Part 5

This was the last active service of this glorious old ship, though she was on the point of being sent to sea again in 1815, when no less than six Admirals, on applying for commands, named the "VICTORY" as the ship they would wish to have, although there were many new ships, larger, and carrying much heavier ordnance; but the prestige attached to the "VICTORY," besides her well known sailing qualities, outweighed every other consideration. Waterloo, however, soon put an end to that war, and the "VICTORY" was never re-commissioned.

In 1825 she was made flagship in Portsmouth harbour, and ever since that date, with but few intervals, she has continued to bear the flags of Admirals, who, having like her, spent their lives in the service of their country, terminate their active careers by holding the highest post in the British Navy,--the command at Portsmouth. Every year, as the 21st October, the anniversary of Trafalgar, comes round, daylight discovers the "VICTORY" with a wreath of laurel at each mast-head, a continual memorial of the deeds of that ever-to-be-remembered day, when at one blow the naval power of two great nations was crippled, and the superiority of England established without dispute.

In 1844, Queen Victoria happened to be passing through the harbour on this day, and learning the cause of the decoration of the "VICTORY," at once pulled on board, and went round the ship. Her Majesty evinced much emotion, when shown the almost sacred spots where the hero fell and died; and plucking some leaves from the wreath that enshrined the words on the poop, "England expects that every man will do his duty," kept them as a memento.

The "VICTORY" now no longer bears the Admiral's flag; the increasing numbers of seamen in our depôts, rendered in 1869 a larger ship more convenient, and she is retained in her position in the harbour solely as a reminiscence of the past; and it almost seems a pity that she cannot be now fitted up internally, as nearly as possible as she was at Trafalgar, that the thousands of annual visitors might form a better idea of the state of the decks of a man-of-war of the olden time when going into action; and that in these days of rapid and enormous changes in both shipbuilding and ordnance, a type of the man-of-war that won England her pre-eminence, might be preserved to all time.

Griffin & Co., Publishers, 2, The Hard, and Wickham Street, Portsea

Transcriber's Note

Minor punctuation errors have been repaired. Hyphenation and accent usage have been made consistent. Archaic and variant spelling, grammar and punctuation usage is preserved as printed.

Ditto marks within tables have been replaced with words.

Page 18 references Admiral St. Julien, "who was thorough republican." It's possible that the word 'a' may have been omitted following 'was,' but as it may be correct as printed, no change has been made.

The following printer errors have been fixed:

Page 10--apopletic amended to apoplectic--... Sir C. Hardy was seized with an apoplectic fit, ...

Page 14--Island amended to Islands--... having sent the merchant ships to the Zaffarin Islands, ...

Page 24--countrymen amended to countryman--... and the deeds of their countryman, Buonaparte, ...

Page 34--Eary amended to Early--Early on the morning of the 7th June, ...

Page 37--go amended to got--... however, Villeneuve got into Ferrol ...

Page 40--Admiral amended to Admirals--... on which the British Admirals hoisted their flags, ...

Page 40--amonst amended to amongst--... which killed in a short time amongst many others, Mr. Scott, ...

Page 48--dipatched amended to dispatched--... as a private ship in the squadron which was dispatched ...

The illustration caption in {braces} has been provided by the transcriber for the convenience of the reader.

The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page. Other illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they do not fall in the middle of a paragraph.