Hi, and welcome to a video of our day out at The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Just some 30miles from London
On the banks of the River Medway
from the 17th century to the 20th
The Historic Dockyard was part of the UK's Naval story
and today we explore that story
Let's head in then
Your entry ticket is valid for one whole year
so if you don't get to see everything then why not pop back
So let's begin then with Command of the Oceans
An exhibition focusing on the dockyards involvement
in creating the Royal Navy's fleet, including HMS Victory
This part of the museum takes you from the skills required to build the fleet
and all the different trades involved
in creating these impressive warships
The model of HMS Victory is massive
and the detail is superb
it really gives you a scale of the ship
The centrepiece of the Command of the Oceans exhibition
is the timbers from HMS Namur.
Discovered in 1995 under the original wheelwright's store.
Storyboards around the exhibition detail the escapades of HMS Namur,
and how it came to be discovered here.
It's now time to step outside and discover more
of what the Historic Dockyard has to offer.
Now, let's start with the 3 warships
The first is HMS Gannet
A Victorian Sloop
built not that far from here at Sheerness
You're free to walk round here at your leisure
and discover the 19th-century Royal Navy patrol ship
Next is HMS Ocelot
A 1960's Cold War submarine,
and the last ship to be built at Chatham Dockyard.
Access is by guide tour only, and you need to pre-book
but don't worry it's included in the price
you just need book at the main entrance as you come in
you can't miss it.
A word of warning, it is quite tight down there,
and if you are claustrophobic it could be a problem,
and you do need to be fairly mobile to move throughout the submarine
it's quite a confined space
And now HMS Cavalier
Built in 1944
You're free to roam and explore this vessel as you please.
and boy , there's plenty to explore.
This warship was once the fastest in the fleet.
There's plenty to see & do at the Historic Dockyard Chatham
but if you need a rest why not take a break at the Wagon Stop Canteen
And now possibly my favourite bit,
The Ropery
and you'll see why in a minute
Again, you'll need to pre-book the guided tour.
You remember the 1700's, we involved in going to a lot of wars
like the American War of Independence,
the 7-year French war - Napoleonic wars to name but a few
and all those wars they needed their ships,
and all them ships, they needed a lot of rope.
Your wonderful tour guide will take you the whole story
from hemp to the final product, rope..
Far right-hand side the largest machine we have
and it was on there we used to make the 24 inch, in circumference, rope
We haven't made one in over 30 years - nobody uses that anymore.
When it was made by men by hand it took 220 men to make it
When they started to make it on that machine it reduced the labour market down to just 12 men
The whole experience will leave you feeling like you stepped back in time.
If fact, it's probably the reason the lanes & streets of the Historic Dockyard
are used at the backdrop in so many TV series & movies.
Have you spotted any?
Since 2012, these streets have double for the working-class areas of east London
for the 'Call the Midwife' TV series
In fact, you can enjoy the Call the Midwife experience as a separate tour
I'll include the link below
and maybe we'll get a chance to cover that in more detail in future.
We're now heading back towards Number 3 Slip
This amazing space is an architectural wonder.
And it's home to an amazing array of interesting objects.
The ceiling of No 3 Slip is absolutely amazing
and this was once the largest wide-span timber structure in Europe.
Time is running out for us but we have one last place to visit.
The RNLI lifeboat collection
This takes you through some of the craft used by
the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
From horse-drawn boats through to
recently modern craft
We're amazed by the work this voluntary organisation does
to keep the waters around our island - safe
Well, that's it - nearly
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Now, we didn't get a chance to show you everything we go up to on the day
Nor, did we get to do everything we wanted to on the day
but remember your ticket is valid for a whole year