Sunday 18 February 1996. We are at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard. After the guided tour around HMS Victory we have a couple of things to see before embarking on a boat for a trip around the harbour on the water.
I wonder how many people just walked past this small boat with barely a glance. Reading the notice on the railings of the dockyard basin in which it floats however I find it is a full-sized replica of the launch of HMS Bounty. There is more to say about this event than I have space or knowledge to set down here. Indeed, both sides argued the toss at the time of the subsequent court martials in 1792 and the descendants of both sides have continued to insist on the other as being the one at fault ever since.
Suffice it to say that after the mutiny on 28 April 1789, Captain Bligh was forced into the ship's launch with those loyal to him, 19 men in total (although a further 4 loyal men were forced to remain on the Bounty as the launch would otherwise founder and they had skills needed by the mutineers led by Fletcher Christian. William Bligh, in an incredible feat of navigation, sailed the launch 3500 miles over open ocean to safety. Wikipedia has some detail on this page.
Likewise as regards this - the remains of Henry VIII's warship The Mary Rose. Launched in 1511, she was one of the first ships armed with heavy guns, capable of firing a broadside through what was at the time a new innovation - side opening gunports. She was rebuilt in 1536, with an added layer of decking supporting a further row of guns along each side. Her weight increased from 500 tons to 700 tons with this rebuild. She sank on 19 July 1545, for obscure reasons during battle with the French fleet. She was turning and heeled over, water rushing into her open gunports. Some French reports understandably claimed that it had been their firepower that sank her.
A salvage attempt was made shortly afterwards in August of 1536, another in 1547 and another in 1549, but the ship had fallen at an angle and had sunk into the soft silt and mud of the bottom of the Solent. Whilst some guns and other artifacts were raised the ship proved impossible to recover. Over the ensuing centuries chemicals and hungry sea creatures slowly obliterated the wooden material of the ship leaving only the buried portion - about 40 percent of the ship - intact.
The wreck was rediscovered in 1836 when some fishermen snagged it in their nets.By this date rubber diving suits had been invented and divers were able to recover some items including bronze and iron guns and some longbows. Fast track to 1966 and the wreck was once again subject of renewed searching. It was rediscovered in 1970 and a committee formed to save as much of the ship as possible, as there was no legal protection from treasure hunters at the time for sunken vessels. A new law in 1973 gave added protection but it was 1982 before the surviving structure could be lifted on 11 October.
The hull was put on display in 1984, but behind glass as it required a constant spraying of water and subsequently a polyethylene glycol (PEG) solution to arrest further deterioration. This would continue until 2013.
It's time for our boat trip around the dockyard. We catch a brief glimpse of the stern of HMS Warrior (we shall see it in greater detail in the next article) before heading into the harbour and passing more modern warships. In fact we can hardly believe the number of warships. Equally impressive is the value on show - in 1996 each destroyer costs £115,000,000 - 115 million pounds - to build.
Also in the dockyard is Her Majesty's Yacht, Britannia. It's fate is already decided and it is awaiting its final royal duty. The gold stripe... really is!
These two tugs are waiting for no one. Our tour boat has to power on and try its hardest to avoid these two from steaming down on us!
Both of Britain's aircraft carriers, HMS Ark Royal and HMS Invincible are in the harbour. Invincible is shown - Ark Royal is in a dry dock and although the superstructure can be seen, it is not possible to get a decent photograph. Seeing the Invincible brought back memories of watching the Falklands Task Force sailing in 1982.
We come back round the stern of HMS Warrior as we prepare to disembark. Just as I am finding my sea legs... (they were under my sea bum...)
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