As we made our way to the Mary Rose museum featured in Saturday’s blog post we passed HMS Victory and were surprised to see that she was sporting different colours than we had seen on our previous visit. Initially we wondered if she was in the middle of being repainted and what we were seeing was the undercoat. It was only when we came out of the Mary Rose museum that I noticed a sign that explained what we saw was her new paint scheme.

Hidden Layers

We have implemented a historically accurate re-painting of HMS Victory. For the first time, visitors can see the ship in her true colours – exactly as she appeared at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Several hundred paint samples were taken from various locations across the ship and in some places they uncovered 72 layers of paint!

Careful research has shown that Victory was painted externally in pale yellow and dark gray at the time of her famous victory. It would have been the Captain, Thomas Hardy, Nelson’s trusted right-hand man, who was responsible for the painting of the ship.*

In addition to the new paint scheme HMS Victory is undergoing an extensive conservation programme.

A Battle Against Time

Lord Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory is the world’s oldest commissioned warship and famous for playing a crucial role at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, a naval battle which contributed to the defeat of Napoleon in 1815.

The ship is currently undergoing an extensive multi-million pound conservation programme to defend her against the ravages of time. And so a new battle begins…

The conservation project encompasses £27 million of work to be completed over the next 15 years. All the external hull planking will be replaced and the historic fabric of the ship will be stabilised with a state-of-the-art support system.

Every mast will be repaired for the first time in 125 years. The upper sections of all three masts have already been removed. This includes 20 miles of associated rigging and 768 wooden blocks, some of which are 100 years old.*

*Information from signboards next to HMS Victory

On my first visit to the Mary Rose in in September 2014 she was behind perspex as she was being dried out as part of the final stages of work undertaken to preserve her. The view of her was to some extent obscured by the tubes that were in place to dry her out.

When I heard that the drying process was complete and that the Mary Rose was now completely unwrapped I knrw I had to visit again. It was lovely to see the full view of what remains of her without screens and drying pipes obscuring the view. The exhibition blew me away. The ship is alternately illuminated to reveal the ship and then darkened to show living displays to various areas that bring ship to life. On arrival at the top level of the exhibition we found that the view of the ship was completely open without even the Perspex.

You can learn more about the ship and the museum here.

The breakfast was every bit as good as we remembered from our first visit. The breakfast room was rather full due to the wedding guests from the day before. Thankfully the kids had worn themselves out and were quiet during breakfast.

We set off to Portsmouth to visit the Mary Rose Museum. The journey went smoothly but there was a bit of a saga when we tried to purchase the admission tickets. There were clearly only three of us but we were sold four tickets!! There was then a delay whilst someone (in fact two someones) came to sort out the problem and refund the money. Eventually we got past the ticket desk and had our bags searched as we entered the dockyard. We were surprised to see HMS Victory had changed colour and we wondered if she was in the middle of being repainted and what we were seeing was the undercoat. It was only when we came out of the Mary Rose museum that I noticed a sign that explained what we saw was her new paint scheme. During conservation work in 2013-14 up to 72 layers of paint had been removed to reveal that the paint scheme that she had been wearing for years was not the one she had worn at Trafalgar; the new one is.

The Mary Rose is now completely unwrapped and there are no drying pipes or screens obscuring the view giving a full view the ship. The exhibition blew me away. The ship is alternately illuminated to reveal the ship and then darkened to show living displays to various areas that bring ship to life. On arrival at the top level of the exhibition we found that the view of the ship was completely open without even the Perspex.

We had lunch in one of the dockyard cafes before moving on to Hinton Ampner which is a National Trust property that on our last visit had been only partially open due the roof being damaged in gales. We thought we might enjoy the gardens first but we soon changed our mind when it started to rain leading us to proceed into the house. The upstairs is very much a work in progress as repairs continue but it was good to see the upstairs rooms which had been closed on our previous visit. By the time we had finished our tour of the house the sun had come out and we toured the gardens in glorious sunshine with the colours enhanced by the rain. We took time to enjoy the gardens before returning to the hotel to chill out before dining in La Place. Whilst we were ordering our meal the French waiter told Mr C he was a lucky man to be dining with two beautiful ladies.

We stopped briefly in the Old Gaolhouse (A Weatherspoons pub, what were you thinking…) before returning to the hotel for the night.

In a dry dock behind HMS Victory is the new Mary Rose museum.  The building was purpose built to house the remains the flagship of King Henry VIII which capsized and sank in the Solent in 1545. The museum is very well done; the remains of the Mary Rose are on its starboard side and on the port side the artifacts that were found with the ship were displayed laid out as they would have been on the ship. The starboard side was preserved by silt whilst the port-side was exposed and so decayed and was lost.

The Mary Rose is currently behind Perspex because she is being dried out as part of the final stages of the work undertaken to preserve her. It was good for me to have seen Victory first because the layout of the two ships is similar which allowed me to interpret clearly what I was seeing of the Mary Rose.

Mary Rose Revealed

Sometime in the late afternoon of July 19, 1545, the Mary Rose, one of the largest of Henry VIII’s great ships, heeled to the starboard and sank. As the King watched from his encampment on Southsea Common, scarcely a mile distant, he could not have realised what an unparalleled insight into his life and times this catastrophe would ensure. Mary Rose represents both a living community and a state-of-the-art fighting machine, fully manned and equipped for war. A 34-year old veteran, built in Portsmouth, she sank whilst engaging a French invasion fleet larger than the Spanish Armada of 43 years later. To date no marine excavation has attained the scale of the Mary Rose project, nor captured the imagination of the public so completely.

Only rarely in history have so many circumstances combined to preserve a complete community and a moment of such drama. Through this miracle of preservation, her historical treasures provide a unique and vivid impression of life at sea nearly half a millennium ago.

In 1945 Henry VIII watched as his ship sank to the seabed. Just over thirty years ago, His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, President of the Mary Rose Trust, watched as she rose from the seabed. Both have had intimate contact with the ship, King Henry dined with her captain the day before she sank, and Prince Charles dived on the day before she was raised.*

*From the Mary Rose Revealed guidebook

John F. Kennedy

Warrior’s original figurehead has ended up at Fleet HQ, Northwood, London, only to crumble beyond repair sometime in the 1960s. The new ’spirit of Warrior’, carved by two Isle of Wight craftsmen, weighed 2 tons and like the original was almost 4 metres (12 feet) high. In February 1985, it was hoisted aboard and attached to the stem-piece. *

*From the HMS Warrior guidebook

HMS Warrior was the world’s first ocean going, iron-hulled, armoured warship – the largest, fastest and most powerful of the time. Launched on 29 December 1860, Warrior rendered all other warships obsolete overnight. She never fired a shot in anger, simply because she was too powerful for any other ship to think of challenging her. Indeed, her deterrent value contributed to Britain’s Security.

Forgotten for a century, restored to her original condition, and now moored in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, HMS Warrior is the only surviving embodiment of the most revolutionary changes to take place in the long and distinguished history of the Royal Navy.*

The Upper Deck

The Bridge

The Gun deck

Warriors main armament consisted of 26 68-pounder guns, loaded from the muzzle (front), capable of firing shot or shells nearly a mile and a half  (2.3 kilometers). They were reliable and effective, being a larger version of a tried-and-trusted design. Not so reliable were the ten new Armstrong 110-pounder breech loaders, fitted as a trial. These had rifled barrels for greater accuracy and fired cone-headed shot or shell almost double the distance of the ‘older’ guns. However, the trial was unsuccessful because the new guns had a nasty tendency to overheat and blow out the breechblock or just jam up.*

*From HMS Warrior 1860 guidebook

Third rate 74-gun battleship, launched in Portsmouth in 1781. Took part in the battle of Saintes (1782) and Nelson’s victory at Copenhagen (1801). Broken up in 1857.

This is the oldest figurehead in the Museum’s collection –  and one of the oldest warship figureheads in the world.*

*From an signboard next to the figurehead.

The 74-gun battleship Warrior is ready for launching in Portsmouth Dockyard. The completed hull is supported by a few last shores, while alongside, men are preparing the ropes that will secure her to the dock.

The traditional flags are flying from short poles where eventually her masts will be placed. These include the distinctive red flag, with the fouled anchor of the Admiralty Board and the Royal Standard.*

*From a sign next to the model ship

This is HMS Vernon’s version of ‘Monopoly’. It includes missile-shaped pieces and locations like the main gate and Isle of Wight Ferry.