Our Italian partner school visited Portsmouth Harbour during their stay with us. The sun shone and we enjoyed a fascinating tour around the many decks of the world famous HMS Victory- Nelson’s flagship vessel of his extensive fleet.
We were reared to tales of the high seas and found out lesser- known facts such as the origins of many English phrases- ‘letting the cat out of the bag’ for instance comes from the cat o nine tales used to whip errant sailors with!
We saw the luxury of Nelson’s custom-made bed and the cramped and dirty conditions of the sailors in the bowels of the boat. Not to mention the weevil-riddled biscuits! The tour really brought to life the hardships of life aboard ship and its noise and vast size: the students drew parallels with how Portsmouth Harbour really shows the old and the new existing side-by-side and how this links in to our very own Better Together Project- ship ahoy!