Visiting HMS Victory.

 On our last trip to Portsmouth historic dockyard we spent some time visiting HMS Victory. The ship was built over 250 years ago and is the worlds oldest commissioned ship and flagship of the Royal Navy. When built the expectation was that the ship would serve nine years before needing major repairs. Over her lifetime the ship has had multiple repairs and is now undergoing a 20 year conservation programme. The Victory was built at Chatham dockyard in a dry dock. It took about 6,000 trees to construct the ship with 90% of them being oak and the rest pine, elm and fir. For the first thirteen years after the ship was built it was in reserve on the River Medway at Chatham. Subsequently Victory went on to become one of the most successful naval ships of all time, leading fleets during the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars.

HMS Victory became famous 40 years after being launched for her part in the Battle of Trafalgar. During the battle Vice Admiral Lord Nelson was shot at quarter past one and died a few hours later at half past four.

    

The journey through the ship was interesting but as you went lower in the ship the head room got less and the steps got steeper. In the stern of the ship on the higher levels were the Captains and the Vice Admiral's quarters. The carpet had a definite quilting pattern to it.

Large windows made this area very light and airy for the Vice admiral

A large table for meetings of senior staff or meals

Very nice decanters . This area almost feels like home.

The ships wheel was just in front of the cabins.

The beds were interesting and I liked the curtains as they had embroidery on them.

The Captain shared his quarters with some guns.

The Victory was a war ship but the furniture in the captain and vice admirals quarters was very elegant and civilised. 

On the gun decks there was less headroom and room in general. During battle this would have been a busy and noisy area.

The was a large rope store. In fact there was a lot of ropes of all sizes around the ship.

There was a sick bay area.

and various tool boxes. 

I meant to take a photo of the outside of Victory but my camera battery had run out.  Victory is in a dry dock but as we walked around the outside of it we crossed a bridge and looked down into the wet dock next to it. There were some large fish swimming around.

By this time we were tired and so headed back to our hotel. We had enjoyed our day out but the dockyard really is an exhausting visit.

Take care

Lyndsey