…now sadly lapsed, but in full-force through the fifties, sixties and seventies, which said that at some point between the ages of eight and ten, every young boy must attempt to build a model of the Cutty Sark, drive himself crazy trying to get the rigging right, break a mast in frustration, and go looking for rounded toothpicks.
Ahem.
Anyhow, just before crossing that threshold between elaborate fantasy and most useful disenchantment (wow, even dad can’t get the rigging perfect) the romance of sail, especially in totally over-the-top wooden ships with massive superstructures, crow’s nests and cannon-ports, is about as good as dinosaurs were, a few cycles of obsessive mania previously (please refer to sill-existing legal requirements and binding precedents for four-to-six year olds).
This is not the Cutty-Sark – though that rigging definitely looks mind-busting to mentally untangle (and almost irresistible as a drawing-subject, right?).
This worthy vessel is called El Galleon, and without wishing to impugn her in any way, I suspect she was recruited to fill the gap when the tourist-trap version of the Bounty (built for the fifties film) was destroyed by fire.
Hey, I agree – kids who go to St Augustine SHOULD get to see a cannon-deck.
The Bounty herself certainly put the hook in me (many decades ago).
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
