The HMS Victory was Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. This ship now sits dry dock in Portsmouth England as a museum ship. Above is an oil painting created by J.M.W Turner in 1824. Click below to travel through this living museum.
The Battle of Trafalgar ended with twenty-seven British ships defeating thirty-three French and Spanish ships. Here you will find a log of all ships involved, including a history of the ships, the casualities, wounded, and the outcomes of the ships. Were the ships the deciding factor in the battle? What impact did the ships themselves have on the battle?
Did you know that a seaman could be flogged and given as many as thirty-six lashes for drunkenness, quarrelling, insolence or neglect of duty? Or that during the French wars, thirteen times as many seamen died of disease and accident as were killed in battle? Find out more about sea life here:
A step-by-step journey through the battle.
"Many of the men on board would not have been actual sailors. It was common at that time to ‘press gang’ people on land. This meant that groups of sailors would go out at night and basically kidnap young men and take them on board a ship to use as crew." Find out what a day at sea would be like.
