Lord Nelson

May I remind all that today is the anniversary of Trafalgar, a reminder how great this country once was

Mick

And see the news item about the farthing found under the Victory's mast.

PS Since she was built at Chatham I have long thought she should rest here.

Edited By ega on 21/10/2021 11:11:33

Getting into Elgin Marbles territory here, especially if India wanted HMS Tricomalee back from Dundee.

I guess that if Victory and Unicorn came home, Gannet could go downriver to Sheerness and Cavalier to Cowes to make room. On the other hand, bearing in mind what happened to her covered dock and its surrounding figureheads, Portsmouth may have been a lucky escape for the old girl.

Brian G

Not to mention the Cutty Sark fiasco at Greenwich!

HMS Victory is still in commission with the RN as flagship of the 1st Sea Lord, Chatham will have to wait till she's paid off.

BTW you can bits of the Victory made from the good bits of rotten & replaced timbers.

When I hear about Victory I always think of Triggers broom.

Edited By Buffer on 21/10/2021 16:39:22

Have they sailed her there from Hartlepool?

Whoops, I remembered one of them was in Dundee but should have checked which.

Brian G

Hi All,

just recently spent a terrific couple of days at the Historic Dockyard as a 70th Birthday present from a neighbour.

Did the Mary Rose first which was the first time I had seen it since I dived on it as a volunteer way back in the dawn of time! My best memory of it was getting in the tin bath on the Sleipner barge deck which was full of warm rusty water from the generators!

Spent a lot of time on Victory and if one looks carefully time is certainly taking its toll on the old girl.

She is slowly sagging under her own weight despite the superbly engineered prop system that has been installed to approximate the support given by floating in water. Lots of what looked like laser sensors all over the place to measure movement I guess.

Lots of guns have been removed and replaced with replicas.

When you walk underneath the hull the damage caused by Teredo worm is massive, rudder area is really bad.

She has no masts at the moment, but I believe that modern lighter replacements are on the way.

Close inspection almost anywhere reveals much evidence of rot and softness, Death Watch beetle still present I was told.

All that aside, the fantastic staff bring the whole thing to life and it is truly humbling to see and imagine what it must have been like to be a sailor on her in battle.

I heartily commend a visit to anyone, really great day out.

Cheers, Martin