Following the White Cliffs and Seven Sisters, we spent the day with Mum's cousin Harley and his wife Jackie at Portsmouth Naval Dock. Harley, an old Navy boy knows this place well, as he spent a few years stationed there. The port is actually quite old and played host to the famous capsizing and sinking of the Mary Rose, King Henry VIII's prize warship. Story goes that it was too overloaded and just rocked too far and toppled over just outside the port with everyone watching, King Henry VIII included... Fail. The ship in this photo is the HMS Warrior. This first steam and sail powered ship. It was so feared, that it was said that the French would jump in the river just at the mention of the black snake.
We had a guided tour of the HMS Victory, the oldest ship still in commission in any Navy in the world. This was the ship that Lord Nelson won the battle of Trafalgar with and consequentially died on in the same battle. He didn't want to be buried at sea (the normal practice) and requested to be taken back to England. So they hid his body in a brandy barrel and topped it up with an alcoholic wine substance used in surgery. It is said that at his funeral, his men all toasted his memory, drinking you know what? They say it was a full bodied wine... Hehehe.
Ready for action. HMS Warrior.
Pistols. HMS Warrior.
Arrggh!!! And fucking swords Rrrgghh.
Oh, and these bad asses! HMS Warriors.
The Deck of the HMS Warrior.
The next day we went and had lunch with one of Mum's old school friends at the Giants Head Pub by the Long Man of Wilmington. It was cool.
Location:Battle,United Kingdom
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