HMS Victory

In 1923 it was noted that the original carved oak starboard entrance port canopy was badly decayed and recommended it needed replacing as part of the restoration work. By 1990 this replacement had also become rotten. In many places it was only held together by the thick layers of original old black lead paint.

The new entrance port canopy was completed in 1992. It is hand-carved from seasoned mahogany, a tropical hardwood that is expected to be more long lasting than the original oak. It demonstrates a traditional craft skill that can be traced back to Victory’s launch.

When Victory was brought into drydock in December 1922 it was a priority to remove as much weight from her as possible. She no longer carried her full complement of 104 guns from Trafalgar, but it was calculated that removing some of the guns she still had on board could save 97 tons. An original 32lb gun and gun carriage weighed about 3 tons.

During the 1923 restoration replica guns were made out of teak to give her gun decks the proper look and feel, whilst saving weight. Some of replica guns on board are now made from GRP (fibreglass).

The deck beams, large oak timbers running across the ship's width, support the decks and provide stability. Repaired ends account for only 3% of their total length. Many beams, especially on the lower and orlop decks, predate Trafalgar. Shipwright's marks, like raze and scribe marks, offer insights into the ship's history, including repair sequences and the work of the shipbuilders.

Many of Victory’s 173 pillars are original to launch. They sit upright between decks and provide additional support for the deck beams.

A few original pillars in the hold were removed to make room for a table for the Royal United Services Museum model of the battle of Trafalgar when the ship was docked for repairs in 1857.

The keel is made of English Elm from the forests near Portsmouth. It was the first structure to be laid when building Victory. It is major part of the ship, which ties together the upright frames, the stem (front) and stern post (rear).

On top of the keel is another thick layer of English Elm known as the deadwood, or hog, which helps fix the bottommost planking. On top of the deadwood is the oak keelson, which attaches to the stemson at the fore (front) of the ship and the sternson at the aft (rear). Large sections of these structures are thought to be original.

The keel is believed to be almost entirely ‘as launched’, except for a 4.5 metre section that was damaged during a 1941 air raid.

Victory was designed as floating fortress. At Trafalgar in 1805 she carried 104 guns, but by the time she was brought into dry dock in December 1922 very few of those guns remained on board. Their total weight was enormous – 84 tons on the lower deck, 70 tons on the middle and 52 tons on the upper.

Commanders and crews constantly changed the way the guns were arranged and fired. They experimented with where they were placed on the different decks, the distribution of weight, how they were aimed and the best way to engage the enemy. They varied the types of shot used and the way the powder magazines were protected and experimented with the safest way to get gunpowder to the guns. They also modified the ways of making sure the cartridge detonated as firing mechanisms improved.

The guns on the dockside surrounding Victory mostly date from 1847.

Spars include all of the long timbers, such as yards, booms and gaffs, used to carry the sails. At sea spars could be damaged by storms and gales, and were one of the first things to go during a battle. Wooden spars also fell apart simply due to the weather. When a ship was not sea it was usually stripped to the lower masts and the spars were stored in dry airy conditions. Victory’s spars, and even her masts, were replaced on and off throughout her active life.

Until the late 1960s most of Victory’s spars were wood. Maintenance was a big problem and some even needed replacing every few years. It was also becoming harder to get hold of good timber of the right length.

A ship’s rigging is made up of two parts: standing rigging and running rigging. Standing rigging holds the masts in place. Running rigging is actively worked while the ship is at sea to move the yards and handle the sails. Both types would have been made of hemp, a natural fibre. Standing rigging was usually tarred, which gave it a black colour. Running rigging was a natural pale grey. Rigging needed constant attention from the crew. It wore out quickly with use and was easily damaged by weather and warfare.

Victory is now rigged with suitably coloured polypropylene. This is much more sustainable and makes it possible for the ship to carry an impressive and authentic display of masts, yards and rigging. It still takes a skilled team of riggers to climb the masts to set it up and look after it.

Victory has two capstans, the main capstan and the jeer capstan. The main capstan is located towards the stern (back) and was originally used to raise the anchors. The main capstan is now a non-working replica made in the 1920s.

These large rotating structures extended down through the decks and could be turned by the crew to lift heavy weights. The drumheads (top part) of both capstans can be found on the middle gun deck.

The capstans show how a simple mechanism can multiply human power. They also provide an insight into the brute force required to run the ship, and the extent to which the Navy could call upon the crew to handle heavy weights.

The gunports were sealed by lids suspended on hinges. They were opened and closed from the inside with rope lanyards. They are shaped to follow the curve of the hull. The current gunports are all replicas made from teak, fastened with brass screws. Originally the gunports would have been made from oak or elm.

Early photographs of Victory show a high number of the gunports on the lower and middle decks were fitted with small glazed windows.

The figurehead represented the character of the whole ship. A great amount of care and expense was given to its design and construction. The figurehead at launch was very elaborate. In 1803 it was found to be very rotten and replaced with a much simpler design. You can see a scale replica of the original in the Victory Gallery.

The current figurehead is a modern replica of the one carried at Trafalgar. It was fitted in 1992, but removed in 2009 because of its poor condition. This demonstrates the challenge of caring for wooden structures left out in the wind and rain.

Victory’s massive rudder is made from four upright timbers of oak and pitch pine, fastened together with large copper clench bolts. It is nearly 12 metres tall.

The main body of the rudder is believed to be original. However the rudder stock (top) was extended in 1922 with a 1-metre extension, which extends up through an opening in the middle deck.

The rudder is hung from the stern post using pairs of large bronze fixings called gudgeons and pintles. The large pin of the pintle on the rudder fits neatly into the eye hole of the gudgeon on the stern post, allowing the rudder to swing freely from side to side. The gudgeons are fastened to the stern post with original copper fixings. The pintles are fastened to the rudder with a mix of original copper fixings and modern steel bolts added during repairs. Both the gudgeons and the pintles are thought to be original to launch.