HMS Victory : Her Construction, Career, and Restoration [Hardcover]

Alan McGowan (Author), A. P. McGowan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 14, 2000

One of the world's best-known warships, HMS Victory was the flagship of Lord Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Still a commissioned vessel, she lies today at Portsmouth, England, where thousands visit her each year. Many marvel at her beauty and wonderful state of preservation, the result of the extraordinary work lavished on her over the past two hundred years. A must for Nelson enthusiasts, historians, and preservationists, this book tells the story of the painstaking historical research and fine craftsmanship that restored the ship to its age-of-sail glory. The narrative of the restoration is accompanied by two hundred recently commissioned drawings that show the ship as it was in 1805 and a hundred paintings and photographs. In addition to the technical details of construction and fittings, the book describes the Victory's fabled career and what life on board was like for the officers and crew.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press (January 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557503877
• ISBN-13: 978-1557503879
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,652,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Lavish Treat for Devotees of the Sailing Warship, April 9, 2000

By 

David Blatt (Hartford, CT U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HMS Victory : Her Construction, Career, and Restoration (Hardcover)

Much like the Victory herself, this book is heavy, handsome, and expensive. Written by the Chairman of the Victory Advisory Technical Committee, it contains discussions of the Royal Navy, the Victory's construction and active service, her post-Trafalgar history, and many particular aspects of her restoration. However, the big attraction for many readers will be visual-- the striking photographs, some in color, and especially the 90 pages of drawings by John McKay. While some of the tables and descriptions of the ship's restoration might cause a casual Patrick O'Brian fan's eyes to glaze over, this book is invaluable for those who always wanted to know which rider knees were made of which wood and how they were fastened together in 1759--and in 1959. The effort of the scholars and shipwrights who have maintained Victory as she is today, over 240 years after she was first laid down, is truly awe-inspiring.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The great ship saved, August 1, 2001

By 

Susan Paxton - See all my reviews

This review is from: HMS Victory : Her Construction, Career, and Restoration (Hardcover)

Alan McGowan, Chairman of the Victory Advisory Technical Committee, and Canadian illustrator John McKay have produced a truly wonderful book about the greatest of sailing warships, HMS Victory, which serves not only as a tribute to the ship and the men who sailed her, but also to those who saved and restored her to her present grace. Unlike USS Constitution, which truly is a corpse of a once beautiful frigate, a ghost of her lovely War of 1812 self, Victory has been returned to her precise appearance at her moment of greatest fame, October 21, 1805, the Battle of Trafalgar.

The first half of the book goes into startling, fascinating detail about the condition of Victory and the many years since her permanent drydocking in 1922 spent repairing and restoring her. The battle against dry and wet rot, death watch beetle infestations, and the odd German bomb (a bomb fell into Victory's drydock in 1941 - by some miracle she didn't catch fire, which would have destroyed her utterly) has gone on more or less continuously, and it is interesting to read how the restorers have learned from earlier mistakes (new repair work has sometimes rotted within a few years) and adopted new techniques and materials. While she appears very authentic, there have had to be compromises, cleverly disguised, and these are described by McGowan - emergency escape doors carefully camouflaged in the hull, her rigging replaced with polypropylene rope, her heavy wooden spars replaced with steel, her wrought-iron lower masts (themselves borrowed from the armored frigate HMS Shah in the 1880s) fastened through her keel into the floor of the dock to relieve the pressure on her 240 year old hull.

In the second half of the book, artist John McKay contributes a series of magnificent drawings showing Victory in her Trafalgar configuration, with details of rigging, armament, interior layouts, etc. This portfolio of illustrations will provide almost all the reference needed for anyone interested in building a model of HMS Victory in her prime.

I cannot recommend this book more highly to anyone interested in sailing warships in general and HMS Victory in particular. I don't give many books five stars, but this one deserves every one.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book cleverly stuffed with exciting material., February 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: HMS Victory : Her Construction, Career, and Restoration (Hardcover)

In all honesty and simplicity this book is great. It is a substantial sized book with excellent paper quality. The layout is professionally done which makes it very enjoyable to return to on a regular basis. The first half of this book contains very interesting info in the form of tables, charts and text on the Victory's history and career, pictures also help tell the story. The second half of the book is made up of drawings; John McKay once again has done a superb job at preserving the Victory's details. These drawings make a great accompaniment to the drawings in "The 100-Gun Ship Victory" by McKay. They are of a different style, if one could say that. More of an effort has been put towards conveying detail and workings rather than drawings suitable for reconstruction. In closing I will say that the title explains the contents accurately, and the reviews below are true and accurate. Enjoy.
Michael