Trafalgar Day

[Canary42]

 

Here's wishing you all a happy Trafalgar Day.

 

And R I P Horatio.

[1ozzy]

I've never heard of Trafalgar Day.

Do you celebrate it by singing "15 men on a deads man's chest", then drinking a bottle of rum?

If so, count me in, I like rum😉

 

[Canary42]

Interesting that you should mention rum.

Trafalgar Day commemorates the day that Admiral Lord Nelson destroyed the French Fleet which was gathering to invade England.  

Sadly, Lord Nelson was killed in the battle, he was shot by a French sniper from the rigging of an adjacent ship.

Nelson's body was brought back to England preserved in a barrel of rum.

Trafalgar Square in London was named after the battle, and there is a statue of Lord Nelson on a column in the square.

 

[redtrev]

It was a barrel of brandy he was brought back in.

[1ozzy]

I prefer Rum over Brandy Redtrev, but, any port in a storm.

[scorpiojo]

Port and brandy together is good 🥴

[1ozzy]

Really Scorpio?

I knew there was a reason I liked you😇

[Canary42]

Quite correct redtrev, it was brandy. My bad.

[1ozzy]

So Horatio was well and truly pickled by the time he arrived home?

[Canary42]

He was given a fine funeral, as fitting for one of our greatest heroes who saved us from a possible repeat of 1066.

[naomi24]

Nelson's ship, HMS Victory, the world's oldest naval vessel still in commission, is well worth a visit. 

[ToraToraTora]

06:27 it was Brandy and it was apparently all gone by the time they got back giving rise to the "Nelson's blood" name for Brandy theory but people often say that is rum rather than brandy so it seems confused:

 

[douglas9401]

Blood might be the least of the worries after a few days.

[Canary42]

I celebrated the occasion with a trip up Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower to watch the departure of one of our Aircraft Carriers, and of course from that lofty perch you can see HMS Victory.

As naomi said earlier, HMS Victory is well worh a visit, as is the Nelson Museum at the same site (Portsmouth Historic Dockyard) which includes Nelson's funeral barge.

There are several other attractions there, including of course the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's flagship which sank in 1545 and was raised from the mud in 1982 - but take plenty of money, it's not cheap there.