Portsmouth Docks, HMS Victory, the Mary Rose and a submarine.

Firstly my apologies if you're looking for a the details of the San Animal writing competition or for blogs about Spain please just scroll down this page.

As I'm in England at the moment I recently visited Portsmouth. In spite of being brought up there I had never before been on HMS Victory- Nelson's flagship.

 

This was a fascinating visit. The Victory dates from 1765 and is in a wonderful state of preservation. Besides fighting against the French and Spanish at Trafalgar she also fought in four other battles including the American war of Independence, the Napoleonic war, and the French revolution. She is the oldest commissioned warship in the world.

The first thing that struck me inside was how much larger it was than I expected although all the decks are low 'ceilinged' for stability. At the time of Trafalgar it had a crew of 800 aged from twelve to sixty-seven.

Hammocks were slung amongst the guns. The crew ate salted beef and pork, biscuits, peas, oatmeal, butter and cheese. The biscuits were often full of weevils and because the water couldn't be kept in a drinkable condition every man had a beer ration of eight pints a day!- so it wasn't all bad. Scurvy had been overcome by the time of Trafalgar as lemon juice was added to the rum ration . 

 

During the battle 'loblolly' boys were in charge of lobbing the bodies and their parts over the side! There were of course no analgesics and they didn't administer brandy etc prior to amputations as they knew that alcohol increased bleeding. You had to hope you'd lose consciousness quickly. On the plus side the surgeon could do an amputation in just one and a half minutes.

We saw the spot where Nelson was fell and where he was carried down below deck to die. Our guide said that Nelson put a blue handkerchief over his face so that the men wouldn't realise hat he'd been hit.
 If you want to visit Victory I would recommend going there as soon as the dockyard opens at 9.45am We were first on board which greatly enhanced the atmosphere as we managed to stay well in front of an excited party of school-children. The guides are very well informed and happily answer all your questions.
We next visited the Mary Rose museum where they have the ship dating from Henry the 8th in a state of preservation with numerous artefacts. This was extensive and very interesting but quite crowded.
We moved on and caught a 'water-bus across the harbour to see a submarine.

This was so interesting that I managed to overcome any feelings of claustrophobia. It is set up as it would have been with some atmospheric recordings relating to the time and the men, e.g. snoring emitting from a curtained bunk. It certainly made you realise how difficult life must have ben on board. Amongst many privations the men might be on board for as long as five months without washing! It was great to see the sub.after watching so many films in the past and I would thoroughly recommend it. Again the guides were both friendly and informative.

After this we had some well

earned lunch before going up the Spinnaker tower which has breath-taking views over Portsmouth.

If you're interested in visiting individual attractions tickets are £17 each, but a £25 ticket gets you into all the attractions, (there which are far more than I've described), and can be used over a year.

I hope you've enjoyed this blog, the next one will be out in September after a summer break - unless someone publishes one of my books!! Many thanks for your interest, Cathy.