ISCA Visit HMS Victory and Arundel Castle 2014
Portsmouth and Arundel
The first port of call for the good ship ISCA was Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard, home to a wide array of iconic ships from Britain’s naval past. The group’s rallying point was HMS Warrior, the world’s first ironclad warship, dating back to 1860. Once inside the dockyard, the destination was the even more legendary HMS Victory, Admiral Horatio Nelson’s flagship from the decisive battle of Trafalgar. Students were able to clamber around inside the ship – the real thing, not a replica – and imagine what it must have been like for the crew of the Victory to live and fight at sea. There was also the spectacle of witnessing the arrival of a modern cousin of Victory as the HMS Diamond returned from a six-month deployment in the Mediterranean.
A short drive across the English countryside took the ISCA students to the picturesque setting of Arundel Castle for lunch by the River Arun.. Home to the Howard family for over five hundred years, Arundel Castle provided a suitably bucolic backdrop to an afternoon of castle-dwelling. This included hints about who might have made the guest list for the son of the current Duke of Norfolk’s birthday party. As well as the castle itself, students were able to explore the grounds and gardens before navigating the winding streets of the delightful West Sussex village of Arundel for some souvenir shopping.
An excellent day that took in many elements of England’s illustrious past.
