Where Nelson fell
A plaque on the quarterdeck marks the spot he was shot, and you descend to the dim orlop deck where he died some three hours later.
In a dry dock on the Portsmouth waterfront sits a warship more than 260 years old that is, on paper, still serving. Victory is the oldest naval vessel in the world still in commission, and since 2012 the flagship of the most senior officer in the Royal Navy, though she has not left her dock since 1922. Launched in 1765 with 104 guns, she is bound for ever to the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, when Admiral Nelson led his fleet to victory from her deck, was hit by a French sharpshooter, and died below decks before the fighting was over. The visit is a vertical one, down through the ship's layers. It starts on the quarterdeck, where a small plaque marks the spot where Nelson fell, drops through the cramped gun decks where some 820 men lived among hammocks and cannon, passes the admiral's cabin, whose elegant furnishings come as a surprise amid all that roughness, and ends on the dim orlop deck, below the waterline, where he breathed his last. In the dry dock itself you can walk beneath the hull on raised walkways, a rare angle that conveys the ship's bulk better than any view from the quayside. Honesty is owed here, though: since 2022 the ship has been undergoing the largest conservation project in her history, the so-called Big Repair, planned to run for at least ten years. The masts are down, the hull is wrapped in scaffolding under a weather roof, sections of deck close in rotation and the sound of the works carries inside. Anyone arriving with a picture of a fully rigged sailing ship in mind will be let down by the exterior; the interior still earns the visit, and the dock walkways have become part of the experience because they show the restoration at close range. There is no ticket for the ship alone: entry comes with a Portsmouth Historic Dockyard ticket, the cheapest being a one-attraction day ticket at £36 for adults and £26 for children aged 3 to 15, while the all-inclusive annual ticket (£51 adult, family tickets from £99) opens every attraction including the Mary Rose Museum next door and is the smarter buy for anyone planning more than one. The stairs between decks are steep and the ceilings low, so pushchairs cannot come aboard (there is a buggy park at the entrance), and children under five tire of it quickly while older ones are gripped. In winter the visit is by guided tour only, roughly 45 minutes; in summer you wander at your own pace with an audio guide. Portsmouth Harbour railway station is about five minutes' walk from Victory Gate; the ship itself is open 10:00 to 16:45, and last entry to the dockyard is 16:30 from April to October and 16:00 from November to March.
A plaque on the quarterdeck marks the spot he was shot, and you descend to the dim orlop deck where he died some three hours later.
Raised walkways in the dry dock pass under the ship's belly, revealing her bulk and the restoration work at close range.
Low beams, ranks of cannon and hammocks slung inches apart: this is where some 820 men lived.
Victory Gate, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth PO1 3LJ
With children, or while the scaffolding is up, the Mary Rose lands harder: a sixteenth-century wreck superbly displayed and with no steep stairs. Victory is for naval-history lovers and anyone who wants to stand where Nelson fell. The gap between the one-attraction ticket (£36) and the all-inclusive annual (£51) is small, so with a full day take the latter and see both.
Pushchairs cannot come aboard and are left in the buggy park at the entrance at the owner's risk; the stairs between decks are steep, sometimes close to ladders, and the beams are low enough to duck under. Children of six and up are gripped, while toddlers lose interest within a quarter of an hour, so one parent may prefer to take them along the quay or into the Mary Rose Museum next door.