Victory at Sea/HMS Victory
- Episode aired 2004
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In Harm's Way on a Wooden Ship.
When most of us think of life aboard a wooden sailing ship of the 1700s or 1800s, we tend to get our images from movies like "Mutiny on the Bounty." This episode, in this superior series, is a valuable corrective.
It wasn't so bad. Crowded, yes, and few opportunities for fresh provisions, but floggings were evidently not so common, and were ordered for offenses that might have brought the death penalty ashore. Civilians were abundant and could be executed for minor crimes without losing much. But if you hang a man at sea you lose an irreplaceable crewman.
This story takes us from the beginnings of HMS Victory, a ship of the line, the battleship of its day. And the construction is thoroughly and interestingly laid out. It was an enormously expensive undertaking. Whole forests had to be felled to provide the wood for the ship and its three masts. The builders needed some 26 miles of hemp lines. I don't think anyone was in the habit of smoking that kind of hemp. Some neatly done graphics give us the diagram of the Victory's lay out, from bilge to weather decks. Nothing is said about the location of the loo. It wasn't called "the head" for nothing. It was a one holer that was perched out over the ships prow. What must it have been like, using it in a rough sea? I imagine the officers had a different arrangement. They usually do.
The ship was in service for some forty years and ironically she achieved pattern perfection, like the speedy clippers. Wooden sailing ships weren't going to get much better. And they were then replaced by steam-powered ships. Today, HMS Victoria is still in commission and her restored version is a relic at Portsmouth. The second oldest ship in commission is the USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides." The Victory's most famous engagement was at the battle of Trafalgar, which foiled French and Spanish plans to cross the channel and invade England. Horatio Nelson was in command and was killed during the battle -- "not just a hero but a martyr", exclaims Ari Nussbaum, one of three talking heads. That's why a statue of Nelson stands atop that pillar in Trafalgar Square.
But the emphasis of the episode isn't on Nelson but on the Victory herself. I found it fascinating.
It wasn't so bad. Crowded, yes, and few opportunities for fresh provisions, but floggings were evidently not so common, and were ordered for offenses that might have brought the death penalty ashore. Civilians were abundant and could be executed for minor crimes without losing much. But if you hang a man at sea you lose an irreplaceable crewman.
This story takes us from the beginnings of HMS Victory, a ship of the line, the battleship of its day. And the construction is thoroughly and interestingly laid out. It was an enormously expensive undertaking. Whole forests had to be felled to provide the wood for the ship and its three masts. The builders needed some 26 miles of hemp lines. I don't think anyone was in the habit of smoking that kind of hemp. Some neatly done graphics give us the diagram of the Victory's lay out, from bilge to weather decks. Nothing is said about the location of the loo. It wasn't called "the head" for nothing. It was a one holer that was perched out over the ships prow. What must it have been like, using it in a rough sea? I imagine the officers had a different arrangement. They usually do.
The ship was in service for some forty years and ironically she achieved pattern perfection, like the speedy clippers. Wooden sailing ships weren't going to get much better. And they were then replaced by steam-powered ships. Today, HMS Victoria is still in commission and her restored version is a relic at Portsmouth. The second oldest ship in commission is the USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides." The Victory's most famous engagement was at the battle of Trafalgar, which foiled French and Spanish plans to cross the channel and invade England. Horatio Nelson was in command and was killed during the battle -- "not just a hero but a martyr", exclaims Ari Nussbaum, one of three talking heads. That's why a statue of Nelson stands atop that pillar in Trafalgar Square.
But the emphasis of the episode isn't on Nelson but on the Victory herself. I found it fascinating.
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- rmax304823
- Feb 6, 2014
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