pageantry.


While the ship had its own laundry, post office and sweet shop, it lacked its own printing and engraving workshop. Hence, all the menus for the dinners were printed before the Britannia left England. No pressure on the chef then, who I bet became amazingly adept at adapting local cuisine for his own ends to make sure that what was put in front of the Royal family and guests closely resembled what was on the menu. I bet the guy could carve almost any vegetable out of a potato, and season chicken so that it could resemble anything, up to an including blamange.

The Britannia is more relaxed than the most boutique of boutique hotels, more stately than any stately home, more booze-enabled than a nightclub in a distillery and, best of all, comes with its own monarch and small army. I’ll drink to that.