Hils's journal

The second day of our holiday took us to Southampton. Now famous for having the most expensive parking in the world ever. £12 for 5 hours I think. The reason for our visit to Southampton was to do the Titanic Walk which takes you around the city to all the monuments to RMS Titanic which sailed from Southampton. As it turned out the city also has connections with Jane Austen and Nelson but more on those when we get to the relevent photos. The Titanic Walk took us a while to get started as the map was pretty useless. We then spent about half an hour trying to find the first marker but eventually drbillbongo spotted it. YAY

( Southampton )

This was probably the most amazing thing we saw while we were at Portsmouth. The Mary Rose was part of King Henry VIIIs fleet. In 1545 she capsized and sank on the Solent River whilst engaging in combat with the French navy. In 1971 her wreck was found, preserved by the mud and silt which had covered her. In 1982 a large section of the hull was raised and is now being preserved in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The Mary Rose is the oldest surviving shipwreck.

Because of the age of the wreck the ship is stored behind glass and in special lighting conditions so that the timbers won't be damaged. She is being treated with a water and wax solution to stop her decomposing any further. I manged to take some photos with my flash turned off but they are quite dark. I also took a video

( The Mary Rose )

HMS Warrior was built in 1860 and at the time was the most powerful warship in the world. She runs on steam and had 40 cannons aboard

( Portsmouth Historic Dockyard: HMS Warrior )