Portsmouth Historic Dockyards England

This morning we decided to drive 110km south to Portsmouth to visit the historic dockyards. It is a reflection of the ports naval history and offers 9 attractions to visit. As we only had a day we chose 3 attractions for £46pp.

Luckily we arrived early enough (just after 10am) to get a parking spot just around the corner which was very convenient but wasn’t cheap @£12.40/24hrs. The meter only took coins so I had to ask someone for some change. We were also a little bit too long for the bays so we took the bikes off the back and pit then inside Bluey as a passer by warned us that bikes get stolen here all the time!

We began our visit with the oldest ship “The Mary Rose”, Henry VIII’s favourite ship built in Portsmouth in 1510. It sank during battle against 200 French ships in 1545 in the Solent nearby. It lay under the water until 1982 when it was raised but only a part of the ship was salvaged. Although over 19,000 objects were recovered and together exhibited in the museum. It was a fascinating couple of hours visit.

Next we boarded the HMS Victory, which had been Lord Nelson’s flagship and where he died in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The 104 gun ship had been built in 1765. In 1824 she became a harbour ship, then moved to dry dock in 1922. It was an interesting visit as we followed an audio tour learning about the ship and the battle. 

Our 3rd ship was the HMS Warrior, a 40 gun steam powered armoured frigate built in 1861. She was the first iron hulled warship but never saw action and was decommissioned in 1883.  Having been used in various other roles it was eventually donated to the museum in 1979. We wondered on board exploring the 4 decks trying to imagine what it would have been like back in the day.

835tons of coal

40 furnaces

Gin powder refill station

Washing machines

Hospital

The anchor that too 170 odd men to raise! It would take 4 hours to get ready for takeoff.

Lots involved in shooting a canon too and all in 55secs

3 sets of steering wheels on different decks

Men lived and slept next to their canon

Arms already to go

Wages

With a brief look at a couple of museums included in the tickets it was time to go. 

We wanted to get a bit closer to Newhaven for our ferry tomorrow so picked a pub halfway at Patching called The Worlds End. Quite fitting for our last night in the UK. Mark had a chicken schnitzel with unusual topping combinations (fried egg and anchovies), I went for a pub favourite, fish and chips. Both washed down with a Worlds End lager.