The "Victory" Flag Ship, Portsmouth Harbour

Photograph of the starboard side of HMS Victory, not in sail, on the water in Portsmouth Harbour. Two flags fly from the ship. In the background is the city of Portsmouth.

HMS Victory was built at Chatham Dockyard and launched in 1765. Constructed from some 6000 trees, the ship was too large to pass though the dockyard gates and it was only after dockyard workers shaved enough wood from the gates that the ship could pass through. Victory was active in a number of naval battles including the Battle of Trafalgar, during which Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) was mortally wounded on board the ship on the 21st October 1805. This photograph is a carbon copy of the original albumen photograph. Carbon was a process that was less susceptible to fading, unlike an albumen print that is prone to discolouration over time.