HMS Victory - the fore-topsail
An important recent achievement by SNR has been the topsail.
Apart from HMS Victory the largest surviving artefact from the Battle of Trafalgar is the battle damaged fore-topsail. This sail measures 54ft deep, 54ft wide at the head and 84ft wide at the foot and has some 90 shot holes.
The sail was removed from Victory when she was stripped for repair at Chatham in 1806, later returned to the ship and certainly exhibited on board at the end of the 19th century and again from the 1960s.
The Society ensured with the help of other sponsors that the sail was finally conserved and displayed in a controlled environment. The sail remains in the ownership of the Royal Navy.
On 11th March 2005, an exhibition displaying the conservation of the Trafalgar fore-topsail was opened by our Patron.