American Reacts How an 18th Century Sailing Battleship Works 

The Portsmouth dockyards is a fun visit, I'm 5'4 and I felt tall ..an experience worth visiting

30:10 - the use of "nippers" to secure the messenger rope to the anchor cable was usually performed by the ship's boys, which is the likely origin of children being called "nippers" in British slang to this day. The warrant officers aboard ship (surgeon, carpenter, gunner, boatswain, etc) each had "mates" to assist them, and to be a warrant officer's mate was effectively to be his apprentice, learning the trade and preparing to step into his role if he was killed. Most would have had some prior experience or aptitude for the work; surgeons were obviously the most specialised role, and it wasn't an uncommon career path for intelligent men from humble backgrounds to get a basic grammar-school education, study Medicine at university for sufficient time to pass an examination by the Company of Surgeons (no degree was required), then enter the Royal Navy as a surgeon's mate with an immediate and steady wage. William Beatty, surgeon aboard HMS Victory at Trafalgar, went down that route as an 18-year-old with fairly minimal training, became an acting-surgeon within two years and a fully-warranted ship's surgeon in time for his 22nd birthday. That said, not all naval surgeons were ambitious young hotshots, and plenty were simply drunks, debtors or incompetents who'd failed to make a living as physicians ashore. At the Glorious First of June in 1794, the surgeon of HMS Defence, an "amiable man" named James Malcolm, proved incapable (either through squeamishness or professional ineptitude) of amputating limbs. The fact that men like Malcolm were ever employed in the role, and that men like Beatty could rise so quickly, is reflective of how desperate the Navy was for doctors until they began to offer proper incentives to physicians in 1805. Sailing master was the other specialised warrant officer role, dealing primarily in navigation, plotting the ship's course and position, etc. They tended to have no difficulty finding mates to deputise them, as they could recruit ordinary foremast hands who had navigational experience as quartermasters or helmsmen, or appoint midshipmen (usually those from lower social ranks) who saw little chance of earning a promotion to lieutenant, and judged becoming a master to be their best chance of career progression.

Carpenter and Surgeon were very specific and vital roles on any major naval vessel. The Carpenter was the man who was directly responsible for the hull of the ship; he would be the one who measured or delegated someone to measure the depth of water in the hold and was required to plug holes beneath the water line in battle and carried out or delegated work on 'timber' repairs around the craft. He was a highly rated member of the crew with assistants on larger crafts. Surgeons were essential for the general health of the crew. Most illness/deaths in the 'age of sail' were due to accidents; particularly during severe storms and general life on board and disease; particularly after periods ashore (syphilis, etc.), or long periods at sea (scurvy etc.) and of course battle casualties. They would have assistants (also known as loblolly boys) on larger craft.

No their main jobs were surgeon carpenter etc. Designated skills.

I have had a tour of HMS Victory twice. The thing that amazed me the most is the fact that there used to be hammocks right next to the guns so sailors could be ready in minutes. Oh and also that everything was geared for action. The only person to have a modicum of luxury was the captain.

Read the novels by Patrick O'Brien. The attention to detail of life aboard a 'Man O' War' during the Napoleonic War, is incredible. The film Master and Commander stars (Captain Jack Aubrey, who was himself based on the real life of Lord Thomas Cochrane) who's successes were amazing.

The carronades were greatly feared by enemy crews. Crossing the T of an enemy ship was to position your ship at the rear of an enemy ship. The carronades which were loaded with canisters of metal balls, scrap metal or 64 pound cannon balls. These would be fired through the lightly armed rear of a ship which had glass windows on the aft end. These projectiles would sweep through the full length of the enemy gun rooms etc and shred everything in their paths. The HMS Victory did this to the French ship Bucentaure and killed or injured 400 of its 800 crew members as the huge cannonballs swept through the length of her gun deck.

A few of the things you asked about during this video. First thing to remember, people back then may not have known all we know today, but they were just as intelligent as we are, "Trial and error" never applied to some things, no ship was ever blown up because no-one knew to keep fire and sparks away from gunpowder! Second, why didn't they just keep adding more and more sails? two main reasons, it took hundreds of men to handle those which they had, you couldn't have a crew big enough for any more, and even if you could, if the pressure of the wind on the sails exceeds the weight of the ballast that the ship carries, the ship capsizes instantly! As it was when a ship had studding sails set, any change in wind speed or direction meant that they had to be removed extremely quickly before disaster struck!

HA, I was gonna recommend this video yesterday LOL!!!!!!!

Another difference between English and American English is the word `rocks.` In English this would be shingle or gravel , rocks in English are lumps of stone ,probably at least fist-sized. I`m not suggesting that large pieces were not used, although shingle would be easier to shift if the ballast needed to be moved

A " Store" doesn't mean the same thing in the UK as in America ! Your "store" is a shop. In the UK a store to us is a store room , to keep things in . FORCASTLE usually pronounced FOLKSAL.

If you ever visit England, you need to go to the historic dockyard in Portsmouth, where : the mary rose, HMS WARRIOR, HMS ALLIANCE (which is actually in gosport but you can get there by a boat from the dockyard) , HMS M33, AND THE MIGHTY HMS VICTORY

The earlier ships with tall "castles" at the front and rear were when sea battles involved grappling on to the other ship, and fighting hand to hand. By Elizabethan times they were switching to standing off and exchanging cannon fire, to batter the other ship. The English had small nimble ships when the Spanish Armada arrived, the Spanish had mainly large ships packed with troops.

Carpenters and surgeons etc. almost always had "mates" as helpers. Most often only the Captain's mates were officers of high breeding.

Measuring 80 feet at its foot, 54 feet at the head and 55 feet deep, the 3,618 square feet square sail weighs 360kg and was sewn in 1803 at the Royal Navy yard at Chatham in Kent. On 6 January 1806 the sail was taken off HMS Victory this was just one sail.

Of anchor cables: the ropes that "nipped up" to the anchor cables were done by small agile young boys - hence the English term "nippers" for a small child. An anchor which was paid out to the very end of its cable was said to have reached "the bitter end" because the end of the cable was attached to the bits, nothing in reserve. English is full of Naval phrases, the origin of which is largely forgotten.

"Clothing store" - we (the Brits) don't generally use the word "store" for "shop". Happens occasionally, "agricultural store" means a big institution selling bags of feed and maybe even tractors. "Shop" is used mostly for small institutions, or ones selling small amounts of things. An "agricultural store" will often include something it calls a "shop".

What I love is the purposefullness of every single feature of this ship. The midshipman's quarters located right next to ship authorities to prevent them getting into mischief, the skylight for the purpose of preventing the cook from messing the stores around, the sick bay is right next to the bogs, etc, naval ships were ingenious in design in every way.

The "draining" mainly referred to seepage of sea water into the hold through the 'working timbers'.

What a wonderful video. Something to watch and watch again.

HMS Victory is still in Portsmouth Naval Harbour, where you can have a guided tour, as well as the Mary Rose - Henry the Eights battleship in a museum. Been twice. You have to duck on the bottom two decks of Victory if over 4 foot tall - hence 'powder monkeys' - 7 or 8 year old boys fetching powder for the guns from stores in battle a guide told my 7 year old grandson - his age. HMS Victory sailed through a fleet of Spanish and French battleships that were firing back, taking immense fire herself - the gun decks space would have been filled with huge wooden deadly splinters from taking hits. In 1805 when HMS Victory was the biggest warship in the world. The English fleet took out 22 French and Spanish battleships in the battle of Trafalgar, off Spain - denying them control of the English Channel where it would enable them to invade England from France. Hence Trafalgar square and Nelson's Column. Victory had to be towed back to Gibraltor to fix up after the battle. I've been on her, the craftmanship and thickness of wooden hull are immense and jaw dropping. There is an estuary in the New Forest, called Bucklers Hard, ( gravel bottom - not silt when launching), where ancient warships were built. There are ancient Oak trees in the woodland nearby and a museum that descibes how warships were built, and how they carefully selected bows of the huge old trees to fit on the ships with minimum 'cut and shut', to make the hulls stronger. Trees still there because steel came along. Jason from London

Extra sails do not equate to extra speed as some sails would "steal" the wind from others. There is a commonality amongst ships as when you fight, the greater prize is to capture the vessel, not sink it. Over here in Norfolk HMS Gloucester has been found, she sank in 1682. She was commissioned during the rule of Cromwell, when we were a Republic. Will be going to look at the artifacts found, on display at Norwich Castle. Horatio Nelson was a son of Norfolk and I often walk the same streets he did and go in the same pubs he visited. I have sailed out of Great Yarmouth as he did, messed about on Barton Broad where he learnt to sail. He went to sea because he was naughty at school ( when he went) and his mother got her brother to take him on. If you visit the UK you too can visit these things.

The rear sail would not assist the rudder or to turn the ship however to perform a tight turn the yard arms on the three mast could be turned to assist, the foremast (front or first mast) would be turned in he direction of the turn, the mainmast (middle) would remain as it was and the mizzenmast (rear mast) would turn away from the direction of the turn to push the rear of the ship out

You'd eventually rip the masts from the keel as you would with carrying to much sail in high winds. Plain sailing is when no additional sails are required eg the stay sails and stunsails. You will have noticed that alot of common phrases come from these terms including "skysails or sky scapers."

You asked when did ships turn to anchor chains rather than cables? That would be when they had steam power available to haul in metal chains. Very thick, wet, rope cables were hard enough to wind in but you go up another notch with chains.

An interesting video of choice, i just took a walk around the inside of the HMS victory last week when visiting portsmouth ^^ good timing. Fun fact the tallest person on board the victory was a carpenter who was 6ft 7" and worked in one of the most cramped areas, my friend on visit spent most of his time on that deck kneeling whenever we stopped walking and he is just over 6ft 1"

the small boats were moved by hand mate.

"Gallons"... REM': this likely refers to UK gallons, each of 8 pints. Not to US gallons which are of just 6 pints apiece.

There is a video of HMS Victory firing a broadside, worth a watch.

HMS Victory is still the flag ship of the Royal Navy and can be seen, beautifully preserved in Portsmouth England 🇬🇧

Oh, HMS Victory! I know all about her, I made the Airfix model! But I have to say this video is fascinating.

Hey Connor. 👋 I have watched countless videos alongside you on your channel, spanning a year at least. I am English and I so appreciate your obvious fascination with my home country. The ship featured in today's video is HMS Victory, under (my personal hero) Lord Admiral Nelson's personal command during his celebrated battle victories of the day. But you knew that, of course. Just one thing in today's video struck me as odd that you (and presumably Americans in general) didn't know. The long pole (or "rod") with one padded end, used to "ram" home and compact the charge, wad and iron ball or shot was, and is still today, known as a RAMROD. There is no such word as "rammer" as used by the narrator. Hammer? Jammer? Scammer, spammer? All are real words. But not rammer. Don't sweat it though, mate. A brief, formal, written, and then read-aloud, acknowledgement in your next post will be fine 🙂 👍

Sadly no grass to be commented on this episode, thus we move on

Probably lots of differnet pumps then. Not just archamedies screw, possibly things like bellows that blow fires or a set of pulleys with buckets on a rope.

Try a watch the find of the MARY ROSE I think it was under water for 300 years

No surgeons were full time, so were carpenters.

I dare say the cooks would have been handy with a chopper, so they could do carpentry and surgery if need be. Really good video and having been on HMS Victory, it really helps to understand it better.

24.42 "Forecastle" is how it's spelt, but it's always been pronounced "Foke'sle".

Hey, I see you like Battleships, you must check "Naval Legends", a great serie of video about it with great CG model and description: "Naval Legends: USS Iowa" "Naval Legends: Yamato, the biggest battleship evermade"

The Union Flag at the bow is on the Jack Staff and is the Union Jack.

Those sailors must have had a huge sense of achievement when all the sails were set and the ship was racing across the waves, especially on a sunny day with the white canvas against a blue sky!

Hi Connor. Great video. luv it. me personally. I think the modern day ships ain't got nothing compared to the old ships of the past. They've got style. class. There just so beautiful to look at. and the craftsman ship Top notch. spectacular. b safe take care. from 🇬🇧👍 an old cockney gal

Three sheets to the wind.

This is what you have been waiting for.

Ballast was a very, very old feature of wooden ships, even before sails. Even seasoned wood is significantly less dense than water; more so for seawater. Any vessel of a size where the cargo and crew weren't sufficient to stabilise would have had rocks placed below the waterline rihht back to Roman and Greek triremes. With rudder technology it was again a function of ship size. Early 18th century warships didn't have a ship's wheel but were steered by a whipstaff; a vertical lever attached to the tiller which would pass through slots in the deck to the steering point. As ships grew larger the mechanical advantage a lever provided was not longer enough for easy steering, so ropes and pulleys were used to further increase ease of movement. When it comes to sailing rigs, the hull will have a center of mass and the sails a center of force. Jibs and the driver help to move the center of force in front or behind the center of mass to aid turning. It's perfectly possible to maneuver such a ship without a rudder. As to size of sails, yes there are diminishing returns as hull drag increases with speed. Ship hulls have a theoritical maximum speed which is a function of length and the length/breadth ratio. You also have to factor in the strength of the rigging needed to support larger sails. A ship like Victory would have many miles of rigging just to stop the masts ripping out of the keel the instant the sails were set. As human understanding of all this increased, you see a move towards longer, thinner hulls with more and lighter yards, culminating in the gorgeous tea clippers of the mid 19th century like the Cutty Sark preserved in London. Angling the yards *could* be used to turn the ship, but the main purpose on a square rigger is efficiency. To get the best work out of that type of sail it wants to be perpendicular to the wind direction. That might be different to the direction you want to go, in which case the sail power is transferred to the hull, and the hull will mainly want to take the path of least resistance, which is forward where its water profile is narrowest. In order to sail upwind, square-riggers had to compromise on efficiency by angling the yards to the wind. This limitation is what lead to established voyages using "trade winds" to mimimise lost efficiency and hence time.

A first-rate video (did you see what I did there.?) genuinely instructive.

This is what British engineering is not about. Before the industrial revolution. Though some say making the Gibs for ships was the start. I believe this was the start of the mass production line. A little hamlet near Matlock called Crompton was the first multi factory of the industrial revolution. Plus a beautiful place in Derbyshire's Peak district.

With all those ropes you would have to learn the ropes.

I think he would find Drachinifels video on Germans Z plan interesting he tells you what the Germans wanted to build and whether the ships would have been useful or not. He also does a great video on HMAS Sydney which was Australia's most famous warship whose story isn't very well known outside of Australia.

The pillars he mentions at 29:15 are not original. They were installed as part of a Victorian-era restoration to support the decks.

Chains were switched to when ships got heavier, because at that point, the chain is more of an anchor than the anchor itself. It’s the weight of the chain that holds the ship still. So it was just when ships got bigger.

The narrator said "The HMS Victory"... He was actually saying "The His Majesty's Ship Victory"...... Just say "HMS Victory".

Aarg!

Period correct. Well, not calling it a Battleship would be a start. Its is a ship of the line aka First Rate in British service.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Watch this movie now! It will answer many of your questions

Just to let you know I was watching one of Mark Masterson's vid's, (Mark from the States). He's had a copyright challenge from Rick Steves organisation and had to remove his reactions. I mention this only so you can: 'Be prepared.'

Lieutenant pronounced “Leftenant” in English.

The 'forecastle'is pronounced 'focsle'.

When BRITTANIA ruled waves.

Lo que hace el ingenio, inteligencia y perseverancia, cuando uno se siente en inferioridad de condiciones respecto a imperios superiores como El imperio Español y el Francés.😊 Pero el final es el mismo.😟

God that was a boring video lol Watched it just because I love ya 😆

Gawd! I hate it when people say "The" HMS *Name of ship*! HMS stands for His (or Her) Majesty's Ship. If you preface that with "The" what you are effectively saying is "The His Majesty's Ship" which is just plain WRONG. Unlike US Navy ships where "The" is appropriate as it means "The United States Ship". OK folks? Rant over!

I would love African content as well