Background
HMS Warrior was the
first iron-hulled, armour-plated warship, built for the Royal Navy
in response to the first ironclad warship, the French La Gloire,
launched a year earlier.
When completed in
October 1861, Warrior was by far the largest, fastest, most
heavily-armed and most heavily-armoured warship the world had ever
seen. She was almost twice the size of La Gloire and thoroughly
outclassed the French ship in speed, armour, and
gunnery.
Warrior did not
introduce any radical new technology, but for the first time
combined steam engines, rifled breech-loading guns, iron
construction, iron armour, and propeller drive all in one ship, and
built to unprecedented scale.
Her construction
started intense competition between guns and armour that lasted
until air power made battleships obsolete in the Second World War.
This race caused her to quickly become obsolete, and she was
withdrawn as a fighting unit in May 1883.
Extracted from
Wikipedia
So, why are you
standing at Canning Town Tube / DLR / Bus Station with not a war
ship in sight? Well, this is the site of Thames Ironworks
Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Ltd where HMS Warrior was
built, this is also where the football team that is now West Ham
United – “the hammers” was founded.
Accessibility
I’ve marked this cache
as accessible even though the final recovery would not be possible
for a wheelchair user. The initial location is fully accessible,
there is a lift that avoids the stairs and all the information
required can be found either from the top or bottom of the stair
case if you have reasonable eyesight. The DLR is accessible
throughout so getting to the starting spot should not be a problem.
The route to the final cache is good surface and there is a signed
alternative route to avoid the steps (head for the big blue
bridge). The final recovery will need an assistant.
The Clues
Look around and find a
piece of HMS Warrior and “the hammers”. You now need to gather some
information that you will use to find the final coordinates.
In the answers below use the full number unless I tell you
other wise.
·
HMS Warrior served in the
Royal Navy from? This is A
·
HMS Warrior served in the
Royal Navy until? This is B
·
At Least how many
lifeboats were launched here? This is C
·
How many warships were
launched here? This is D
·
How many merchants were
launched here? This is E87 (one digit)
·
How many men were
employed here? This is F
·
How many acres did the
site cover? This is G
·
How which year was a
profit share scheme introduced? This is H
·
In the same year how many
hours in the working day? This is I
·
How many tons was HMS
Thunderer? This is J
·
Which year did the
company go into receivership? This is K
Now go to the bottom
of the stairs and look around for the final three clues
·
Which day of the month
was the station officially opened? This is
L
·
Which month of the year
was the station officially opened? This is
M
·
Which year was the
station official opened? This is N
Once you’ve got all
the answers work out P where
·
P = A + B + C + D – E + F + G + H +
I + J + K + L + M +
N [Note carefully
it is all addition *except* E which is subtraction]
This will give you a five digit
number.
·
P = VWXYZ [So if P was
12345 W would be 2 and Z would be 5]
The final cache
The final cache is nearby and is
located at
·
N 51° 30.6YZ E 000°
00.1WX
To get to the cache is a short
walk, as a sanity check you won’t need to cross the A13 and you’ll
be generally getting closer to Canary Wharf. There aren’t any
cameras at the final cache site but there are occasional security
patrols. The final location is occasionally used for educational
purposes.
Once you’ve found the cache
please put it back carefully and don’t overload it (perhaps a hint
there on where it might be).