ROYAL NAVY MUSEUM, PORTSMOUTH.
The Royal Navy Museum is situated just across the square from HMS Victory at the Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth.
The museum is home to an interesting collection of Naval artifacts and documents. The ground floor has many interactive displays that children
and adults will find fascinating to try.
The museum is divided into two sections on the ground floor is the Trafalgar Gallery.
This is home to Trafalgar, an interactive display depicting the story of the famous battle.
No English ships were destroyed at Trafalgar but approximately 7,000 French and Spanish, and 1,500 British seamen were killed or wounded,
among them of course was Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson himself.
In the Trafalgar experience Nelson and Napoleon take part in an audio-visual display talking about their tactics and other participants
in the battle.
The Trafalgar gallery is also home to W.L. Wyllie's Panorama of the Battle of Trafalgar, with additional sound and lighting effects.
The upper floor, known as the Quarterdeck, of the museum houses a large collection of beautifully carved and decorated figureheads all from former Royal Navy ships, some examples
can be seen in the pictures to the right.
The room is dominated in the centre by the ornate royal barge used to carry Nelson up the River Thames in January 1806.
The Quarterdeck also contains lots of information and exhibits relating to Nelson himself, including portraits and personal belongings as well as
belongings of his wife Emma Hamilton and their daughter Horatia.
