Tuesday, June 5, 2018

6-3 HMS Victory

I had two big reasons for visiting Portsmouth:  the HMS Victory and the Mary Rose.  The HMS Victory was the flagship of Admiral Horatio Nelson's British Navy and where he was killed in battle in the battle of Trafalgar, where the Spanish were defeated.  The ship was launched in 1765 and had 104 guns and a crew of 800 men.  It is the only surviving ship that fought the Americans in the battle for independence as well as the French Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolutionary War.  It was docked in Portsmouth in 1922 and has undergone constant preservation since then.  

The Mary Rose was a much older ship commissioned by Henry VIII.  It tipped over and sank in the River Solent in 1545, and the remains were recovered in 1982, but it took many more years before it was preserved and made available to the public.  Since this post is going to be so long, I will post a separate one on the Mary Rose.  

So, back to the HMS Victory.  It is a much bigger ship than I had expected. The ship's masts have been cut down, but they would have been at least twice their current height. That would really have been impressive.


Notice that some of these gunports on the upper levels had windows. Actually, all of the upper gunports had windows, but these were removed during battle.  They needed windows to provide light and keep out bad weather.

This is the back end of the ship, showing some of the supports.  Admiral Nelson's cabin and offices were on the top deck and the ship's captains cabin and offices were one deck below but almost identical in size.


Bracing such a large ship weighing over 3,000 tons is difficult and over the years, it had been sagging, so in recent years they have added more braces and are continually adjusting them.


The entrance.

One of three gun decks.

The top deck.

The entranced to the admiral's cabin and offices.  During fair weather, there would have been removable doors completely across this area, but they could easily be removed and stored for battle, where this area became part of the upper gun deck.

The person steering this ship with this wheel could not possibly have seen where he was going!

An officer's bed.  Having a flat bottom and a mattress, it was much more comfortable than what ordinary sailors got, but it still moved with the ship. 

Admiral Nelson's quarters with his private bathroom to the far left behind the door.  It was always kept very sparsely furnished so it could be used for guns during battle.




Air conditioning?  Sun roof?

Looking at the enormous bowsprit.


The original ship's bell.

The ropes in this rigging were about 3" in diameter.

Back in one of the lower decks.  This is the doctor's area.

These beds must have been for ship's store officers because the beds had flat bottoms.
Imagine a crew of 8-12 men for each gun, living, eating, and sleeping next to their guns.  It would have been a very crowded and noisy place.

The captain's cabin below Nelson's cabin.

The captain chose to sleep in a campaign bed.  This could be folded up into a small trunk when not in use or in battle campaigns on the ground.

The kitchen.

And the stove with fires that heated huge cauldrons when food was cooked.


Each crew would send one person with a bucket to get their food.  Does not look very appetizing. 

This is the base of the bowsprit.


Typical sailor hammocks.

These boards are original or at least very early.  Notice all the patches.

This decorated plate is on the back of what turned out to be the ship's bilge pumps.

This is one of four bilge pumps. 

Ten sailors would stand holding on to these long horizontal black rods and would turn them to operate the pump.  And obviously, there would be four groups of ten men when needed to operate all four pumps.The buckets were to put out fires.


The next few pictures are in the lowest desks where the doctor had his cabin and the dying sailors were kept. 


This lowest deck is where ships ropes and other items were stored.  The closest rope, by the way, was at least 8-10" in diameter and probably was used for the anchor or to tie the ship to a dock.  The smaller stuff is only 6" in diameter.  Must have been very heavy.


Some photos of the hull where you can see the ship's construction.

Check out this original beam.

And these on the hull.

A couple of last views.  Interesting bow shape. 



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