Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

I have been aboard Victory on many occasions, and always learn something new. Regrettably, I am unable to show you any pictures from the interior of the ship as photography aboard is strictly forbidden.

Here we can see the maze of ropes in the rigging.

A spectacular view of the rear of the ship.

Here we see the front of Victory. Note the bulbous hull, a design which proved to be very seaworthy and which was copied for many years after she was built.

One of Victory’s launches.

Victory is raised out of the sea in permanent dry-dock with her waterline parallel with the top of the dock. Here you can see the massive supports holding her aloft.

A replica of one of Victory’s smaller cannon. Cannon sizes got bigger on each successively lower gundeck.

A cutaway model of the interior of HMS Victory.

A splendid model of HMS Victory in the nearby museum.

And another, showing how she would have appeared in 1778.

The Museum includes many models and portraits of the Battle of Trafalgar, including this one. Here we can see the second line of battle engage the enemy. Many of the captured ships were taken in this area of the conflict.

This was Admiral Lord Nelson’s funeral barge, used to take his body up the Thames to his final resting place.

HMS Victory has to be seen to be believed and I can only urge a visit if you are in the area, if nothing else to hear the tales of how everyday phrases originated in the Royal Navy, such as "shake (or show) a leg", "on the fiddle", "3 square meals a day", "swing a cat" and "learn the ropes", not to mention the graphic talks of how various types of shot worked, such as bar shot, grape shot and chain shot.

[continued on nextpage]

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

E-mail (will not be published) (required)

   Notify me of followup comments via e-mail