Hands-on workshop where visitors can try traditional shipbuilding techniques used to construct HMS Victory, including ropework, sailmaking, woodcarving and gilding.
Meet the Makers runs at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard from Monday 27 July to Friday 31 July, as part of Victory Skills week. It's a hands-on workshop where you can try the traditional naval skills that went into building HMS Victory, the ship that's right there on the quay. You'll get to have a go at ropework, sailmaking, woodcarving and gilding, and see how Nelson's flagship was put together without any modern equipment.
The sessions are led by the Royal Navy Museums' own shipwrights, conservators and scientists. They're the people who work on the ship every day, and they combine these old-school crafts with new technology to keep her in shape. It's a good chance to see how those two things sit side by side: the ancient skills that built the ship and the modern science that preserves it.
There's a bit of history to hold onto while you're at it. HMS Victory is the only survivor of the Battle of Trafalgar, and she still carries the battle-damaged topsail from that action—the largest surviving object from the battle. Seeing it in person gives you a real sense of the scale of the thing.
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It's open to anyone aged seven and over, so it works as a family day out. The sessions run from 27 July through to 31 July, and they're free with a valid museum ticket.
