Portsmouth

In all the years we lived in London we never made it to Portsmouth, the historical home base of the British Royal Navy. As a result, we decided to set things right with a weekend stop there after completing a business meeting in Kent. I booked us into a Holiday Inn Express located on the edge of the redeveloped Gunwharf Quays. This was our base for two nights before we began making our way back to London for a week of trade show meetings. 

We spent most of Sunday exploring the Portsmouth Historic Dockyards. This included a visit to the Mary Rose Museum, a guided tour of Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory, and a self-guided tour of the Warrior, the UK's first ironclad, steam-powered warship. Without realizing it, we’d scheduled our tour of the dockyards in chronological order. As a result, it was fascinating to see how naval military technology advanced from Henry VIII’s Tudor era, through to the Victorian era. I was surprised to see cast-iron cannons were still a feature of warships as late as 1863.

Much like at Battle, on board the Victory, we had an opportunity to stand at the exact spot marked by a bronze plaque where Nelson was mortally wounded during the Battle of Trafalgar. Equally memorable was the experience below deck. We learned that the sailors lived on the gun deck among the cannons.  At night they slung hammocks over the cannon barrels, while during the day they dined and played board games at tables and benches that hung from the ceiling in between each cannon carriage. Let's just say it was a far cry from the comfortable cruise ship cabin we'd enjoyed earlier this month.

The Mary Rose was a real treat. At the time of its construction in 1511, it was the most advanced warship of its time. It quickly became the flagship of Henry VIII's rapidly expanding navy. It was substantially rebuilt in 1536, transforming an impressive ship of 500 tons into one of 700 tons. On 19 July 1545, during the Battle of Solent, near the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, the Mary Rose suddenly heeled (leaned) heavily to her starboard (right) side. Water rushed in through the ship's open gunports and it quickly sank.

The boat sat covered in silt until it was rediscovered by fishermen in 1836. After a brief, largely unsuccessful salvage mission, the boat's location was soon forgotten until it was located again in 1965. Finally, in the spring of 1982, the remaining third of the boat's hull was raised intact from the seabed. 

Thirty years of preservation work followed before the vessel you see today was finally unveiled for public viewing. The museum does a superb job of displaying the hull and the thousands of artifacts recovered from the seabed. This includes massive cast-iron cannons and the personal effects of several seamen including ship's cook and carpenter.

Constructing a warship of the size of the Mary Rose was a major undertaking, requiring vast quantities of high-quality material. For a state-of-the-art warship, these materials were primarily oak. According to Wikipedia, the total amount of timber needed for the construction can only be roughly calculated as only about one-third of the ship still exists. One estimate calculates that about 600 mostly large oaks were used, representing about 16 hectares (40 acres) of woodland.

This technology stood in stark contrast to the Royal Navy’s latest additions, its two recently commissioned Elizabethan aircraft carriers. We were lucky enough to see both the Prince of Wales and Queen Elizabeth in port. While neither vessel was open to the public, it was surprising how close we could view them through a nearby dockland fence.

We then finished our afternoon with a quick trip up the Spinnaker Tower to take in a dramatic view of Portsmouth Harbour and the surrounding coast. This included a superb, unimpeded view of the Navy’s aircraft carriers. During our visit, we got to see the regular Hovercraft service speeding across the Solent towards Southsea, as well as take in the many defensive structures erected over the centuries around the harbour.

Unfortunately, due to poor weather, the Historic Dockyard's transfer boat to Gosport wasn't operating.  As a result, we never got to visit the Royal Navy's highly-rated submarine museum. I'd also hoped to visit the Hovercraft Museum near Gosport.  However, this was closed for its mid-winter break. I guess this means we've got a great excuse to return to Portsmouth at some future point.

The following morning, after checking out, we took a quick detour to the Southsea Hoverport to watch the Isle of Wight Hovercraft glide up the beach, then spent an hour or so exploring the nearby World War Two D-Day Museum. The museum includes access to Landing Craft LCT 7074, a lovingly restored landing craft that took part in the D-Day invasion. The atmosphere on board was hard to describe. For a brief moment, thanks to the craft’s high side walls and their sound muffling effect, I swear we could viscerally feel the energy and tension of this historic day.

Next to the museum is the Legacy Gallery. This is home to the Overlord Embroidery commissioned in 1968 to remember those who took part in D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. The Overlord Embroidery tells the story of this extraordinary battle in 34 extraordinary hand-stitched panels that collectively extend a total length of 83 metres. Some of these panels were truly breathtaking in their design.

A business meeting we’d scheduled in Dunsfold was canceled shortly before we flew out. As a result, we found ourselves with additional free time on Monday. Garry and I decided to spend an evening visiting my cousin Hilary and Michael, her new husband. We were both stunned by the comprehensive “Grand Design” style renovation they’ve recently completed. The old Fernhurst property was barely recognizable. The following morning, we took them for breakfast at Cowdray Farm Shop & Café in Midhurst.

The drive back to London was uneventful. We also secured an early check-in at our Airbnb apartment. This meant we could return our rental car and drop off our bags before venturing into Olympia for our first working day on the floor of the British Toy Fair. Dinner that night was a business affair. We dined with the supplier who’d canceled our Dunsfold meeting the day before.