The lines of the Victory are based on those of the Royal George launched in 1756.

Building Costs

At the time of her launching in 1765, cost £63,176. For comparison, this would be equivalent to the cost of building an aircraft carrier today.

Dimensions

ITEM
Length overall - bowsprit to taffrail 226ft 6in 69.0m
Length on the lower gun deck 186ft 0in 56.6m
Length of the tread of the keel 151ft 3. 5/8in 49.0m
Breadth - extreme 51ft 10in 15.7m
Depth in hold (includes orlop) 21ft 6in 7.0m
Tonnage - Burthen 2,162 GWT - 2196.6 Metric Tonne
Tonnage - Displacement 3,500 GWT - 3556.0 Metric Tonne

Construction

Victory was constructed from approximately 6000 trees, 90% of which was oak.
This equates to 100 acres (40 hectares) of woodland.
Hull thickness at waterline - approximately 2ft (0.6m)
Timber types used for hull - oak, elm, and fir.
Timber for masts & yards - fir, pine & spruce.
Lignum Vitae - small quantities used for various applications.


Masts - With exception to the bowsprit, heights are taken from waterline

Bowsprit -
(length beyond ships head) 110 ft 33.5m
Fore mast 182 ft 55.4m
Main mast 205 ft 62.4m
Mizzen mast 152 ft 46.3m
Main yard 102ft 31.0m

Rigging

A total of 26 miles (41.9 km) of cordage which was used to rig the ship.
768 blocks, made from elm or ash, were used for the rigging. (A further 628 used for the guns).
Many other blocks were carried for the ground tackle, the ship's boats, storing and spares.
216 deadeyes were also used on the standing rigging.


Sails

Victory could spread a maximum of 37 sails.
In addition the ship carried 23 spare sails.
Total sail area - 6,510 square yards (5,468.4 square metres)


Speed

The Victory was one of the fastest first rate ships of the line at her time, and had excellent handling abilities. In general wind conditions and sail configuration she could reach a maximum speed of 8-9 knots (10 miles per hour). Her maximum recorded speed was 10-11 knots, approximately 12 miles per hour. PRO. Adm. 95/37



Copper

In March 1780 the bottom of the ship below the waterline was sheathed with 3,923 sheets of copper to protect her hull against the ship worm (teredo navalis). Each copper sheathing plate measured 4 ft x 14 ins (1.22 m x 35.6 cm).

Armament at Trafalgar

Lower Gun Deck 30 x 32 pounder
Middle Gun Deck 28 x 24 pounder
Upper Gun Deck 30 x 12 pounder (long)
Quarter Gun Deck 12 x 12 pounder (short)
Forecastle 2 x 12 pounder (medium)
2 x 68 pounder carronad

Combined weight of gun and carriage

Gun cwt pounds kg
32 long 65.0 7280 3276
24 long 58.0 6496 2923
12 long 40.1 4491 2021
12 medium 37.8 4234 1905
12 short 36.6 4099 1845

I was already dreading the planking and rigging. Now 3,923 mini sheets of copper to fix!!!

John

My tongue was very firmly in my cheek!

On the lancaster you get sheets of vert thin tin...and you use a tool called a pin wheel to simulate ....the riveting....maybe something similar will happen with the victory...

Perhaps we could arrange for all interested from forum to visit on the same day?

I think you'll find that if you look at the title of this site and look at the victory video you will see the copper plates and the rivets on the model.

why not have a meet at portsmouth dock one fine sunny day, between issues I suspect.????

I think that the only original timbers on board her are on the gundeck, all others having been replaced since her days in dry dock.
TIS

Like the idea of a trip to Portsmouth. If theres enough interest the dockyard may give us a private tour???

See #7 in Trafalgar as it happened

Do you think we should organise a trip to Hartlepool for those who are too far from Portsmouth?

Mike T