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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HMS Victory and Sketches

My God, it's like buses! No blog entries for ages and now three at once! So, I'm just in the mood I guess.

If I've not been writing the blog what have I been doing?

Well those of you who keep an eye on the Flickr account will have seen a few
sketches appear recently. That was prompted by a posting on the Billy Fury website.

Also on that site, it's my month to be included in the Hall of Fame. You'll find my musical biography there linked from the main index linked above. My entry in the Hall of Fame also includes two songs, both from Creeping Bentgrass albums, although one (Great Balls of Fire) is one of my solo pieces and the other one (Up Around The Bend) features David and Bob also.

Our entry in the Billy Fury Sounds Special feature this month is a live recording of Johnny B Goode and a few of the residents and holiday makers at Larbreck Hall Caravan Park may recognise their whoops and hollers and general joining in of the chorus!

I've also gone back to scanning the still massive pile of negatives from pre-digital days that still need to be scanned. This example was taken (despite the blue sky and sunshine) in February(!) 1996 and shows the famous warship, HMS Victory.

Not Nelson's ship, as Captain Hardy should have that honour, but it was on this ship that Nelson received a musket ball in his shoulder that passed down through his lung and broke his spine. He was taken below where he knew full well that he must die from his injuries.

"Not the side, Hardy," he said, forbidding Captain Hardy to perform the traditional ceremony of burial at sea. With the problem of how to keep the body from rotting and smelling, the ship's surgeon had the body placed in a large barrel which was then filled with port wine.

The spot where he died, in the ship's orlop below the waterline is as close to a shrine as the Royal Navy has. A ceremony is held there every year on the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar at which Nelson was killed.

Oh yes... and the Sally Geeson photo has gone on to new levels of fascination for the Internet public as it has now reached a viewing count of 1473, racing for the 2000 target and achieving daily viewings that peaked with an amazing 66 views on the 3rd of May. All of this without a single comment on it!