Exploring Naval History

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We’re leaving the Isle of Wight today, which makes me quite sad because it’s a beautiful place. I hope I make it back someday. We take the ferry across to Portsmouth to visit the Portsmouth Marine museum. For once, we arrive early! Our first stop is the Mary Jane, a ship which sunk in Henry VIII’s time and was preserved by the silt until excavated in the 1980s. The ship is constantly sprayed with wax to preserve the timbers (the process will be done in 2011). It was creepy looking at half of a ship under dark lighting and mist, knowing that its sudden sinking had preserved a lot of history but cost many human lives.

Next, we toured the Victory, the ship Admiral Nelson commanded at the battle of Trafalgar against Napoleon. I had a couple flashback moments to Pirates of the Caribbean, especially in the admiral’s dining room. The creepiest part of the tour was being down in the hold. It’s the bottom level of the ship, and the air is damp and very stale. I thought about all those pioneers and immigrants who booked passage across the Atlantic in the holds of ships: I admire their ability to live for two months like this. I know I would have gone insane in the dark and the cramped.

In the bottom of the ship was also the spot where Admiral Nelson died. I had no idea how obsessed the British are with Nelson until I got off the ship and toured an exhibit of all the Nelson memorabilia. Seems in the 19th century, pretty much everyone had at least a postcard of the painting of his death, and if you were lucky enough to get a calling card from him, you framed it on your wall. Crazy. Upstairs in the museum was the original sail from Trafalgar. It was found in the 1990s in a basement after it had been placed there for storage sometime during WWI. I wonder how many other rare treasures are hiding in basements, just because no one knows they exist.

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