The Lecture

We are now waiting for a talk on the history of the area before embarking on our your of the harbor. Everyone is friendly and excited to see the sites! We will see the Tattoo tonight.

The term "Tattoo" goes back to when the British were fighting the Dutch. At night after battles, the men would go into town to drink. Drummers from the garrison were sent out into the towns at 9:30pm each evening to inform the soldiers that it was time to return to barracks. The process was known as doe den tap toe (old-Dutch for "turn off the tap"), an instruction to innkeepers to stop serving beer and send the soldiers home for the night. The drummers continued to play until the curfew at 10:00pm.

The procession back to camp at the end of the day is said to be the origination for what we now call "Taps" which is played as flags are lowered at bases all around the world.

More later...