Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Sunday 18 February 1996. We have strolled (increasingly slowly as our legs ice up...) from Southsea Promenade to the gates of the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

As we approach we can see the grand sight of HMS Warrior. Dating from 1861, she was the first iron-clad warship. We'll have a look around her in due course but just to whet your appetites I can tell you that we met up with the second and third people of the week totally devoid of any common sense whilst we were onboard her...

The Portsmouth Semaphore was the last in a line of tall buildings with wavy masts stretching from London to Portsmouth, allowing messages to be sent from the Admiralty to the Naval base considerably faster than a speeding horseman. The semaphore had been in the centre of Portsmouth, but was moved here in 1833 when the Admiralty residence moved into the dockyard. To either side were the Rigging House and Sail Loft of 1778 and to hold the semaphore tower, both buildings were joined by an archway. Only 14 years later, in 1847, the wonders of electricity brought the telegraph into the dockyard, rendering the semaphore obsolete. The tower burned down in 1913 and was rebuilt as a replica, opening again in 1930. The buildings to either side are not perfect replicas - the one on the right is not joined to the tower any more and they were originally symmetrical in design and number of storeys.

The star attraction has to be HMS Victory. She is, in fact, the sixth ship of the Royal Navy to be named Victory, the first having been launched in 1569 and which served in the battle against the Spanish Armada.

It's a wonder that she still exists. Starved of funds for maintenance after the Battle of Trafalgar, she was saved only because of public outcry every time the Admiralty announced she would be broken up. They saved her, but did little to arrest rot and damage. In fact it would be 2005 before she was returned to the condition she had enjoyed at the start of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Gingerbread. That's the term for the decorative woodwork of the sterns of most ships of the line. Victory originally had open balconies, but these were removed during reconstruction work started in 1800 during which so many defects were discovered that the cost of repairs rocketed from an original estimate of £23,500 to £70,933 (pounds sterling). During this work the number of guns she carried was increased from 100 to 104.

Also she was repainted in the colours we now see and take for granted. She had been red. After Trafalgar many warships adopted these same colours, dark yellow and black stripes but with black gunports - a chequered effect which came to be known as Nelson's Chequer.

The series of steps up to the doorway in the side of the ship is known as the tumblehome. Probably because after climbing it, particularly in a lively sea, that's exactly what you would do with some relief! You can visit Victory in a guided tour, but not with freedom to wander about on your own. We did the tour, visiting the placque on the deck where Nelson fell, shot through the shoulder by a French sniper in the rigging of the ship alongside. The bullet passed through a lung and broke his spine, where it lodged. He died three hours later in the Orlop of the ship, now the nearest thing to a shrine that any Navy ship possesses.

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