Sunday, 18 February 1996, continued. Yes, four articles in and it's still the same day!
If you have read the others you will know that we are in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard and have seen HMS Victory, the remains of HMS Mary Rose and have taken a boat trip around the dockyard to see several serving warships including the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible. We now come to HMS Warrior. Unlike HMS Victory the Warrior was open to exploring. Visitors were given a map of the decks and were free to wander around the ship at will.
Built 1859-1860, launched in 1860 and commissioned in 1861, she was the Royal Navy's first ironclad warship, a frigate with 40 guns and steam propulsion. Three masts allowed for additional sail power in ship rigging format for long distance cruising.
She carried guns ranging from 40 pound to 110 pound with mid range guns firing 68 pound. All of her guns could fire both solid round shot or explosive shells and the 68 pounders were also capable of firing shells filled with molten iron from a furnace.
On the deck I am accosted by a small chap with a broad American accent who thrusts a small Olympus camera at me and asks me to take his picture "...with plenty of rigging - I'm interested in rigging" So ok, I stood up and he legs it at top speed towards the other end of the ship with me having to trot reluctantly and somewhat bewildered behind him. "No stay over there, I don't mind if I'm just a dot - I want the rigging in..." Well if he was going to be just a dot, why not take the pic himself and claim any old short person was him???
I take a couple of pix and kneel down to take one so he could have the rigging with himself as a small dot right at the bottom of the pic. He seems to appreciate that. "Where are you from?" I ask on the long trek back to where Fran is standing, wondering why I have deserted her. "The U S of A!" comes the answer. My dry voice gets switched on... "Well, yes, I'd gathered that..." Anyway he is from Delaware which he isn't expecting me to have heard of. I feel it may not be the time to mention the Perry Como song...
I take this picture by available light which requires an exposure of six seconds. To keep the camera still I stand it on a cannon and use the self-timer. As it finishes, the third lunatic of the week taps my shoulder and says "How does that work?" A bit taken aback I say "It was on a timer". "No - the cannon..." "The cannon?!?" I ask, even more taken aback. "You know - the sight!" What? "You just look down it and generally it hits whatever you are looking at!" I explain. "Oh!" he says, disappointment in every shade of voice and demeanor.
"Sea battles were generally fought at very close quarters," I try to explain. "The idea was to batter the opposing ship whilst your own sailors jumped from your ship onto the other!" But, disillusioned, he has already moved on... Over each gun are the stowed hammocks of its crew - this was workplace, sleeping quarters and dining room.
Also overhead are racks of cutlasses - you know - for use in boarding or repelling enemy boarders... But my latest friend is busy searching for similarly-sized forks, no doubt convinced they were cutlery for mealtimes...
It's a crowded ceiling: also overhead are the gunners' equipment. From left to right, a wormer for getting bits of wadding out (paper, card, bits of anything designed to hold roundshot against the bag of gunpowder that shot it out), sponge to be dipped in water to cool out the guns and make sure no remaining burning remnants of wadding or powder bag remained to set off the next charge as soon as it was put into the barrel, and a ramrod to poke the charge bag down to where the fuse could set it alight and then to ram the shot against it and yet again to ram wadding to prevent a roundshot from rolling away from the powder charge.
Even the Captain's cabin was furnished with cannon. Bulkheads or windows were removeable so that it had a nice hole to shoot through when needed. It would still probably scorch a bit of paintwork... The cannon is roped to the wall at either side so as not to roll too far away from the wall with the recoil after firing. Crushed gun crews are seldom as effective as ones with the required number of legs and arms.
The gun does have to roll back far enough to be sponged out and reloaded though. It is heavy enough that the pulley system is needed for the sailors to be able to haul it forwards again once loaded. The brass rod at the back along with the more decorative one halfway down make up the sight that our friend above was so bewildered by. The rear one is calibrated and can be raised or lowered to account for distance if needs be.
Whilst the French Navy tended to try to shoot at masts and sails, the Royal Navy generally thought that blasting holes at waterline was more effective at sinking the enemy... Which reminds me of a funny story told to me by someone else who had done the HMS Victory guided tour. A French visitor had looked at the pyramids of cannonballs on deck and asked if they were the ones used at the Battle of Trafalgar. The Naval Officer conducting the tour answered, "No, Sir, your own navy still has those..."
The Captain's table where the senior officers would dine. The floor covering includes a rug over canvas sailcloth which has a thoughtful design painted on it to look like linoleum - ooh, luxury!
Our visit to the Historic Dockyard has made for an interesting day. On a warmer day we may have been inclined to stay a bit longer but walking around the open areas of docks is chilly in February so we head into town in search of a cafe. Later, back at the hotel, we find with some relief that the deaf couple have left along with the rest of their coach party and it is a much quieter night!
Ships and Boats Index
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments must be passed by moderator before appearing on this post.