Joey's Visit to Portsmouth and Chatham Dockyards

[Joey Lock]

Me and my dad went to portsmouth, about 2 weeks ago. And then the next day we went to Chatham Dockyards, where the HMS Victory was originally built. And since everyone is making a visit thread, I thought I'd have a go!

Anywho, We visited the HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, HMS Gannet. First off, I have to say. British Weather wasn't very merciful on the day, so its very cloudy. The extremely big shame of the day was they were repairing the Stern so I couldn't see it. Anywho:

There she is! What a beauty! Im under the Lamp Post, With the big hair, It was windy.

I can't show any more pictures. It was under construction and such. Also it was very dark inside. We couldn't go on the Marines walk, we couldn't go on the Poop Deck, We couldn't see the stern, we couldn't see the figurehead. It was a bad day to go to the Victory. But heres some images of the other ships.

The HMS Warrior, She was the largest, fastest, most heavily-armed and most heavily-armoured warship the world had ever seen.

View from the Gangway.

Me by the Gigantic Swivel gun.

The amazing armament of the ship!

The hundreds and hundreds of Muskets that were on the ship.

The Ammo Room. Amazing.

The quite plain but luxurious Great Cabin.

We then went to Chatham the day after:

My dad standing next to the enormous swivel gun.

The Giant HMS Victory Model!

Chatham wasn't really a main Dockyard anymore. Most ships that were built there such as the Victory, Formidable (sound familiar?), Unicorn (Its real). But once we left Chatham, we saw a entrance to a Fort along the road. Im glad we did, It was the most amazing Fort ever! It was Fort Amherst, Europe's Largest Surviving Napoleonic Fortress. It was a shame that we couldn't take pictures cause my Digital Camera (I used for MOC's) broke, so we had to use my phone camera.

Gun in the main hall.

The top of the Gigantic Fort, That is our very friendly tour guide, Ben to the right. His phone rang about 3 times whislt in the fort and eventually he said "Im very sorry, Can I please take this? My Girlfriends gonna kill me".

I am definitely going back to the Fort and I will visit the HMS Victory on sunny, working day, so most people will be at work rather than visiting the ship.

[Admiral Croissant]

Nice! That must have been 2 amazing days! I would like to visit the Victory as well, maybe next summer. Too bad you couldn't see everything of the ship. But also, isn't it forbidden to take pictures in the ship? Anyway, the warrior is great as well ofcourse, and the gundeck isn't even thát different from the Victory. The fort looks also interesting. Well, nice pictures!

[Bonaparte]

Thanks for sharing these pictures Joey! A visit to the Victory is very high on my to-do list. It really sucks you couldn't see the stern and access certain parts of the ship. I'm hoping those repairs will be over by the time I go there myself.

[Joey Lock]

Nice! That must have been 2 amazing days! I would like to visit the Victory as well, maybe next summer. Too bad you couldn't see everything of the ship. But also, isn't it forbidden to take pictures in the ship? Anyway, the warrior is great as well ofcourse, and the gundeck isn't even thát different from the Victory. The fort looks also interesting. Well, nice pictures!

You can't use flash to take pictures off er...I think it was something to do with the Ammo room. Some bloke warned us before entering, but we didn't use flash much anyway, thats why the pictures were not so good. I think it was more of a personal visit to the Victory, rather than taking pictures and not enjoying.

One of the annoying things was that you can't exactly stop off and take close up pictures of the Cabin and such, Because its sort of a tour, you have to kinda keep moving because lots of people walk round the ship. You start off on the Left entrance, go up until you get to the Top deck, then your free to do what you want, but then you go down again all the way to the hold, then up and out of the left side.

Heres some pictures I took:

The elaborate entrance.

The guns!

The Quarterdeck.

Marines uniform, Man I wanted to put on the Marines hat but you can't touch...

[Captain Blackmoor]

Me want to go there!

It's just like Bonaparte, high on the to-do list. I'm planning to visit it next summer along some other guys.

It's a sad thing you couldn't visit the stern part of the ship. I hope the repairs are done when I am there.

Looks like you had a great day!

Thanks for the pics!

[Joey Lock]

Me want to go there!

It's just like Bonaparte, high on the to-do list. I'm planning to visit it next summer along some other guys.

It's a sad thing you couldn't visit the stern part of the ship. I hope the repairs are done when I am there.

Looks like you had a great day!

Thanks for the pics!

Mabye we could do a Eurobricks visit to Portsmouth!

Also, some more information about the Fort Amherst, It has been used for alot of Re-enactments, infact Sean Bean a.k.a. Sharpe, appeared at the Fort in 1995 for a Sharpe event and it was the first time Sean Bean actually visited a Sharpe event.

They also do some Dungeons and Dragons events where people dress up as Knights and Monsters and role-play battle in the Forts dark tunnels and such. Ben was telling us how he was doing volunteer work that day, and he got told to dress as a goblin, and he got beaten up by a bunch of knights when he sat down to have a rest in the sun!

[tedbeard]

I visited HMS Victory et al over a decade ago on holiday with my wife. We really enjoyed the Mary Rose as well but what is HMS Gannet?

[Joey Lock]

I visited HMS Victory et al over a decade ago on holiday with my wife. We really enjoyed the Mary Rose as well but what is HMS Gannet?

The HMS Gannet is a ship at Chatham Dockyards:

[Rick]

Thanks for posting pics... always nice to see the real deal.

[Hound Knight]

Very cool pictures Joey! I hope to visit it someday as well, but it's quite a trek from where I live.

[tedbeard]

The HMS Gannet is a ship at Chatham Dockyards:

Uhm, I kinda got that much from the "HMS" part.

I guess I should have asked what era and type of Naval Vessel is HMS Gannet?

[Admiral Croissant]

I guess I should have asked what era and type of Naval Vessel is HMS Gannet?

About the first thing you'll see if you type hms gannet on google is this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Gannet_(1878)

Everything can be found on the internet

[Captain Blackmoor]

I hope to visit it someday as well, but it's quite a trek from where I live.

If bricks from Ohio can reach the Netherlands, then you also can travel to Great Britain.

[Hound Knight]

If bricks from Ohio can reach the Netherlands, then you also can travel to Great Britain.

Aye, but 'tis much more expensive to ship people than bricks!

[Derfel Cadarn]

Interesting pics, i never knew about the fort there, i shall have to check that out. I must of been round the Victory and Mary Rose 4 or 5 times as a kid, but not recently. Ive been meaning to look round it again, cause now im that little bit older i can appreciate it more and take it all in. Plus ive got no excuse not to go cause its only 30 mins up the road from me . Thanks for sharing.