| Alistair 2006-06-17, 7:55 am |
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Pete Dashwood wrote:
>
> On first visiting Portsmouth I was very eager to get on board Victory. It
> was a w day and not holiday time so it was a relatively small party of
> about 6 of us. We were conducted by a Royal Naval rating who introduced
> himself and was a wide mine of information. He obviously was very proud to
> be serving on Victory and it is still an official RN ship of the line. (HMS)
> (I believe Tower Bridge has the same distinction...). Anyway, we wandered
> round the ship and saw all the areas below, including Nelson's cabin,
> marvelling at the confined quarters where men lived and died amongst the
> great oaken beams and cannons. Finally, we came up a companionway to the
> spot on the after deck where Nelson fell, shot by a sniper in the rigging of
> a nearby enemy. (The sniper was brought down immediately by returned fire
> but it was too late to save the Admiral.) (there is a plaque in the deck
> that marks the spot.). There was a moment's silence as we imagined the
> scene.
>
> Our guide told us that he had had a group of young Frenchmen a couple of
> days previously and they had been very irreverent, made comments verging on
> insulting, and actually laughed when shown where Nelson died. He had
> maintained his temper with difficulty, but Royal Naval discipline being what
> it is, and valuing his posting to Victory, he restrained himself. However,
> he got his satisfaction at the end of the tour.
>
> As you may recall, there is an avenue on both sides of the wharf made from
> the masts of wooden ships. Dozens of them. So, as the French were leaving,
> he gestured around the deck and said: "Thank you for visiting HMS Victory,
> the flagship of Lord Horatio Nelson and survivor of Trafalgar, 1805. You
> might wonder what became of the French ships... what's left of them is over
> there (pointing to the avenue of masts)". (The avenue is made from the masts
> of the prizes that were taken at Trafalgar; many more were sunk.)
>
> Apparently, the group left quietly. :-)
>
> Pete.
A nice story. It seems that the French have had a very different view
of the Battle of Trafalgar than the British do. Try
http://www.hms.org.uk/nelsonsnavyfrentraf.htm for their earliest
published account of the battle.
I'm reading "Battle at Sea" by John Keegan which covers Trafalgar in
some detail. The account dispels quite a few myths (the allied
French/Spanish fleet was eager to do battle; they were somewhat better
at it than one might have expected from a navy which had been cooped up
in port; they suffered horrendous casualties; if it had not been for
the fact that the van squadron spent two hours sailing back to Cadiz
when they should have turned at the first opportunity then it would
have had a very different result).
Trafalgar is featuring heavily on the tele over here. I can't wait for
2015 and we get the 200th anniversary of Waterloo.
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