EAW053089 ENGLAND (1954). The Pier Pavilion and Boating Pool, Southend-on-Sea, 1954

The Golden Hind. For the start of the 1949 season the new attraction was a full size replica of the Golden Hind sailing ship used by Sir Frances Drake to sail round the world. The replica housed a waxworks exhibition, the attraction proved popular but by 1992 visitor numbers had dropped and the wooden structure was beginning to deteriorate and was in need of renovation, this brought the whole future of the landmark into question, a proposal to demolish the ship and replace it with a "Waikiki Wave" white knuckle thrill ride were proposed but nothing ever became of the plans and they quietly washed away. However the writing was on the wall for the Golden Hind and in 1997 it was closed to the public. The ship was then bought by the operators of Peter Pans Adventure Island. The Golden Hind had seen falling attendance figures and ever increasing maintenance costs in keeping the ageing wooden ship open, after structural survey it was found the ship needed a major rebuilding program to get it re-open to the public, the cost of restoration was too high so the ship was scrapped. A replacement ship was built, the “Queen Anne’s Revenge” it was a replica of the ship used by the notorious English pirate Blackbeard, and formed the centre piece of the Blackbeard Revenge attraction. It was an end of an era on Tuesday 8th January 2013 as replica pirate ship the Queen Anne's Revenge was demolished, this brought to an end the era of a "tall ship" being based on Southend Seafront.