{"id":904,"date":"2013-07-01T11:30:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-01T15:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/?page_id=904"},"modified":"2014-10-25T11:51:27","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T15:51:27","slug":"my-visit-with-archie-2013-page-2-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/my-visit-with-archie-2013-page-2-2\/","title":{"rendered":"My Visit with Archie – Page 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

Off to Portsmouth<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The Queen’s Navee”<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Day 2 of my visit, Archie and I left Atherstone Mews for the 70 mile drive from London to Portsmouth. \u00a0We made it 25 miles and Archie discovered that he’d left his passport at home. \u00a0After a 50 round trip we were back on course and schedule.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our plan was to visit the \u00a0historic Portsmouth Dock Yard and visit several old warships. As we neared the Dock Yard we saw the Portsmouth Spinnaker Tower..<\/strong>\"0155<\/a>The tower, at a height of 170\u00a0m above\u00a0sea level<\/span><\/a>, is\u00a02\u00a01\u20442\u00a0times as high as\u00a0Nelson’s Column<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in Trafalgar Square,\u00a0is the tallest accessible structure in the United Kingdom outside London. The tower, with\u00a0its\u00a0spinnaker<\/span><\/a>\u00a0sail design,\u00a0is visible for miles around Portsmouth,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

At the top is a triple observation deck, providing a 350\u00b0 view of the city of\u00a0Portsmouth<\/span><\/a>, the\u00a0Langstone<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and Portsmouth harbors, and a viewing distance of \u00a023\u00a0miles. The highest of the three observation platforms, the\u00a0crow’s nest<\/span><\/a>, has a wire mesh roof, allowing visitors to be in the elements. We skipped the climb to the top.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"0160<\/a>Here is an old picture of the Dockyard Gate. The clothes have changed but the gate is the same.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"0170<\/a>Our goal was to visit the HMS Vicrory. \u00a0This was the warship on which Lord Nelson sailed during the “Battle of Trafalgar”. This sea battle on\u00a021 October 1805 \u00a0was a\u00a0naval engagement<\/span><\/a>\u00a0fought by the British\u00a0Royal Navy<\/span><\/a>\u00a0against the combined fleets of the\u00a0French Navy<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Spanish Navy<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0Napoleonic Wars<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(1803\u20131815).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Twenty-seven British\u00a0ships of the line<\/span><\/a>\u00a0led by\u00a0Admiral Lord Nelson<\/span><\/a>\u00a0aboard\u00a0HMS\u00a0Victory\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/a>defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under French Admiral\u00a0Villeneuve<\/span><\/a>\u00a0off the south-west coast of Spain, just west of\u00a0Cape Trafalgar<\/span><\/a>. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle and became one of Britain’s greatest war heroes. \u00a0Here is a picture of the Victory today. \u00a0Most of the masts, spars, and rigging has been removed for restoration. \u00a0Even so, it’s a very impressive ship!<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"0172<\/a>The Victory (built in 1759)\u00a0is the worlds oldest warship still in commission even though she is in dry dock. Here is what it looks like fully rigged. \u00a0The \u00a0Victory is the Flagship of the First Sea Lord and is a living museum to the Georgian navy. She was a\u00a0\u00a0“first-rate<\/span><\/a>\u00a0ship” which means she carried over 100 guns. \u00a0She is\u00a0227\u00a0ft\u00a06\u00a0inches long overall and<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0186\u00a0feet long measured on the gun deck.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\"0175<\/a>This close-up shows the<\/strong>\u00a0massive the ship’s hull . The hull is about a foot thick almost all oak!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"0185<\/a>Here is the Ward Room and the Admirals Day Cabin in the stern of the ship. \u00a0It is pretty posh and is still used today on ceremonial occasions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"0195<\/a>This is the Victory quarter deck. \u00a0The Admiral’s Quarters are entered \u00a0here. \u00a0This is where Lord \u00a0Nelson fell after being hit by a bullet from a French Marine on a close by ship.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"0190<\/a>This is the upper gun deck below the quarter deck.. It has\u00a030 – 1.7 ton short 12\u00a0pound cannons (The cannon balls weighed 12 pounds). Interestingly, most of the cannon you see here are replicas made of fiberglass.This is necessary because the ship cannot be placed in dry dock with her armaments on board. The weight would damage the structure without the support of sea water. Not much good in a real fight!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"0200<\/a>Here is the plaque on the quarter deck that shows where Lord Nelson fell.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/a>This is an artist’s (Arthur William Devis<\/span><\/a>) rendering of Nelson’s death on the orlop (lowest – below the water line) deck. We visited the orlop deck and I banged my head several times because it is only about 5 feet high. \u00a0Not like the painting…<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"0220<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We disembarked the Victory and I took one last picture of the massive bow showing the complexity of curves that must have driven the shipwrights nuts!<\/strong><\/p>\n

PS \u00a0 \u00a0Many of you may know that the toilets for the crew on the old sailing ships was on the bow (or “head”). \u00a0There were two heads on this side of the bow: An enclosed \u00a0round one for Petty Officers and an uncovered bench with a couple of holes called the “seats of ease” for the rest of the crew. Everything from these heads dropped through the framework you see here. Of course, the Officers had much nicer enclosed heads back aft.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After visiting the Victory, we went next door to the Mary Rose Museum.<\/strong>\"0250<\/a>This is what it looked like when she was afloat:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mary Rose was built in 1510 and\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0was a\u00a0carrack<\/span><\/a>-type\u00a0warship<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of the English\u00a0Tudor navy<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0King Henry\u00a0VIII<\/span><\/a>. After serving for 33 years in several wars against\u00a0France<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Scotland<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0Brittany<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and after being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her last action on\u00a019 July\u00a01545. While leading the attack on the\u00a0galleys<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of a French invasion fleet, she sank in the\u00a0Solent<\/span><\/a>, the straits between Portsmouth and the\u00a0Isle of Wight<\/span><\/a>. The wreck of the\u00a0Mary Rose<\/i>\u00a0was rediscovered in 1971 and salvaged in 1982.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"0260<\/a>This is what was salvaged. \u00a0It is a section of the hull that was buried in the silt for almost 450 years. \u00a0There were also a lot of artifacts and some human remains found in the wreckage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"0270<\/a>This shows the section of the hull that was salvaged in relation to the whole hull.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"0280<\/a>This is a recreation of a gun deck with some of the original cannons.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"0300<\/a>After leaving the Mary Rose museum we stopped at the HMS Warrior. The\u00a0HMS\u00a0Warrior<\/i>\u00a0was \u00a0built for the\u00a0Royal Navy<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in 1859\u201361.She is 420 feet long (versus 227 for the Victory and about 100 for the Mary Rose). She and her\u00a0sister ship<\/span><\/a>\u00a0HMS\u00a0Black Prince<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0were the first armor plated, iron-hulled\u00a0warships<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 The\u00a0Warrior<\/i>\u00a0spent her active career with the English\u00a0Channel Fleet<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and was\u00a0hulked<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(dis-masted and stripped)\u00a0in 1883 after having been in\u00a0reserve<\/span><\/a>\u00a0since 1875.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

She served as a store ship and\u00a0depot ship<\/span><\/a>\u00a0before she was assigned to Royal Navy’s torpedo training school in 1904. The ship was converted into a floating oil\u00a0jetty<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in 1927 and remained in that role until 1979 when restoration began. Listed as part of the\u00a0National Historic Fleet<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0she is now a beautifully restored\u00a0museum ship<\/span><\/a>.<\/strong><\/span>\"0305<\/a>The Warrior was unique for her day. \u00a0She was made of riveted iron plates, had masts and sails, and was also steam powered (note the smoke stacks). \u00a0She never saw any naval action and she was so unwieldy that there were 4 helms on 2 decks and it took 8 men to steer her<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The rapid evolution of warship design in the late 19th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden-hulled vessel that carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the steel-built, turreted battleships and cruisers familiar in the 20th century.<\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"0310<\/a>The gun deck of the Warrior looked a lot like the gun deck of the Victory although the Warrior was 100 years newer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"0311<\/a>The crew still ate and slept at their guns as they had done 100 years earlier.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"0340<\/a>As you can see, the Captain had it a bit easier.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are the two helms. \u00a0One on the main deck and one on the gun \u00a0deck below. Four men would be on each side for a total of 16 men in severe conditions.<\/strong>\"0325<\/a>\u00a0\"0330<\/a><\/p>\n

Two final shots of the Warrior: The one of the coal fired boiler rooms and a complicated view of the steam engine (it’s so complicated, even I don’t know what it is).<\/strong>\"0312<\/a> \"0315<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

We now leave the Dock Yard and head to the Portsmouth to Le Havre Ferry Terminal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Go to Page 03<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Off to Portsmouth “The Queen’s Navee” On Day 2 of my visit, Archie and I left Atherstone Mews for the 70 mile drive from London to Portsmouth. \u00a0We made it 25 miles and Archie discovered that he’d left his passport … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-904","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2253,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/904\/revisions\/2253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}