Next stop was HMS Warrior. It was the largest warship in the world and the pride of Queen Victoria’s navy. This warship was the most technologically advanced for its time, although by the time it launched there had been further advances so it was already outdated.
It had a complement of 700 men, including 150 marines. It was a hybrid being both steam powered and three masted to carry heaps of sail.
The Captain had his own suite of cabins about 80sq metres.
compared to the Jack Tars who slept 12 to table in a 3m x 5m space.
Their life was focused on their gun, they ate, slept and lived within arms length of their cannon.
Arrayed above them were their cutlasses and there were numerous cabinets holding their rifles.
The steam engines are massive, and you can only imagine the noise of them thumping away. Stoking these furnaces would have been a very hot and arduous job.
The decks are vast when empty but would be teeming with sailors when at sea.
The helm was massive and required 8 sailors to turn the ship’s wheel. They even had a spare set of 4 wheels down below.
There are blocks and tackle everywhere, but all stowed neatly. Some of the blocks are huge, there are capstans for raising anchors, hoisting sails, and even lifting the propeller to reduce drag when under sail.
As you can tell, I was impressed by this old leviathan of the seas, and could go one about it, but there is still HMS Victory to comment on so I’ll stop it here. More photos available on request!
Traveling Further 