Following an unsuccessful attempt to go round the Endeavour in Whitby, I used the excuse of celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary with a long weekend in Rottingdean, one of our favourite places just outside Brighton.

Arriving late Thursday afternoon, I went straight to the Marina to fill up the car with petrol at the ASDA filling station, which fortuitously was next to the quay where the Endeavour was moored. I was most relieved to see the masts (I had a recurring nightmare that the Endeavour had not arrived). The next morning, I walked the two miles from our hotel to the Marina, arriving at 10.50. At 10.55, I was on board and spent the next hour and a half thoroughly engrossed in the ship and trying to understand the conditions which Cook & Co. travelled.

I found some of the guides' statements to be inaccurate, but I was able to answer questions which they were unable to answer. In the evening, I went to the Meridian Monument at Peacehaven and was able to stand on the meridian and see the Endeavour in the distance.

On Saturday I was pleased to see that there was a queue of people prepared to wait 1-2 hours. I was told that the queue on the previous Sunday was horrendous, but I don't think it was anything like those at Whitby.

Richard Hindle

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 1478, volume 21, number 1 (1998).