UK Tourist & Leisure Attractions

At Portsmouth Historic Dockyard Vice Admiral Lord Nelson's Flagship HMS Victory, launched in 1765, has been preserved in dry dock at the sprawling naval base and open to visitors.

 Here on HMS Victory's cramped middle gun deck there were plenty of big guns to heave to.  The ship's crew contained over 800 men all living, eating and sleeping on the gun decks.
 

On the upper deck we looked up at Victory's amazing rigging.  We bet the sailors had a few choice words when they got the ropes in a twist - like 'frigging rigging' perhaps? Later, we viewed Victory's tatty fore topsail, on display at Trafalgar Sail.

HMS Victory's steering wheel is located under the poop deck and operates the rudder via a system of ropes.  There was no power steering in the olden days so it needed up to eight strong men to steer Victory in rough seas.  Heave to!
 

The great cabin seemed very spacious and plush and was the place where Admiral Nelson hatched his famous battle plan for the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 which is a defining historical moment.

 The lady here is pondering over the brass plaque where Nelson fell on Victory's quarter deck during the Battle of Trafalgar when he was mortally wounded by a French sharpshooter aboard 'Redoutable'.
 

It doesn't look like there's room to swing a cat in HMS Victory's Galley.  In any case it should be chasing the mouse to the left!  The sailors got a tot of Rum each day - the 'splicing the main brace' (or should that be 'all heave too' if they got too much in rough seas!).

 Hmmm, just look at those three levels of guns!  HMS Victory certainly meant business in 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar!  Admiral Lord Nelson was Britain's greatest Naval hero, despite losing an arm and the sight of one eye in previous battles.  What a hero!
 

 There's always one!  Mike posing at the stern end of HMS Victory as we headed over to the Royal Naval Museum.

Now it's Belinda's turn to pose as she shakes Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson's hand in the Royal Naval Museum.
 

At the Victorian Festival of Christmas at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard we enjoyed the Fort Cumberland Guard who also performed a noisy musket firing at Warrior slipway.  Don't forget to visit our extensive tourist resources page for related websites to our visits.

 The Festival had many Victorian characters dressed the part in their costumes.
 

We think this must be a Victorian inventor trying out his powered bath chair.  It'll never catch on mate!

 Now, this grubby chap is the chimney sweep who's job it was to climb up peoples' chimneys and clean all the soot out.  No health and safety worries in Victorian times then!  But at least he had 'green' transport even if the chimneys he serviced were far from green!
 

Ooo er - watch out Mike, this Victorian policeman might press gang you into serving in the Navy!  Hang on, it's OK, he's after that scoundrel Fagin.

 Another bit of 'street theatre' we came across at Portsmouth's Victorian Festival of Christmas was the enchanting Mrs Lovett's Pies performance.
 

These Victorian urchins at the Christmas Festival must have been the chimney sweep's apprentices, seen here performing their energetic dance routine to Chim-chimmany.

 The Victorian Festival of Christmas at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard was enthralling, some of the characters were just going about everyday Victorian business.
 

This is the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's favourite warship from the early 1500s.  It's undergoing an 'active conservation process' to prevent it disintegrating and we were being constantly herded forward by a jobsworth as soon as we entered the area!

The Mary Rose Museum gave us an alluring insight into Navy warfare during the 14th century and contained many recovered military objects from the warship.  The picture here shows Belinda looking at a heavy gun used on the ship which carried both cast bronze guns as well as older wrought iron guns.  There were also live 'hand on' exhibits and educational demonstrations in the museum.
 

HMS Warrior of 1860 was the world's largest and most heavily armed warship of her time and was our final visit at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.  Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower can be seen to the left.

 Down below decks things seemed much more spacious since Nelson's day, despite the guns being larger.  HMS Warrior was constructed of wrought iron and was steam powered as well as sail.
 

The Wheelhouse was also larger and had four wheels, requiring eight sailors to heave to.  One thought - how did they see which way to steer Warrior with the wheel below decks?  Erm, back to the drawing board lads, we didn't think of that one!

 Again the Admiral's quarters were rather luxurious on HMS Warrior compared to what the sailors had to endure.  They ate, slept and worked around the guns.  HMS Warrior never fired a gun in anger, but helped to keep the peace.
 

As we returned to HMS Warrior's deck with the weak November daylight fading fast, we caught the moment the colourful searchlights flashed across the mast.
Most of our Portsmouth Historic Dockyard photos were taken with our new digital camera which we've reviewed.
 

Even if the Victorian Festival of Christmas was excluded we found plenty to see and do at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in Hampshire, in fact we didn't even get round half of it.

Visiting Nelson's Flagship HMS Victory gave us a fascinating insight into Navy life during the early 19th century, and it was interesting to compare the changes by 1860 on HMS Warrior.  The Mary Rose was intriguing to observe too, even if it was behind a mist of preserving spray!

See our UK tourist links for related websites and further information on Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the warships and the Victorian Festival of Christmas.

Oh, we've also been across the solent to visit Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.