Mike pauses near one of the many powder magazines. Gunpowder was mainly kept in large wooden kegs, but measured shot amounts were made and put into cloth bags for use during action.
Here are a few of the 10 boilers in the lower holds. It was normally about 110 degrees in here. Stokers were paid 50% more than the able seamen because of the brutal conditions here.
We moved on down the shipyard. In the background is a modern British Air Craft Carrier. They use ramps (barely visable) to launch their planes. In the center is a WW1 gunboat, called a "Monitor Class" ship. It was used for policing coast lines and rivers. It is being restored at this time.
Now on to the main reason I wanted to go to Portsmouth...the HMS Victory! Admiral Nelson's flagship, the ship that made the Battle of Trafalgar famous...and where Admiral Nelson died in that battle which occured on 21 October, 1805.
I took alot of pictures of the Victory....she is a stunning ship. A "Ship of the Line" with over 100 guns. Built in 1759, she was the flagship of the Royal Navy for over 40 years. She served from 1778 to 1812, displaced 3,500 tons, and was 227 feet long. She had 821 crewmen and officers.
A view of the stern of the ship. Today the HMS Victory is docked at Portsmouth and as flagship of the Second Sea Lord and Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command is the oldest commissioned warship in the world. Victory was launched in 1765 but was not commissioned until 1778. This long period of weathering meant her timbers were well seasoned and was a major reason for her long life.
Another stern shot looking up. The HMS Victory is still a comissioned war ship with the Royal Navy.
The keel of the HMS Victory was laid down in 1759. The HMS Victory was a First Rate, the most powerful type of ship of her day with three gun decks mounting 100 guns. The Royal Navy had always built very large ships to fight major fleet battles. In contrast the French and Spanish navies did not build First Rates until after the end of the American War of Independence in 1783.
In service for almost forty years, Victory was well known for her excellent sailing qualities and served as the flagship to a series of distinguished Admirals including Kempenfelt, Howe, Hood, Jervis and Saumarez. She fought at Ushant in 1781 and St Vincent in 1797. In 1797 she was pronounced unfit for further service and orders were given for her conversion into a hospital ship.

However the loss of First Rate ship HMS Impregnable in 1799 saw the decision reversed and what became the ‘Great Refit’ took place at Chatham between 1800-1803.

Here I am in front of this majestic ship......Mike and I did the inside tour of the HMS Victory, but no photos are allowed inside the ship.
A Victory’s most famous Admiral was Horatio Nelson who flew his flag from her between May 1803 and October 1805 as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. For eighteen months Nelson blockaded the French fleet under Admiral Villeneuve in Toulon. In March 1805 Villeneuve’s fleet slipped out of harbour and Nelson chased it to the West Indies and back without meeting it in battle. The French ended up being bottled up in Cadiz harbour in Spain and when they set sail for the Mediterranean on 19 October Nelson aboard Victory was waiting.

On 21 October 1805, Victory led the British fleet into battle off Cape Trafalgar against the Franco-Spanish force; at 1148 the most famous signal in the history of the Royal Navy, ‘England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty’ flew from her masthead.

Victory first engaged the French flagship Bucentaure followed by the Redoutable. Nelson was shot by a French marksman from the Redoutable at the height of the battle and died at 1630 when victory was assured. Out of a crew of 821, Victory had 57 men killed and 102 wounded demonstrating the serious nature of the fighting.
After a few hours, we then moved on to the wreck of King Henry the 8th's Mary RoseOne of Henry VIII’s ‘great ships’, Mary Rose was named after the king’s favourite sister Mary and the Tudor emblem the Rose. Typical of the larger sailing ships of the fleet with high castles at the bow and stern, she was one of the first ships with gun ports cut out along the side of the hull for the firing of heavy guns.

Mary Rose had a long career and was frequently in battle against the French. On 10 August 1512 she was part of an English force that attacked the French fleet at Brest. Mary Rose crippled the enemy flagship, bringing down her mast and causing 300 casualties. This was possibly the first battle in the Channel when ships fired their heavy guns through gun ports.

The sinking of the Mary Rose is the event for which the ship is best known. On 19 July 1545 Mary Rose was part of an English fleet that sailed out of Portsmouth to engage the French. She fired a broadside at the enemy and was turning to fire the other broadside when water flooded into her open gun ports and the ship suddenly capsized in full view of Henry VIII watching from the shore. It is not certain what caused Mary Rose to capsize; she was overloaded with extra soldiers and may have been caught by a gust of wind, which made the ship heel over. The wreck of the Mary Rose was rediscovered in 1968 and before her recovery divers carried out much preparation work. On 11 October 1982 the hull was lifted off the seabed and placed on a cradle before being raised by a giant floating crane. It was then towed back into Portsmouth harbour from where the ship had left on her last fateful journey 437 years before.

Here she is inside a large protective enclosure, being hosed with polyurethane style liquids to keep her preserved and from rotting. In the next few years this treatment will stop, and people will be able to see her much more clearly.
A front view of the HMS Victory as we exit the Mary Rose exhibit.
There were several large musesum shops and museum displays in the Portsmouth Naval Yard.
Mike walks by a large exhibit showing how ships carpentry was done.
It took a full day to see all these things. I got a few dozen incredible sunset photos of the ships. Here is one of the HMS Warrior and the local observation tourist spot called "The Spinnaker".
Another sunset shot of the HMS Warrior, at the same time from a different angle.
Then off to one of tose pubs/resturants we saw on the corner called "The Ship and Castle". A nice hearty meal of baked potatoes, english peas, salad andbBeef tips pie! Yum Yum!
Here is a shof of the place from the outside! I really enjoyed all the eating and dining on this vacation...both Germany and England! No complaints at all!
Taking the trains of England back to London.
Mike reads a paper on the way back...and educated me on alot of cool english newspaper customs. He's quite the tour guide!
A very cool fountain off of Oxford street...of by Piccadilly...I don't remember.
Here is the Hard Rock, London. It's also a casino!
A shot of Picadilly Square. It is amazing the number of theaters and such in the area. Think of a famous play, and it's probably being done that night within a few blocks!
Phantom of the Operat, Les Miserables, Mary Poppins, Lion King, etc. Plus lots of Movie Theaters.
Here is a Movie Theater....
And here is a place with three plays running...