People are often impressed by the Sea Stallion’s length, but from the quayside in Portsmouth, our impressive longship suddenly looks as if it has shrunk in the wash. On the opposite quay is Britain’s first, biggest and fastest iron-hulled warship, HMS Warrior from 1860.
Portsmouth Historical Dockyards is filled with history. Besides the Warrior, the Sea Stallion is in the company of Henry VIII’s warship, the Mary Rose from the sixteenth century, and Lord Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory. Even the huge hall we have taken over with sleeping bags, smelly socks, and washing lines, which is now used for storage of museum items, has a wall still marked by the bomb dropped on the harbour during World War II, when gunboats for the British Navy were repaired here.
The more than 100 nautical miles from Torquay to Portsmouth were sailed in 18 hours. The sun shone most of the day and the wind allowed the crew to enjoy the beautiful surroundings at Portland Bill. We sailed into the Solent – between the Isle of Wight and the mainland – at midnight. The current and the narrow waters meant that all hands had orders to stay awake and ready to haul down the sail and row if needed.
At 3 o’clock we dropped anchor and the crew got two hours' sleep in the biting cold wind, until the current let the Sea Stallion come right into harbour.
We spent the first hours of the day catching up on sleep missed during the night. Then a lot of the hands went off hunting for places to take a bath and wash clothes to clean up the sweat, tar, greasy hair, and smelly boots.