Peter Weir's film "Master & Commander" is widely considered to be a highly accurate snapshot of life on a British warship of the time.

If this is subject matter that interests you, you really have to watch "Master and Commander: Far Side of the World". It is the most brilliantly accurate and faithful account of this era, the ships and the crew. It is a fictional story, (but all based on different real events by different ships and commanders) but one of a long series of books written by Patrick O'Brian - and the movie stays faithful to the brilliant source material. When I last visited victory in Portsmouth, there was a hall that displayed her shot torn mainsail from Trafalgar (yep, big) and a video clip played on large screens - only later did I discover the clip was from this movie. You really should react to that!

HMS Victory is still listed as an active ship in the Royal Navy, now serving as the ceremonial flagship of the First Sea Lord (head of the Royal Navy). Therefore it is the oldest active warship in the world.

Nelson was referred to as 'Admiral The Lord Nelson'

I was drafted on to HMS Victory as one of the Quarter Masters, my youngest daughter was christened aboard her by the Rev "Ned Kelly". A fantastic draft, and a great crew.

Never heard of Trafalgar is so insane it’s hurting my head 🤯

if you watch Master and Commander, take a look at the very beginning. I have seen some people think they are seeing sacks hung up, but those are butts in hammocks. No room at all

Imagine being a French ship trying to get away, sees HMS Victory chasing them, and not only is she not slowing down over the course of a few days but she is getting closer!

It's called a head because it's at the head of the ship

I learned most from the movie Master&Commander and the game "Return of the Obra Dinn"

Keelhauling was stopped in the royal navy in the early 18th century

Watch Master and Commander. It is the best study of life in the navy at the time of Nelson and the Napoleonic wars

go to portsmouth in england and you can still see the victory

wheni walked to school in the 80s, i often walked past the house where Admiral Collingwoods wife lived.  Sadly he rarely saw her, he spent most of his life at sea.

If you really want to see Naval life and warfare as is described here, best react to Master and Commander: Far side of the World if you haven't. Puts everything you watched here into action and perspective.

The Royal Navy was not really challenged after Trafalgar because Spain and France lost their battle fleets - which had actually outnumbered the British Fleet.  These ships took a long time to build. The greatest naval battle in British history that lead to RN dominance up until WW2, and it was slowly overtaken once the USA and its industrial might (added to all the British losses during the war) joined the war. The Royal Navy still dominated the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, and was the dominant navy at D-Day. You really ought to have heard of Trafalgar. I have visited Victory a couple of times - fantastic every time, well worth doing.

Really interesting, enjoyed watching with you. I hope you get to come over here one day and visit Portsmouth to see victory, she's truly stunning and when you think you're walking the corridors that Nelson himself walked it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Good luck.

HMS Victory is still listed as 'active' and acts as the Admirals Ship(1st Sea Lord).....whilst ceremonial, she is still a very important ship in Royal Naval Lore. She is currently going through a major restoration and I highly recommend you visit should you ever find yourself in Portsmouth.
NB: Watch Master & Commander to gain a real knowledge of what life was like on a ship of this type.

There are videos on YouTube of HMS VICTORY firing a broadside while in dock ( done with pyrotechnics ) .It shows what it was like to be on the receiving end .The car alarms all went crazy .

25:24 bear in mind that was for 6 months of provisions - it does not mean that the men only spent 6 months away from home. In this period in the Royal Navy crews were kept with the ship for her whole "Commission" which could be several years. Even if they were in home waters the crews were not allowed ashore, as many of them had been "press ganged" or essentially forced into service, and would thus want to escape. As most sailors from this period could not swim depriving them of the ability to go ashore was usually enough to keep them.

Ships could often be away from home for years on deployment - if you were sent to the Pacific or India stations you'd be out there for years at a time due to the length of time it took to get there in the first place (bear in mind there were no Suez or Panama canals at this time) so it wasn't worth sending ships for short periods. Stores would be taken on from wherever they could be found or purchased - whether that was trading with locals, supply depots in your ports (part of the reason to have such a large network of ports), or stopping along a coastline to send boats to collect river water to drink. Men who had died from disease (a frequent occurrence) were replenished by either hiring locals or more commonly by "impressing" (press ganging) men from merchant vessels of your nation that you came across. Most of the time the Royal Navy wanted trained seamen so preferred press ganging merchant sailors, but they'd take untrained men (landlubbers) if they had to.

In fact the Royal Navy frequently set up press ganging parties in the major ports in England when a trade convoy was due into port - imagine being a merchant seaman, spending most of a year sailing to India, trading cargoes and sailing home, then just as you get your pay and step ashore, looking forwards to seeing your family and having a rest for a few weeks you see a couple of sailors bearing down on you and suddenly you're thrown into a boat and rowed out to a navy ship and that's it, you're now going to spend several years more at sea, this time with the added threat of death in battle!