Adam Bindert
2-14-99
After a tour of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, we made our way to Portsmouth. Portsmouth is a harbor town on the English Channel and home to the HMS Victory and King Henry VIII’s flagship the Mary Rose.
The HMS Victory was involved in one of the most important battles fought against Spain and France, the Battle of Trafalgar. On October 21, 1805 Admiral Nelson led this ship into battle. The Victory, launched in 1765, was a naval masterpiece that used 2,500 English oaks and took six years to complete.
When not in battle, the HMS Victory was a floating mansion, but in times of war every inch of space was needed so all unnecessary furniture was removed. The main mast of this ship towers to a height of 105 feet. The ship carried 35 tons of gunpowder and 104 permanently loaded cannons.
This ship was impressive, but it didn’t run on its own. That was what Captain Hardy along with 850 other crewmembers were responsible for. The crew did have a capable ship, but conditions for them were often harsh. The Victory could hold provisions for the crew for up to six months at a time. Included in the food was of course water; water, though, tended to collect algae if left sitting for long periods of time. Alcohol, on the other hand, had a much longer shelf life. The majority of the crew didn’t want to be there. Many men had been captured in battle and were forced to work. Punishments were cruel; they included confinement in leg irons and flogging. If those things didn’t persuade the crew to work, the threat of hanging was always looming their heads. In the case of death, the disposal of the body was quite unusual. Each man's sleeping hammock would serve as his coffin if he died at sea. He was laid in his hammock/coffin and it was sewn up feet first with the final stitch going through his septum to make sure he was dead. Once that was done overboard he went.
The
life of a naval officer wasn’t easy. Admiral Nelson proved that, having lost
and eye and an arm in battle. As the story goes Nelson refused any narcotics
when having his arm amputated and only commented on how cold the saw was as
it hacked through his arm. With a person like that as commander, the Victory
was bound to win and of course it did. Unfortunately Admiral Nelson was shot
in the spine by a French musket. He lingered for three hours before dying. Heavy
damage was sustained during the battle, but the Victory made it to Gibraltar
where repairs were made.
Before I arrived at Portsmouth I had never heard of the Victory or the Battle of Trafalgar. I learned much at Portsmouth and would recommend a stop there if ever in England.