After 25 years in this condition, Trincomalee was modernised and converted to a 26-gun corvette in 1845 and re-commissioned in 1847 under Captain Richard Laird Warden. During her first commission from 1847 to 1850, HMS Trincomalee was posted to the Royal Navy's North America and West Indies Station and served as a patrol vessel, seeing service in the Caribbean and the waters off Bermuda and Newfoundland. Duties included policing illegal slave ships, fisheries protection, hurricane relief, and carrying messages, cargo, and money to British ships and garrisons in the region. Upon Trincomalee's return to Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, she returned to reserve status for the next two years.
HMS Trincomalee's second commission, between 1852 and 1857, was spent on the Pacific Station under the command of Captain Wallace Houstoun. During this deployment, Trincomalee sailed over 110,000 miles (177,028 kilometres), ranging between the Arctic Circle and the Antarctic, showing the flag, protecting trade routes, and mapping uncharted areas. Because there was no British naval base in the Pacific at this time, Trincomalee relied on depot ships and stops at local ports and islands to take on supplies. In June 1857, HMS Trincomalee departed Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the transatlantic voyage to Chatham Dockyard in England, arriving on 4 September. The ship was again placed into reserve.
Today, HMS Trincomalee is the oldest British warship still afloat and is a part of the National Historic Fleet. Now moored in Jackson Dock in Hartlepool and surrounded by a recreated early 19th century dockyard, Trincomalee serves as the centrepiece of the National Museum of the Royal Navy's Hartlepool satellite location.
HMS Trincomalee - Specifications:
Tonnage: 1,065.63 tons
Length: 54.9 metres (180 feet)
Beam: 12.1 metres (39 feet)
Top Speed: 13 knots (24 km/h)
Armament: 38 guns and 12 carronades (1817); 26 guns (1845)
HMS Trincomalee - Specifications:
Tonnage: 1,065.63 tons
Length: 54.9 metres (180 feet)
Beam: 12.1 metres (39 feet)
Top Speed: 13 knots (24 km/h)
Armament: 38 guns and 12 carronades (1817); 26 guns (1845)
Complement: 178 officers and men, 29 Royal Marines
.jpg)
.jpg)
Photos taken 22 April 2024
 |
| A British Rail Class 185 Desiro diesel-hydraulic multiple unit train operated by Transpennine Express awaits departure at York Railway Station. The trip to Hartlepool commences with a journey on Transpennine Express to Thornaby, where one transfers to a Northern Trains route from Thornaby to Hartlepool. |
 |
| The nearly empty interior of a Transpennine Express carriage en route to Thornaby, 22 April 2024. |
 |
| The masts of the 19th century frigate HMS Trincomalee tower over the buildings housing the National Museum of the Royal Navy's Hartlepool location on a damp, foggy morning. |
 |
| Although the car park of the National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool has space for several hundred vehicles, only a few patrons were visiting on this cool, damp, foggy Monday morning. The museum's centrepiece is the 1817-vintage frigate HMS Trincomalee, which floats in an original dock surrounded by buildings built to depict a typical early 19th century dockyard. |
 |
| Approaching the gate to the National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool. |
 |
| The entrance gate to the museum. The ticket office and gift shop is housed in one of the reproduction dockyard buildings. My ticket was purchased online and validated upon arrival. |
 |
| A map showing the layout of the National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool. Number 11 on the map, the paddle steamer Wingfield Castle, was closed to the public during this visit in April 2024 due to extensive deterioration. Fortunately, a restoration program is underway. |
Below: The front and reverse sides of the site map and health & safety instructions given to visitors at the admissions desk.
.jpg)
.jpg)
 |
| A look at some of the reproduction buildings typical of an early 19th century British dockyard which now surround HMS Trincomalee in its dock. |
 |
| The dockyard buildings are designed to showcase the variety of businesses that supported the Georgian era Royal Navy, including map makers, chandlers, undertakers, taverns, and tailors. |
 |
| Left to right: a chandler's shop, the undertaker's, the pub, and the naval tailor and swordsmith. |
 |
| The dockyard buildings as seen from the deck of HMS Trincomalee. |
 |
| HMS Trincomalee, a Leda-class frigate of the Royal Navy. Trincomalee was built in Bombay, India in 1816-17 and launched on 12 October 1817. She is one of only two surviving Leda-class frigates, 47 of which were built for the Royal Navy between 1805 and 1832. The Leda-class frigates were based on the design of the French frigate Hebe, captured by the Royal Navy in 1782. Designed to carry 38 guns, the Leda-class frigates were designated as Fifth Rate ships by the Royal Navy and generally not used in the main battle line, which comprised First Rate ships (100+ guns). Instead, the fast, manoeuvrable frigates were used for scouting, patrolling, blockading, commerce raiding, and convoy escort tasks, as well as carrying messages and personnel between ships. |
 |
| A bow view of HMS Trincomalee floating in its dock. Trincomalee was one of approximately 30 ships built in India for the Royal Navy in the 18th and 19th centuries due to a severe shortage of timber in Britain at that time. (A frigate like Trincomalee would typically consume the wood of 1,000 oak trees.) The shipyard of the Honourable East India Company in Bombay was staffed by many skilled shipwrights who exploited the vast forests of Malabar teak growing in India. Malabar teak proved to be an especially durable wood, more resistant to rot in saltwater and able to cope with climatic extremes compared to the oak from which most Royal Navy ships were built. Indeed, HMS Trincomalee retains 60% of her original timber from 1817. Construction of Trincomalee was overseen by master shipbuilder Jamsetjee Bomanjee Wadia (1754-1851), who was descended from a long line of Indian shipbuilders. Over his 29-year career as Master Builder at Bombay, Wadia oversaw the construction of 15 ships for the Royal Navy. |
 |
| HMS Trincomalee's figurehead is a turbaned man believed to represent a native of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), home to the port of Trincomalee. Turbaned figures were prominent figureheads on ships built in India, which were often named after regions of the Indian subcontinent. This is a replica of HMS Trincomalee's second figurehead, originally carved in 1845 and removed for conservation after the ship was moved to Hartlepool. |
 |
| HMS Trincomalee has three masts: the foremast (forward) stands 41.45 metres (136 feet) high; the mainmast (centre) measures 46.6 metres (153 feet), and the mizzenmast (aft) is 37.4 metres (123 feet) tall. Yardarms run across the masts to carry the sails. The masts pass through the ship's decks almost to the bottom of the hull, where they are seated. |
 |
| Trincomalee's stern features windows spanning the entire width of the captain's cabin and quarter galleries on the sides. Although the ship has been largely restored to her 1817 appearance, the modified, elliptical stern reflects the 1845 modification that converted Trincomalee into a sloop. Nevertheless, the modification is very similar to traditional stern galleries featured on Royal Navy warships around the turn of the 19th century. |
 |
| A closer view of the stern gallery. Without a heavy load of cannons, sails, stores, and men, Trincomalee floats several feet higher than her designed waterline; as such, visitors can see the top of the rudder and the copper sheathing covering the lower hull, designed to slow the growth of algae and seaweed and protect against wood-boring toredo worm. The stern is decorated with elaborate wooden scrollwork, known as gingerbread, featuring flowers, garlands, and an Asian elephant in homage to the ship's Indian provenance. Two octagonal oil lanterns used for navigation sit on the taffrail over the stern, while the davits for the ship's 18-foot cutter (the 'jolly boat') jut backwards from the stern. The green-painted windows in the stern gallery provide privacy in the officer's latrines (known as 'seats of easement') located on either side of the Captain's cabin. |
 |
| The exterior of the ship's starboard side, with the gunports in the Captain's cabin closed and those on the gun deck opened, with cannons protruding. Tar derived from pine trees harvested in northern Europe was applied to the ship's hull to prevent rot. |
 |
| Boarding HMS Trincomalee through a starboard side entrance to the ship's Gun Deck. A few of the replica 32-pounder cannons can be seen protruding from the gunports. The white stripe running along the ship's hull at the level of the gun deck is authentic to the period of the 18th and 19th century on Royal Navy warships. |
 |
| A closeup view of the fibreglass replica 18-pounder cannons protruding from Trincomalee's gunports. The red paint on the gunports, known officially as 'gun port maroon', is authentic to the 19th century and was designed to disguise blood during battle. |
 |
| Unlike larger ships of the line, frigates had only a single gun deck. The cannons sited here fired an 18-pound cannonball and were thus known as 18-pounder guns. Gunnery was a specialist trade and the operation and maintenance of the ship's guns was overseen by trained Gun Captains. Gunnery training began as soon as a ship was at sea and continued daily in order to hone each gun crew's skill in working as a team, as well as reduce the amount of time to load, fire, and reload the gun. In the early days of training, however, mishaps and accidents were common. |
 |
| A massive wooden capstan on the Gun Deck, used for hauling anchor hawsers and lifting the ship's boats and heavy gear, such as masts. A drum above the capstan head connects with the capstan head on the upper deck, above. Wooden capstan bars would be fitted into the square holes and pushed by crewmen to rotate the capstan. |
 |
| While HMS Trincomalee's guns were well used for practice, the ship never fired a shot in anger, being commissioned after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and serving during an extended period of peace in the 19th century known as the Pax Britannica. |
 |
| Overhead gratings let in air and natural light to the ship's lower decks. The gratings were removed when loading or unloading stores. As a punishment for serious offences, sailors were sometimes lashed to a grating and flogged. This well-lit, open central part of the gun deck was the workspace for the ship's craftsmen (carpenters, coopers, ropemakers, and sailmakers). The 'Remember Nelson' sign was once mounted above the ship's wheel, on the forward end of a deckhouse built at the stern, during the period when Trincomalee was a youth sail training ship named Foudroyant. |
 |
| The galley in the forward section of the Gun Deck was where meals for the ship's entire crew were prepared. It is dominated by the large cast iron Brodie stove, equipped with a cooktop, spit, and oven. Cookware such as pots and pans were hung on the stove's railing and from hooks on the deckhead above. The nominated 'cook' from each mess would collect food from the issuing room on the Orlop Deck, bring it to the galley to be cooked, and then deliver it to his messmates to eat. Given the ever-present danger posed by fire, the stove was the only source of heat on the ship; however, the stove was extinguished in bad weather or during combat to reduce the risk of sparks flying out and setting fire to the wooden deck. |
 |
| The Captain's cabin at the stern, below the Quarterdeck, comprises sleeping and living quarters, as well as private toilets, one on each of the port and starboard sides, which overhang the sides of the ship. The large table in the centre of the cabin was used for dining and for spreading out the Captain's maps and paperwork. As the cabin was used for meetings with dignitaries, it needed to look impressive; however, during conflict, it would have been 'cleared for action', with all the furnishings being stowed away, gunports opened, and cannons readied for firing. There were four cannons in the Captain's cabin, secured to the sides of the cabin when not in use. The starboard gunports can be seen to the left of the wooden sideboard, with the tackle on the deckhead used to open the ports from the inside. |
 |
| With a wooden desk, seen on the right, the Captain's cabin also served as an office. The white panelled wall separating the Captain's cabin from the Gun Deck would be dismantled when the ship prepared for combat, with the cabin becoming an extension of the Gun Deck and accommodating four guns, two on each side. The vertical cylindrical shaft on the left of the photo is the ship's mizzenmast. |
 |
| The stern gallery windows in the Captain's cabin. Unlike the crew, who slept in hammocks, the Captain slept in a large cot suspended from the deckhead on ropes; this cot would have been cordoned off with screens to afford privacy. |
 |
| Another desk in the Captain's cabin, this one on the port side. A box for important papers and a desk set with ink well sit atop the desk. |
 |
| One of the companionways leading from the Gun Deck to the Mess Deck below. The Mess Deck was where HMS Trincomalee's 240 officers, sailors, and Royal Marines slept and ate. |
 |
| Unlike on larger ships of the line, where the crew lived around their guns on multiple decks, the Mess Deck on a frigate was located below the waterline and therefore was dedicated solely to accommodation space. As such, conditions aboard frigates were considered to be luxurious compared to the larger warships. Seen here are several mess tables at which the crew ate their meals. Note the black iron 'hanging knees' on the thick deckhead beams where they connect to the vertical bulkheads. These were designed by shipwright Thomas Roberts to provide additional strengthening and installed on naval ships after 1810. |
 |
| The ship's sailors slept in hammocks slung from the deckhead. Around 200 hammocks were slung in the Mess Deck each night, being rolled up and stowed in hammock nets on the Upper Deck during the day. Hammocks remained the standard sleeping arrangement in Royal Navy ships well into the 20th century, eventually being replaced by bunks after the Second World War. |
 |
| Notwithstanding the harsh conditions of service aboard early 19th century Royal Navy warships, the sailors were provided with generous quantities of food which was far healthier and more plentiful than labourers on land. Seen here is a display of sailors' fare, which consisted of meat preserved in salt, hard tack biscuits, dried fruit and peas, oatmeal, cheese, butter, and vitamin C-rich citrus fruit to help prevent scurvy. Note the square plates off of which the sailors ate; it is believed this is the origin of the phrase 'a square meal'. Each day, the men were issued with rations of beer and rum, which inevitably led to disciplinary measures being taken against those who became drunk and neglected their duties or caused fights. |
 |
| Although the Mess Deck was more open and comfortable due to the absence of guns, its location below the ship's waterline meant a general lack of natural light and fresh air for the crew, despite a few hatches through which cargo and stores could be moved to and from the lower decks. |
 |
| The anchor cable. On Napoleonic-era warships, the anchor cable was stored amidships and was hauled in by attaching it to a closed loop of cable which was winched around the capstan. |
 |
| An ornate oak bench made by Goodall, Lamb and Heighway of Manchester from the timbers and copper of HMS Foudroyant, Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship between 1799 and 1801. The Foudroyant was wrecked in a gale in Blackpool in 1897 while touring as a maritime attraction. |
 |
| Looking aft on the Mess Deck, toward the officers' wardroom. Officers' cabins are located on either side of the ship. On the right is a grating on the deck covering a hatch to the Orlop Deck located below. |
 |
| The wardroom contains officers' cabins and a large dining table at which the ship's officers ate their meals and socialised. It is depicted with a sumptuous roast dinner laid out on good quality china. The officers would often bring their own animals aboard to use as a source of fresh milk and meat, along with other personal food items to add variety to the dreary shipboard diet. Although warrant officers, midshipmen, and cadets were traditionally accommodated in a ship's 'gunroom' one deck below the wardroom, given Trincomalee's layout, it appears that all of these ranks shared the wardroom with the commissioned officers. |
 |
| The exterior of an officer's cabin. This particular cabin was occupied by Eliza Bunt and her two small children in 1818-19. Bunt was the widow of a Royal Navy boatswain employed at the dockyard in Trincomalee, Ceylon. |
 |
| Eliza Bunt and her children boarded the ship when it visited Trincomalee, Ceylon before sailing to Britain. Bunt kept a diary that provides insights into life aboard a Royal Navy warship in the early 19th century. During the five-month passage between Ceylon and Portsmouth, England, Bunt spent her time sewing, reading, and playing cards with the Captain and his officers. |
 |
| The interior of one of the officer's cabins, with a hanging cot slung from deckhead hooks, and a small desk and chair for reading and writing. The desk holds a candlestick, a long pipe, a pair of dice, reading glasses, and a brass tankard. |
 |
| The cabin of the Captain of the Royal Marines detachment aboard Trincomalee, as evidenced by the uniform hanging from the deckhead, the sword mounted on the bulkhead, and the pair of boots next to the cot. There was only one Royal Marine officer aboard frigates like HMS Trincomalee. |
 |
| A naval officer's cabin. The officers furnished their cabins with their own furniture and personal belongings. Cabins were used for sleeping, washing, and private study. |
 |
| The tiller flats aft of the wardroom. It was here that the Seppings iron tiller was connected via ropes to the steering wheel on the upper deck. The vertical white timber at the rear of the tiller flats is the sternson knee, which was attached to the sternpost to which the ruder was mounted. |
 |
| A companionway from the Mess Deck to the Orlop Deck below. To the right of the lantern hanging from the deckhead is one of the finely-carved 'barley sugar twist' stanchions that was a characteristic feature of ships built by the Wadia family of shipbuilders in Bombay, India. |
 |
| Below the Mess Deck is the Orlop Deck and the hold. The Orlop Deck actually consists of three platforms built over the hold, the lowest part of the ship's hull. The Surgeon's office, the Boatswain's and Purser's cabins, the spirit (liquor) storeroom, the dried fish storeroom, the Gunner's store (stocked with small arms), and private storerooms for the Captain, the Lieutenant, and the Royal Marines were located on the Orlop Deck. Seen here on the forward platform are the Carpenter' storeroom (left) and the room used to store pitch, the resin employed in caulking the ship's hull (right, with open door). |
 |
| A gunpowder magazine on the forward platform of the Orlop Deck. Magazines were located on both the forward and aft platforms and were guarded around the clock by a Royal Marine. The magazines were lined with copper, which served both to eliminate sparks that could cause an explosion and to keep rats from gnawing their way inside. Inside, barrels of gunpowder were dumped into hoppers and dispensed into cartridge bags which were stored on shelves in the magazines until needed by the guns. Illumination in the magazine was provided by a lantern mounted in a separate glass compartment called a light box, which avoided an open flame being in a room filled with combustible gunpowder. Young boys, some under 10 years of age, worked as Powder Monkeys, whose job it was to deliver powder cartridges from the magazine to the guns two decks above. Following Trincomalee's modernisation in the 1840s, the magazines were converted to shell rooms to store the ready-made ammunition (projectile + propellant) used by the new guns. |
 |
| A ladder leads down from the forward platform of the Orlop Deck to the hold. Over the top of the hold can be seen the middle platform of the Orlop Deck, housing the sail loft, where spare sails were stored on racks to prevent the growth of mould and mildew. |
 |
| Looking aft in the hold. The passageway has been created to allow visitors to easily traverse the hold; however, during HMS Trincomalee's service life, the hold would have been filled with ballast and provisions, including water, beer, and salt meat packed in dozens of wooden barrels. In 1845, Trincomalee was fitted with iron water tanks, which kept drinking water fresher for longer than water stored in barrels and was easier to access, being extracted by a pump. Trincomalee could carry 100,090 litres of fresh water, enough to issue each sailor with 13.6 litres per day over the course of a 30 day cruise. Fresh water, food, and livestock were taken aboard during stops at friendly ports to maintain the health of the crew. |
 |
| A display of some of the types of items found in the ship's hold, including barrels of provisions, coils of heavy hemp rope, and baskets of shingle (flat stones) spread over the bottom of the hold to secure the barrels and prevent them from rolling around in rough weather. The black blocks underneath these items are iron 'pigs', used to ballast the ship and counteract the weight of the masts and guns; detailed instructions were used to carefully place the pigs and barrels in a manner than ensured an appropriate balance throughout the hull. These iron pigs may date back to the ship's launch in 1817, as they display the 'broad arrow mark' used to indicate government property. |
 |
| A barrel of provisions slung in a net hung from a tackle and ready to be hoisted up to the Mess Deck. Stores and provisions were lowered into the hold by this means via the series of hatches in the decks above. |
 |
| The slop room, located on the aft platform of the Orlop Deck. It was from here that crewmen could purchase additional provisions from the Purser, who operated the slop room. |
 |
| The Upper Deck, looking forward toward the bow. The Upper Deck comprises three distinct sections: the Forecastle, located forwards; the waist, located roughly in the middle; and the Quarterdeck, located aft. While the Forecastle and Quarterdeck are lined by a raised gunwale behind which are sited various guns, the waist is open to permit the movement of the ship's small boats and spare masts, which were stored on the deck at the waist. The waist is just forward of the main mast (middle mast, centre of photo). White canvas-covered companionways lead down to the Gun Deck, below. |
 |
| Looking aft along Trincomalee's Upper Deck on a rainy day. The decks were unpainted and kept watertight through a daily application of seawater when scrubbing and also by the frequent seawater that flowed over the decks during stormy weather. |
Below: A panoramic view of HMS Trincomalee in Jackson Dock, Hartlepool.
 |
| The binnacle containing the ship's two compasses is located on the Quarterdeck, toward the stern. The compasses are mounted in gimbals to keep them level as the ship rolled in rough seas. A lantern in between the two compasses provided illumination, with lantern smoke being vented via the cylindrical chimney. Covered by a white canvas on this rainy day is Trincomalee's wheel, from which the helmsmen steered the ship. |
 |
| The green paint on the insides of the gunwale on Trincomalee's upper deck is accurate for the 19th century and was known as 'longboat green'. Replica cannons and carronades are sited at gunports cut into the gunwale. Trincomalee originally carried 20 guns on the upper deck, consisting of a mix of 32-pounder carronades and 18-pounder cannons. Four of the guns now sited on the Upper Deck are not replicas, but rather original guns from HMS Foudroyant, an 80-gun, Third Rate ship of the line built in 1798 and wrecked in a gale in 1897. |
 |
| The ship's bell, located on the upper deck between the two forward companionways (crew ladders) on the forecastle. The bell was rung every half hour and eight times at the end of each four-hour watch. |
 |
| A view of the forecastle, looking forward to the bow. The bowsprit juts out beyond the bow. At the base of the foremast are the bitts, paired square wooden blocks used to secure some of the ship's rigging. While Trincomalee sported only two cannons on her Forecastle, the Forecastle itself features several gun ports to which the cannons could be manoeuvred to achieve the desired angles of fire, including dead ahead of the ship. |
 |
| The crew's heads (toilets) were located on either side of the bowsprit, beyond the gunwale, and emptied into the sea below. |
 |
| Looking up Trincomalee's foremast through a forest of rigging. The ship's masts and rigging are reproductions that accurately imitate the look of the early 19th century originals using more durable modern materials. For example, the masts are made from tubular galvanised steel rather than the original pine to avoid rot, and the rigging is a synthetic fibre coloured black to resemble tarred hemp rope. The D-shaped platform at mid-mast is the 'fighting top platform'; each mast had such a platform. |
 |
| HMS Trincomalee was armed with a mixture of cannons (left) and carronades (right) when built in 1817. During the ship's modernisation in 1845, fewer but larger guns were mounted on Trincomalee, with the 10-inch pivot gun on the Upper Deck being so large as to require the repositioning of the masts. |
 |
| A closer look at one of the ship's replica 32-pounder carronades. Carronades were short, heavy guns with limited range whose shots were powerful enough to smash through an enemy ship's hull in close quarters fighting. |
 |
| The Trincomalee Exhibition, a gallery devoted to the story of HMS Trincomalee, is located on the upper storey of the building on the right, accessed via the staircase or a nearby elevator. |
 |
| A final look at HMS Trincomalee from the entrance to the gallery telling the story of the ship's construction, two commissions, and subsequent service as a training ship and naval history attraction. |
 |
| The Trincomalee Exhibition, located on the upper floor of one of the replica dockyard buildings. |
 |
| A display on the far-flung locations HMS Trincomalee visited during her maiden voyage, her first and second commissions, and her time as a training ship. These included crossings of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, as well as tours along the British coastline. The globe in the foreground charts the routes taken by Trincomalee on these voyages. |
 |
| A model of HMS Trincomalee. Shipboard routine governed the sailors' lives, with the ship being cleaned daily and the crew maintaining the rigging, handling the sails, parading, exercising with weapons, and preparing food. Crew quarters were regularly inspected and any punishments for disciplinary lapses administered at 11:00am, after which duties would continue. Food was plentiful aboard Royal Navy ships of the 19th century, with sailors consuming over 3,700 calories per day to sustain their demanding workload. By naval regulation, in 1850 each sailor was to be issued a daily ration of a pound of biscuits, a quarter cup of spirits, one pound of fresh meat, half a pound of vegetables, 1.75 ounces of sugar, one ounce of chocolate, and a quarter ounce of tea; in addition, they received a weekly ration of a quarter pint of oatmeal, half an ounce of mustard, a quarter ounce of pepper, and a quarter pint of vinegar. |
 |
| A copy of the diary of Mrs Eliza Bunt who, with her two children, returned from Ceylon to England aboard HMS Trincomalee in 1818-19 following the death of her husband, a Royal Navy boatswain. The diary records Mrs Bunt's observations of daily life aboard the ship during its 10-month voyage, which included stops in Mauritius, the Cape of Good Hope, St Helena, Ascension Island, and the Azores. |
 |
| HMS Trincomalee's second figurehead, carved from pine and installed on the ship in 1845. It was removed from the ship for preservation in 1999, with conservation completed in 2020. During the conservation process, it was discovered that parts of this figurehead had been replaced with new carving during Trincomalee's service life, possibly due to rot or damage caused during a collision. HMS Trincomalee's original figurehead was carved in 1813, four years before the ship was completed, but was not delivered to Bombay until 1818, one year after Trincomalee had been launched. Superstitious sailors believed the figureheads offered good luck and protection on dangerous voyages. Additionally, at a time of widespread illiteracy, the unique figurehead on each ship helped sailors identify their ship in port if they could not read. |
 |
| In the section of the exhibition on HMS Trincomalee's restoration is a display comparing some of the ship's original 19th century copper spikes and bolts with the modern silicon bronze and steel screws, spikes, and threaded bars, which offer greater durability. |
 |
| A block of Trincomalee's original rot- and salt-resistant Malabar teak hull. The durability of the teak is one reason the ship is in such good condition even after more than 200 years, retaining 60% of her original timber. |
 |
| A 19th century cathead carving from HMS Trincomalee, removed for conservation and display. Catheads were the decorative ends of the timber that supported a ship's anchor when it was raised. New catheads were carved and installed on Trincomalee during her restoration. This could be one of the replacement catheads carved by a local Hartlepool shipwright in 1870 when the ship was stationed in the port as a Royal Navy training vessel. |
 |
| Two shrouds, part of the standing rigging aboard a sailing ship and used by sailors as a ladder to get up and down the masts. The shroud on the left has been made of manila hemp, the same material used in the 19th century. Manila hemp was, however, susceptible to rot. The shroud on the right is made from a modern synthetic material, polypropylene, and coloured black to resemble the original tarred manila hemp rigging aboard Trincomalee. Climbing the rigging was dangerous, especially in rough seas, and was only done by experienced sailors. |
 |
| The largest building in the dockyard is an exhibition space which, in April 2024, was housing 'Diving Deep: HMS Invincible'. |
 |
| 'Diving Deep: HMS Invincible' tells the story of the discovery and archaeological excavation of Invincible, a 74-gun French warship launched in 1744 that was captured by the Royal Navy in 1747 and wrecked in February 1758 after grounding on a sandbank in the Solent. As the ship remained upright for three days after running aground, all 690 men aboard were able to safely disembark. The wreck of HMS Invincible was discovered by a fisherman in 1979 and is designated as a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. Historic England has a Conservation Management Plan for the wreck site and has collected and conserved a large number of objects found at the site, many of which are exhibited here. |
 |
| HMS Invincible was filled with a large quantity of supplies for a long voyage to Nova Scotia to participate in an attack on the French fortress of Louisbourg when it sank in February 1758. The large coil of old rope seen here was in Invincible's hold and intended to be picked apart and used as oakum (for gun wads and waterproof caulking). Excavated from under the seabed where there are no aerobic bacteria to break down wood and rope, the rope still retains a strong smell of tar, despite being over 260 years old. |
 |
| Artefacts recovered from the wreck of HMS Invincible: a fragment of an English Creamware bowl used by officers, as well as two glass bottles that once contained wine and brandy served in the officers' wardroom. |
 |
| A model of the 74-gun HMS Invincible, made from wood recovered from the wreck. After capturing Invincible from the French in 1747, the Royal Navy studied every inch of the ship to identify what made it superior to contemporary British warships and then copied the design for a new fleet of 74-gun ships which became the backbone of the Royal Navy in the late 18th century. |
 |
| A display showing the 10-step procedure for loading and firing a 24-pounder gun aboard a warship in 1758. Gunners would clean debris from the barrel; sponge the inside of the barrel with water to extinguish any lingering embers from the previous shot; ram in a bag of gunpowder, a wad of oakum, the projectile, and another wad of oakum; prime the firing vent on the gun; and fire the gun using a slow-burning match touched to the vent. |
 |
| A reproduction of a 19th century shop making and selling nautical instruments, as well as printing stationary used by the Royal Navy, such as account books and pattern cards. |
 |
| The printer toils at his desk, hand colouring a print he has produced in his shop. |
 |
| The printer's young assistant hangs freshly-painted prints to dry on a line strung across the shop. |
 |
| The upscale Georgian-style home of the Admiral commanding the dockyard. |
 |
| The Admiral, suffering gout in his foot, reclines in a wingback chair in his study as his servant cleans the sextants on the table. |
 |
| The Admiral's wife and children play in the front parlour. The young son is dressed as a naval officer and plays with a toy ship while his elder sister holds a sword. |
 |
| One of the Admiral's female relatives lies sick in bed, suffering from tuberculosis. |
 |
| The gunsmith's shop, which produced pistols for private purchase by Royal Navy officers, as well as a range of items for the navy directly. These items included flint locks for large shipboard cannons, Congreve rockets, hand grenades, signal flares, and various grades of gunpowder. Gunsmiths also offered repair and cleaning services and supplied spare parts for the weapons they produced. |
 |
| Inside the gunsmith's shop, a brash Royal Navy officer tests the weight and balance of a set of fine pistols he has commissioned from the gunsmith. Although the Royal Navy supplied effective mass-manufactured pistols and muskets for service at sea, most officers sought their own personal pistols, custom-designed for their grip. |
 |
| A set of two handcrafted pistols in a wooden box in the gunsmith's shop. Such pistol sets were a popular gift from proud parents to their sons preparing to set out as officers aboard Royal Navy ships. Pistols were often sold in matching pairs to ensure that no participant in a duel had an advantage over the other. Boxed pistol sets came with an assortment of accessories, including tools for dismantling, cleaning, and oiling the guns, moulds to produce the correct size of lead bullet, spare flints, and a flask for holding gunpowder. The pistols were packed in a fine wooden box with brass fittings and the name of the owner engraved on the top. |
 |
| The naval architect's office. Naval architects, often based at the dockyards, were employed by the Admiralty to design various types of ships required by the Royal Navy. The naval architect had to guarantee that the ships he designed would float at the correct depth and at the correct level, as well as be stable in different sea conditions, sail at the desired speed, and withstand damage from storms and combat. |
 |
| A naval architect toils away at a ship design in his office. Working under a naval architect was a team of draughtsmen who hand-copied detailed, technically-accurate copies of the various plans of a ship. Extra copies of a ship's plans were often commissioned by its captain. The naval architects designed a full range of vessels, from large First Rate ships-of-the-line armed with 100 guns down to Fifth and Sixth Rate frigates armed with 28-40 guns. The Admiralty was cautious by nature and did not easily accept new propoals, preferring tried and tested designs. Given the conservative views of the Admiralty, British warships were standard, basic vessels; the French Navy, by contrast, adopted more innovative ideas and hull designs in the quest for a competitive advantage over its larger British adversary. |
 |
| Royal Navy officers examine the plans of a new warship designed by the naval architect. In addition to the plans, it was usual for an accurate model of the ship to be built to assist in the detailed design review by Admiralty officials. In addition to reviewing the design to ensure it conformed to the desired performance specifications, the Admiralty reviewers needed to confirm that the design was affordable and that it was capable of being constructed by the shipbuilders. It was at this point that any technical issues would be identified and alterations proposed before the design was approved. |
 |
| The chandlery, a general store for ships and their crew, selling general provisions on a wholesale and retail basis. Chandlers often had storerooms on or near the quayside, with merchandise displayed in a way to attract buyers into the large storeroom. |
 |
| As noted on the sign next to the door, the chandlery sold a wide variety of items required aboard ship during long voyages, including hammocks and cots, boiled linseed oil, paint powders, salt pork and beef, tallow and grease, ropes, tinderboxes, blocks, dried fruits, holystones (used to scrub the decks), chains, and medicines. |
 |
| Although the Royal Navy in theory provided all items required by its poorly-paid sailors during voyages, the men were always looking for new or unusual items of dress and equipment. The chandler's principal customers were Merchant Navy masters and seamen, and the chandler was able to supply the full range of required provisions, principally through bulk contracts with suppliers. Provided the price was right, any item could be obtained and delivered to the customer on time. Chandlers had fewer business dealings with the Royal Navy, as the navy's ships were supplied by government-run victualling yards. |
 |
| A corner of the recreated chandlery, crammed with period merchandise. Among the items for sale were ropes of all size and type, from sewing thread to nine-inch diameter anchor cables; flintlocks for cannons and pistols and spare parts for these weapons; candles of all sizes and candle holders, sconces, and lanterns; locks, bolts, and hinges for doors; window glass; boxes of brass and iron screws and nails of all sizes; seamen's knives and sharpening stones; canvas for sails, bags, and clothing; canvas shoes, belts, pouches, shirts, scarves, trousers, hats, and jackets; compasses and spare magnetic needles; sets of ladles and pans for cooking; oakum for sealing deck seams; portable blacksmith's furnaces; sets of flags; small anchors and anchor buoys; paint brushes of all sizes; ceramic, wood, and pewter crockery; wooden tubs; canvas hoses and brass nozzles for pumps; small chains and padlocks; ships' bells; casks of all sizes and types; bags of coal; clay smoking pipes and tobacco; fiddles and bugles; and various edible provisions, such as beer, salt pork and beef, biscuits, cheese, flour, pease, rice, cocoa, vinegar, tea, sugar, suet, wine, and butter. |
 |
| The dimly-lit dockyard inn, called the Black Horse Hotel. Sailors back from a long voyage would spend much of their wages on drink supplied by such taverns. In 1792, the British Parliament voted to recruit 120,000 men for the expanding Royal Navy. These men were recruited voluntarily or through impressment, with press-gangs often grabbing inebriated men in dockyard taverns. During the 22 years of the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy suffered grievous losses of seamen, though for every one sailor lost in combat, the navy lost 15 due to disease, shipwreck or accident. Indeed, over the course of the wars, 100,000 seamen were killed or incapacitated. |
 |
| The innkeeper works behind the bar, with the price list for various ales, Irish and Scotch whiskeys, rum, and gin pinned to a cask. As noted on the price list, in the early 19th century, the price of a glass of beer ranged from one penny (1d) for mild ale to a penny and a half for pale ale and stout. Whisky, rum, and gin sold for two and a half pennies per glass. |
 |
| A shaggy-haired sailor, perhaps just back from a long voyage, orders another tankard of ale from the innkeeper to accompany his meat pie. |
 |
| This handsome Georgian brick building houses a naval tailor's shop on the left and the swordsmith's shop on the right. |
 |
| Inside the tailor's shop, a Royal Navy officer is measured for a new uniform, while his wife sits nearby and entertains her dog. Seeking to demonstrate the social distinction conferred by their rank, Royal Navy officers spent a considerable portion of their wages on uniforms made by naval tailors. Officers were required to appear clean and smartly-dressed, despite shipboard conditions being damp and dirty and the only source of washing water being salt water. As a result, naval tailors made a good living tending to the constant need for clean uniforms that conformed to the changing Admiralty regulations. Tailors carried a stock of standard-sized uniform items, though wealthy officers had their clothes made to measure. Royal Marines officers also had their uniforms made by the naval tailors, though on a frigate such as HMS Trincomalee, there would only be one officer commanding the small detachment of Marines. |
 |
| Drawings of various types of Royal Navy officers' uniforms: a Lieutenant's 'Undress' uniform in 1805 (left); a Lieutenant's 'Full Dress' uniform in 1784 (middle); Vice Admiral Collingwood's 'Full Dress' uniform in 1805 (right). Tailors made uniforms for all ranks, from Admiral of the Fleet down to Midshipman (cadet). In addition to their 'Undress' uniform worn for normal duty, officers also had an expensive 'Dress' uniform with additional gold braid. All officers needed a supply of hats; white shirts in both cotton and silk, some with lace ruffs; white waistcoats; black neckties; white trousers; white breeches; white stockings; black shoes; and black half boots. Overcoats, capes, fur hats, and gloves were also required for service in cold climates. Provided their captains allowed it, many officers preferred to pack away their uniforms while aboard ship and wear civilian clothes instead so as not to risk ruining the expensive tailored uniforms. Such a casual approach was more likely to be allowed on frigates, which generally operated independently and far away from admirals who would demand greater formality and compliance with uniform regulations. |
 |
| At the rear of the tailor's shop is a gallery depicting the various roles of officers and men in the Royal Navy of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Small dioramas depicting life in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars are displayed in each 'gunport' of the gallery. |
 |
| A diorama depicting preparations for a burial at sea. The ship's Surgeon is overseeing the Sailmaker's crew, who are sewing a dead sailor into his own hammock, which has been weighted down at the feet by one or two cannonballs. To confirm that a sailor was indeed dead and not merely unconscious, it was traditional for one of the last stitches to be passed through the corpse's nose. If there was a jerk or facial twitch, the man would be removed and efforts made to revive him. For a burial at sea, the whole crew assembled on deck and the the body, sewed into the hammock, was placed on a mess table. The ship's Chaplain or Captain would read the service and the table would be tilted over the deck until the body slid into the sea. Sewing a body into a weighted hammock ensured the corpse went straight down to the seabed and was less likely to be eaten by sharks. |
 |
| A diorama depicting food preparation aboard ship. The ship's cook was often an old or disabled seaman who was incapable of performing a seaman's duties but who enjoyed life at sea and knew of no other means of earning a living. The cooks, who were classed as Petty Officers, often were not good at their jobs and faced the wrath of sailors over badly-prepared food. The cook had assistants to actually perform much of the food preparation work and spent much of his time reminiscing about his glory days. The cook shown in the diorama has lost an eye from a cutlass slash across the face many years before, and is also missing a finger and his left leg. |
 |
| A diorama depicting the work of a press-gang rounding up men for service in the Royal Navy. Although a bounty of £5 attracted a few men to volunteer for service, such inducements were never enough to recruit the number of sailors needed to man the fleet, especially given that life at sea was rough, discipline severe, and the pay and food poor. The press-gang was a solution to the desperate need for sailors. When in port, a ship's Lieutenant, accompanied by the Boatswain and several tough seamen, would go ashore and seize fishermen or merchant seamen from the streets or taverns. Homeward-bound merchant ships might also be stopped at sea and nearly all the crew impressed into the navy. The press-gang was armed with cudgels, though did not carry pistols or swords since wounded recruits were of no value aboard ship. Although foreigners and landsmen (men with no sea-going experience) were technically exempt from impressment, the insatiable demand for manpower often led to these rules being overlooked by warship captains. In 1795, Parliament adopted the Quota Act, which required towns and counties to find a set number of men for the Royal Navy; local magistrates were pleased to send petty criminals and unemployed men in jail and workhouses to the navy to meet the assigned quota. Because impressed men were highly likely to desert as soon as the opportunity arose, captains were reluctant to grant shore leave in home ports. Kept from deserting, many impressed men spent years in naval service before they were able to see their families again. |
 |
| The front room of the swordsmith's shop. Swords were carried by all men at a time when duels were common and the streets were dangerous at night. Military and naval officers wore swords as a part of their dress uniforms. While officers from wealthy families would commission a sword from the swordsmith, officers from less prosperous backgrounds would carry their fathers' or grandfathers' swords, despite them often being old-fashioned, chipped, and tarnished. It was the ambition of these officers to someday purchase their own swords, forged of the best steel and balanced for their particular grips. |
 |
| Behind the front showroom of the swordsmith's shop, the employees toil away manufacturing swords for Royal Navy and Merchant Marine officers. The swords generally featured ivory hilts, bound with copper or gilt wire and with a pommel of various ornate designs. A silk sword knot would be decorated with gold lace. The sword would be carried in a black leather scabbard featuring gold and brass decoration and slung from a leather belt with a buckle of brass and gilt. Many swords were purchased by proud parents for their officer sons to celebrate a promotion, while patriotic groups often used donated funds to commission commemorative swords for officers who had participated in a noteworthy sea battle; such commemorative swords were generally not used in battle and instead became family heirlooms. |
 |
| At the rear of the swordsmith's shop, more workers use a forge and grinders as they craft new blades. Expensive and ornate dress swords were optimised for thrusting motions against opponents armed with similar weapons; however, when engaged in chaotic boarding operations in which the enemy was coming from all sides, many officers preferred a standard issue cutlass, nicknamed the "butcher's blade", which was most efficient using a swinging motion. Swordsmiths also manufactured the short, eight-inch dirk, a type of dagger worn by midshipmen and other officers. Although the Admiralty sought to implement standard pattern swords and dirks during the Napoleonic era, it was ultimately up to individual officers to choose the design and decoration of their weapons. |
 |
| The Quayside Coffee Shop is the museum's café. |
 |
| The interior of the Quayside Coffee Shop. Patrons pay for and pick up their purchases at the cafeteria-style servery and can then sit down at one of the many tables. The café serves hot and cold beverages, snacks, and light meals. As seen here, it was nearly empty on this damp, cool Monday afternoon. |
 |
| After a long day of touring the museum in the damp, cool, misty weather, a pot of tea and a chocolate brownie in the museum's café was a welcome opportunity to sit down and relax. |
 |
| The 556-gross ton PS (Paddle Steamer) Wingfield Castle, built in Hartlepool in 1934 and used as a ferry across the estuary of England's Humber River, between Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire and New Holland in Lincolnshire. |
 |
| The Wingfield Castle was built by William Gray & Company, which also built sister ship PS Tattershall Castle, now preserved as a floating pub on the Thames in London. The ship measures 64 metres (209 feet) in length overall, with a beam at the paddleboxes of 17 metres (57 feet). Powered by a triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, the steel-hulled ferry was capable of a top speed of 12 knots (22.2 km/h). |
 |
| Commissioned on 24 September 1934, PS Wingfield Castle was withdrawn from service in 1974, with the Humber ferry service being discontinued in 1981 with the completion of the Humber Bridge. Although originally intended to become a floating restaurant in Swansea Marina in south Wales in 1982, Wingfield Castle proved too wide to fit through the marina's lock gates. Instead, the ship was returned to its birthplace in 1986 as a museum ship, part of Hartlepool's Maritime Experience, now called the National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool. The ship is part of the National Historic Fleet. During this visit in April 2024, PS Wingfield Castle was in a dilapidated state and closed to the public pending the start of restoration work approved by Hartlepool Borough Council in 2022. |
 |
| Hartlepool Railway Station, located at the junction of Lynn Street and Station Approach. The station was opened in 1880 and originally named West Hartlepool Station. During the First World War, this station was one of three North Eastern Railway stations to be bombarded by Imperial German Navy ships on 16 December 1914; the German fleet, comprising four battlecruisers, one armoured cruiser, four light cruisers, and 18 destroyers bombarded the port towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby, killing 122 civilians and injuring a further 443. Today, Hartlepool Railway Station is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains. |
 |
| A ceramic tile map mounted on the exterior platform wall of Hartlepool Railway Station and depicting the network of the former North Eastern Railway Company, circa 1900. In 1923, the company was incorporated into the London & North Eastern Railway, which in turn was absorbed into British Rail in 1948. |
 |
| Platform 2 of Hartlepool Railway Station, awaiting a Grand Central train with direct service to London King's Cross via York. |
 |
| The interior of the Grand Central train en route from Hartlepool to York. |
 |
| The buffet car on the Grand Central train en route from Hartlepool to York. Passengers can scan a QR code at their seats and order food and drinks online; when their orders are ready, passengers receive an email advising them to come to the buffet car to retrieve their purchases. First Class passengers' orders are delivered to their seats by train crew and all passengers are still able to go to the buffet car and make purchases directly using cash or credit card. The buffet car offers hot and cold drinks (including Lavazza coffee), sandwiches by Tiffin Sandwiches, snacks and confectionery, and alcoholic beverages. |
 |
| A look at the doors on the Grand Central train following disembarkation at York Railway Station. The buffet car is on the right with a standard carriage on the left. |
 |
| A final look at the Grand Central train at York Railway Station following the day trip to the National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool. The train is a diesel-powered British Rail Class 180 Adelante manufactured by Alstom in 2000-01 and comprising five carriages. As of April 2024, Grand Central was the only operator of the Class 180, with 10 train sets in service. Each Class 180 train seats 287 passengers and has a top speed of 200 km/h (125 mph). |