The Pelican

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill can hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week;
But i'm damned if i see how the helican.

- Dixon Lanier Merritt, though frequently misattributed to Ogden Nash.

The Pelican was the original name of Sir Francis Drake's famous ship, the Golden Hinde, which was the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. The Pelican was renamed on that historic voyage before Drake led his company into the Straits of Magellan.

The Pelican boasted eighteen guns and weighed close to 100 tons. She had a double hull and was 100 feet long with an 18 foot beam and a 15 foot draught. Unfortunately, any history the flagship had before Sir Drake's voyage is lost.

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Sources include http://www.goldenhind.co.uk/education/worksheets/voyage.htm and http://www.15ath.fsnet.co.uk/classic_yachts.htm