HMS Warrior lends a hand (and some plans)

By Neil

One of our on-going projects is to remount the cannons at the Redoubt and if possible make replicas for those we are missing. With this in mind Chris (one of our volunteers) and I recently made a visit to HMS Warrior. Our mission to look at their gun carriage plans, displays and fibreglass moulds. We made contact with Bob Daubeney, who is HMS Warriors Shipwright and travelled down by train to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, on what turned out to be a rather grey Friday.

HMS Warrior

HMS Warrior was Britain's first iron hulled warship and was the pride of Queen Victoria's fleet when she was launched in 1860. She is 418 feet (127.4m) long and displaces 9210 tons (9358 tonnes). She was capable of 17.5 knots using a combination of steam and sail, making her one of the fastest ships afloat in her time. She boasted formidable fire-power in the form of 68 pound cannons and 110 pound Armstrong cannons. Link to HMS Warrior website

The original figurehead cost £60 but this is it's third incarnation.

Armed with notebooks and cameras we met Bob on the gangplank and went below to meet Emily (Warriors Archivist) to look at the plans for the carriage for a 68 Pounder Cannon. Emily had been though the archives and pulled out all the plans ready for us, but due to their size it was easiest to photograph them. The plans were made after meticulous research in Hartlepool, where HMS Warrior was restored between 1979 and 1987, before returning to Portsmouth in June 1987.

The first of many detailed plans.

We then descended into the bowels of the ship to have a look at the fibreglass moulds, before thanking Emily and heading off with Bob to measure up shells, rammers and everything cannon related... 

Bob demonstrates the use of a roller Handspike.

Having gathered our intel we were treated to a comprehensive tour with Bob, whose knowledge really brought the ship to life! If you get the chance its well worth visiting and there is plenty to brighten even the dullest grey day.

Warriors Stern Chaser Gun.

We are looking forward to using the information we gathered to restore some of the Redoubts cannon to their former glory. Watch this space as they say.