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91-523: The Prince Albert Mountains were discovered by Sir James Clark Ross , on February 17, 1841, and named by him for Prince Albert , the consort of the British Queen Victoria of England. The first exploration of the mountains was by British expeditions in the early 1900s. Detailed survey and mapping was accomplished by New Zealand and American expeditions in the 1950s and 1960s. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The northeastern section of

182-469: A cholera epidemic; according to a by-law , any house within 100 feet (30 m) of a sewer had to be connected to it. By 1871 the population had risen to 100,000, and the national census listed Portsmouth's population as 113,569. A working-class suburb was constructed in the 1870s, when about 1,820 houses were built, and it became Somerstown . Despite public-health improvements, 514 people died in an 1872 smallpox epidemic. On 21 December of that year,

273-617: A fort , at nearby Portchester in the late third century. The city's Old English Anglo-Saxon name, " Portesmuða ", is derived from port (a haven) and muða (the mouth of a large river or estuary). In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , a warrior named Port and his two sons killed a noble Briton in Portsmouth in 501. Winston Churchill , in A History of the English-Speaking Peoples , wrote that Port

364-457: A conclusive and decisive victory. Portsmouth Harbour was a vital military embarkation point for the 6 June 1944 D-Day landings. Southwick House , just north of the city, was the headquarters of Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower . A V-1 flying bomb hit Newcomen Road on 15 July 1944, killing 15 people. Much of the city's housing stock was damaged during the war. The wreckage was cleared in an attempt to improve housing quality after

455-746: A diplomatic incident with the Soviet Union and scandal in British domestic politics. On 2 April 1982, Argentine forces invaded two British territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands . The British government's response was to dispatch a naval task force , and the aircraft carriers HMS  Hermes and HMS  Invincible sailed from Portsmouth for

546-585: A figure which increased to 23,000 during the First World War . The whole of Portsea Island came united under the control of Portsmouth borough council in 1904. In 1906, HMS  Dreadnought was launched from Portsmouth Dockyard. The ship revolutionised naval warfare and began an arms race with Germany. The ship's entry into service in 1906 represented such an advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships. A major terrorist incident occurred in

637-462: A fleet of 100 ships to the port. Richard gave Portsmouth market-town status with a royal charter on 2 May, authorising an annual fifteen-day free-market fair, weekly markets and a local court to deal with minor matters, and exempted its inhabitants from an £18 annual tax. The 1194 royal charter's 800th anniversary was celebrated in 1994 with ceremonies at the city museum. King John reaffirmed Richard   I's rights and privileges, and established

728-649: A further permanent station with the help of governor John Franklin before waiting for summer. Ross crossed the Antarctic Circle on 1 January 1841. Shortly after, he discovered the Ross Sea and Victoria Land , charting 900 km (560 mi) of new coastline, reaching Possession Island on 12 January and Franklin Island on 27 January (which Ross named after John Franklin ). He then reached Ross Island , later named after him by Robert F. Scott , with

819-545: A number of French ships blockaded the town (which housed ships which were set to invade Normandy); Henry gathered a fleet at Southampton, and invaded the Norman coast in August that year. Recognising the town's growing importance, he ordered a wooden Round Tower to be built at the mouth of the harbour; it was completed in 1426. Henry VII rebuilt the fortifications with stone, assisted Robert Brygandine and Sir Reginald Bray in

910-752: A permanent naval base. The first docks were begun by William of Wrotham in 1212, and John summoned his earls, barons, and military advisers to plan an invasion of Normandy . In 1229, declaring war against France, Henry   III assembled a force described by historian Lake Allen as "one of the finest armies that had ever been raised in England". The invasion stalled, and returned from France in October 1231. Henry   III summoned troops to invade Guienne in 1242, and Edward   I sent supplies for his army in France in 1295. Commercial interests had grown by

1001-405: A significant Royal Navy dockyard and base for centuries. Portsmouth was founded c.  1180 by Anglo-Norman merchant Jean de Gisors in the south-west area of Portsea Island, a location now known as Old Portsmouth . Around this time, de Gisors ordered the construction of a chapel dedicated to St Thomas Becket . This became a parish church by the 14th century. Portsmouth was established as

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1092-415: A town with a royal charter on 2 May 1194. The city is home to the first drydock ever built. It was constructed by Henry VII in 1496. Portsmouth has the world's oldest dry dock , "The Great Stone Dock" ; originally built in 1698, rebuilt in 1769 and presently known as "No.5 Dock". The world's first mass production line was established at the naval base's Block Mills which produced pulley blocks for

1183-513: Is a lake with two islands, named after the ships Terror and Erebus . Ross remained an officer in the Royal Navy for the rest of his life and was subsequently promoted several times, his final rank being Rear-Admiral of the Red awarded in August 1861. Ross died at Aston Abbotts on 3 April 1862, five years after his wife. They are buried together in the parish churchyard of St. James

1274-897: Is among the few British cities with two cathedrals: the Anglican Cathedral of St Thomas and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist . The waterfront and Portsmouth Harbour are dominated by the Spinnaker Tower , one of the United Kingdom's tallest structures at 560 feet (170 m). Southsea is Portsmouth's seaside resort , which was named after Southsea Castle. Southsea has two piers; Clarence Pier amusement park and South Parade Pier . The world's only regular hovercraft service operates from Southsea Hoverport to Ryde on

1365-517: Is east of the island. The Farlington Marshes , in the north off the coast of Farlington , is a 125 hectares (310 acres) grazing marsh and saline lagoon. One of the oldest local reserves in the county, built from reclaimed land in 1771, it provides a habitat for migratory wildfowl and waders . South of Portsmouth are Spithead , the Solent , and the Isle of Wight . Its southern coast was fortified by

1456-464: Is entitled 'One of James Ross's foxes'). Portsmouth Portsmouth ( / ˈ p ɔːr t s m ə θ / PORTS -məth ) is a port city and unitary authority in Hampshire , England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island , off the south coast of England in the Solent , making Portsmouth the only city in England not located primarily on the mainland . The city

1547-526: Is located 22 miles (35 km) south-east of Southampton , 50 miles (80 km) west of Brighton and Hove and 74 miles (119 km) south-west of London . With a population last recorded at 208,100, it is the most densely-populated city in the United Kingdom . Portsmouth forms part of the South Hampshire urban area with Gosport , Fareham , Havant , Eastleigh and Southampton. Portsmouth's history can be traced to Roman times and has been

1638-628: Is located primarily on Portsea Island and is the United Kingdom's only island city, although the city has expanded to the mainland. Gosport is a town and borough to the west. Portsea Island is separated from the mainland by Portsbridge Creek , which is crossed by three road bridges (the M275 motorway , the A3 road , and the A2030 road ), a railway bridge, and two footbridges. Portsea Island, part of

1729-482: Is the residential Milton and an area of reclaimed land known as Milton Common (formerly Milton Lake), a "flat scrubby land with a series of freshwater lakes". Further north on the east coast is Baffins , with the Great Salterns recreation ground and golf course around Portsmouth College . The Hilsea Lines are a series of defunct fortifications on the island's north coast, bordering Portsbridge Creek and

1820-551: Is the second busiest in the United Kingdom after Dover , handling around three million passengers a year. The city formerly had its own airport, Portsmouth Airport , until its closure in 1973. The University of Portsmouth enrolls 23,000 students. Portsmouth is the birthplace of notable people such as author Charles Dickens , engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel , former Prime Minister James Callaghan , actor Peter Sellers and author-journalist Christopher Hitchens . The Romans built Portus Adurni (now called Portchester Castle ),

1911-544: The Challenger expedition embarked on a 68,890-nautical-mile (127,580 km) circumnavigation of the globe for scientific research. When the British Empire was at its height of power, covering a quarter of Earth's total land area and 458 million people at the turn of the 20th century, Portsmouth was considered "the world's greatest naval port". In 1900, Portsmouth Dockyard employed 8,000 people   –

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2002-653: The Antarctic Peninsula . The next winter, the expedition overwintered in the Falkland Islands before returning to survey the Antarctic Peninsula over the summer of 1842–1843. Ross attempted to penetrate south at about 55° W, and explored the eastern side of what is now known as James Ross Island , discovering and naming Snow Hill Island and Seymour Island . Ross reported that Admiralty Sound appeared to him to have been blocked by glaciers at its southern end. The expedition's main aim

2093-631: The Battle of Trafalgar in 2005, with Queen Elizabeth II present at a fleet review and a mock battle. The naval base is home to two-thirds of Britain's surface fleet. The city also hosted international commemorations for 50th, 75th and 80th anniversaries of the D-Day landings, these were attended by international leaders and remaining veterans. Portsmouth is 73.5 miles (118.3 km) by road from central London, 49.5 miles (79.7 km) west of Brighton , and 22.3 miles (35.9 km) east of Southampton . It

2184-687: The Battle of Trafalgar . The Royal Navy's reliance on Portsmouth led to its becoming the most fortified city in the world. The Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron , tasked with halting the slave trade, began operating out of Portsmouth in 1808. A network of forts, known as the Palmerston Forts , was built around the town as part of a programme led by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston to defend British military bases from an inland attack following an Anglo-French war scare in 1859. The forts were nicknamed "Palmerston's Follies" because their armaments were pointed inland and not out to sea. In April 1811,

2275-705: The Dissolution of the Monasteries , in 1539 in anticipation of a French invasion. He also invested heavily in the town's dockyard, expanding it to 8 acres (3.2 ha). Around this time, a Tudor defensive boom stretched from the Round Tower to Fort Blockhouse in Gosport to protect Portsmouth Harbour. From Southsea Castle, Henry witnessed his flagship Mary Rose sink in action against the French fleet in

2366-487: The Eocene . Northern areas of the city include Stamshaw , Hilsea and Copnor , Cosham , Drayton , Farlington , Paulsgrove and Port Solent . Other districts include North End and Fratton. The west of the city contains council estates , such as Buckland , Landport , and Portsea, which replaced Victorian terraces destroyed by Second World War bombing. After the war, the 2,000-acre (810 ha) Leigh Park estate

2457-562: The Hampshire Basin , is low-lying; most of the island is less than 3 metres (9.8 ft) above sea level . The island's highest natural elevation is the Kingston Cross road junction, at 21 feet (6.4 m) above ordinary spring tide. Old Portsmouth , the original town, is in the south-west part of the island and includes Portsmouth Point (nicknamed Spice Island). The main channel entering Portsmouth Harbour, west of

2548-405: The Isle of Wight . Southsea Common is a large open-air public recreation space which serves as a venue for a wide variety of annual events. The city has several mainline railway stations that connect to London Victoria and London Waterloo amongst other lines in southern England. Portsmouth International Port is a commercial cruise ship and ferry port for international destinations. The port

2639-611: The National Museum of the Royal Navy and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard ; which has a collection of historic warships, including the Mary Rose , Lord Nelson 's flagship, HMS  Victory (the world's oldest naval ship still in commission), and HMS  Warrior , the Royal Navy's first ironclad warship . The former HMS  Vernon shore establishment has been redeveloped into a large retail outlet destination known as Gunwharf Quays which opened in 2001. Portsmouth

2730-593: The Round Tower , the Square Tower , Southsea Castle, Lumps Fort and Fort Cumberland . Four sea forts were built in the Solent by Lord Palmerston : Spitbank Fort , St Helens Fort , Horse Sand Fort and No Man's Land Fort . The resort of Southsea is on the central southern shoreline of Portsea Island, and Eastney is east. Eastney Lake covered nearly 170 acres (69 hectares) in 1626. North of Eastney

2821-469: The Royal Navy fleet. By the early-19th century, Portsmouth was the most heavily fortified city in the world, and was considered "the world's greatest naval port" at the height of the British Empire throughout Pax Britannica . By 1859, a ring of defensive land and sea forts, known as the Palmerston Forts , had been built around Portsmouth in anticipation of an invasion from continental Europe. In

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2912-464: The transfer of Hong Kong in 1997, after which Britannia was retired from royal service, decommissioned and relocated to Leith as a museum ship. HMNB Portsmouth is an operational Royal Navy base and is home to two-thirds of the UK's surface fleet. The base has long been nicknamed Pompey , a nickname it shares with the wider city of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Football Club . The naval base also contains

3003-552: The 1545 Battle of the Solent with the loss of about 500 lives. Some historians believe that the Mary Rose turned too quickly and submerged her open gun ports; according to others, it sank due to poor design. Portsmouth's fortifications were improved by successive monarchs. The town experienced an outbreak of plague in 1563, which killed about 300 of its 2,000 inhabitants. In 1623, Charles I (then Prince of Wales) returned to Portsmouth from France and Spain. His unpopular military adviser, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham ,

3094-476: The 1960s and early 1970s. The success of the project and the quality of its housing are debatable. Portsmouth was affected by the decline of the British Empire in the second half of the 20th century. Shipbuilding jobs fell from 46 per cent of the workforce in 1951 to 14 per cent in 1966, drastically reducing manpower in the dockyard. The city council attempted to create new work; an industrial estate

3185-678: The 20th century, Portsmouth achieved city status on 21 April 1926. During the Second World War , the city was a pivotal embarkation point for the D-Day landings and was bombed extensively in the Portsmouth Blitz , which resulted in the deaths of 930 people. In 1982, a large Royal Navy task force departed from Portsmouth for the Falklands War . Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia was formerly based in Portsmouth and oversaw

3276-712: The British Magnetic Survey, a magnetic survey of Great Britain , with Edward Sabine , John Phillips and Humphrey Lloyd . This also included some work on geomagnetic measurements in Ireland in 1834–1835, working with Sabine and Lloyd. In 1837, Ross assisted in T. C. Robinson's improvement of the dip circle during the survey; anomalous results had been discovered by Ross in 1835 in Westbourne Green . In 1838, Ross completed magnetic observations at 12 different stations throughout Ireland. The survey

3367-514: The Danes at Portsmouth, where most of their ships were docked. Although the Danes were driven off, Wulfherd was killed. The Danes returned in 1001 and pillaged Portsmouth and the surrounding area, threatening the English with extinction. They were massacred by the English survivors the following year; rebuilding began, although the town experienced further attacks until 1066 . Although Portsmouth

3458-577: The French landed in Portsmouth. Although the town was plundered and burnt, its inhabitants drove the French off to raid towns in the West Country . Henry V gathered his forces in Portsmouth for an invasion of France in 1415, it was while staying at Portchester Castle that the Southampton plot was uncovered. This campaign would culminate with victory at the battle of Agincourt. He also built Portsmouth's first permanent fortifications . In 1416,

3549-538: The Great. Ross, played by British actor Richard Sutton , is a secondary character in the 2018 AMC television series The Terror , portrayed in a fictionalised version of his 1848 search for Franklin's lost expedition , as well as in the 2007 Dan Simmons novel on which the series is based. Ross is also mentioned continually by Jules Verne in his novel The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (for example, chapter XXV

3640-533: The Greyhound public house on High Street, which is now Buckingham House and has a commemorative plaque. Most residents (including the mayor) supported the parliamentarians during the English Civil War , although military governor Colonel Goring supported the royalists . The town, a base of the parliamentarian navy, was blockaded from the sea. Parliamentarian troops were sent to besiege it , and

3731-608: The Portsea Island Company constructed the first piped-water supply to upper- and middle-class houses. It supplied water to about 4,500 of Portsmouth's 14,000 houses, generating an income of £5,000 a year. HMS Victory ' s active career ended in 1812, when she was moored in Portsmouth Harbour and used as a depot ship . The town of Gosport contributed £75 a year to the ship's maintenance. In 1818, John Pounds began teaching working-class children in

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3822-916: The Prince Albert Mountains extends across the Reeves Glacier north to the Priestley Glacier. These two glacier converge into the Nansen Ice Sheet . Further south, they cross the David Glacier and Larsen Glacier . In the far south they extend to the Mawson Glacier. In the southwest the Reeves Névé extends to their west. The Ricker Hills are in the northwest of the range, between Hollingsworth Glacier and upper David Glacier. This range include

3913-553: The Restoration , Charles   II married Catherine of Braganza at the Royal Garrison Church on 14 May 1662. Catherine was reputed to have introduced the cultural practice of tea drinking to England at this event. During the late 17th century, Portsmouth continued to grow; a new wharf was constructed in 1663 for military use, and a mast pond was dug in 1665. In 1684, a list of ships docked in Portsmouth

4004-501: The South Atlantic on 5 April. The successful outcome of the war reaffirmed Portsmouth's significance as a naval port and its importance to the defence of British interests. In January 1997, Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia embarked from the city on her final voyage to oversee the handover of Hong Kong; for many, this marked the end of the empire. She was decommissioned on 11 December of that year at Portsmouth Naval Base in

4095-454: The Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze docked in Portsmouth harbour on a diplomatic mission that had taken head of state Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin to Britain. Naval intelligence was interested in the design of the ship and MI6 recruited diver Lionel Crabb to collect intelligence on the ship particularly its propulsion. After diving into the harbour Crabb was never seen again. This led to

4186-457: The UK" by the BBC, was demolished in late 2004 after years of debate over the expense of demolition and whether it was worth preserving as an example of 1960s brutalist architecture . Designed by Owen Luder as part of a project to "revitalise" Portsmouth in the 1960s, it consisted of a shopping centre, market, nightclubs, and a multistorey car park . Portsmouth celebrated the 200th anniversary of

4277-446: The area continued until 1974. Builders still occasionally find unexploded bombs , such as on the site of the destroyed Hippodrome Theatre in 1984. Despite efforts by the city council to build new housing, a 1955 survey indicated that 7,000 houses in Portsmouth were unfit for human habitation. A controversial decision was made to replace a section of the central city, including Landport, Somerstown and Buckland, with council housing during

4368-554: The city in 1913, which led to the deaths of two men. During the suffragette bombing and arson campaign of 1912–1914, militant suffragettes of the Women's Social and Political Union carried out a series of politically motivated bombing and arson attacks nationwide as part of their campaign for women's suffrage . In one of the more serious suffragette attacks, a fire was purposely started at Portsmouth dockyard on 20 December 1913, in which two sailors were killed after it spread through

4459-412: The city in 1968, and IBM relocated their European headquarters in 1979. Portsmouth's population had dropped from about 200,000 to 177,142 by the end of the 1960s. Defence Secretary John Nott decided in the early 1980s that of the four home dockyards, Portsmouth and Chatham would be closed. The city council won a concession, however, and the dockyard was downgraded instead to a naval base. In 1956,

4550-718: The city's maritime connections: the lions and unicorn have fish tails, and a naval crown and a representation of the Tudor defensive boom which stretched across Portsmouth Harbour are around the unicorn. During the Second World War , the city (particularly the port) was bombed extensively by the Luftwaffe in the Portsmouth Blitz. Portsmouth experienced 67 air raids between July 1940 and May 1944, which destroyed 6,625 houses and severely damaged 6,549. The air raids caused 930 deaths and wounded almost 3,000 people, many in

4641-471: The construction of the world's first dry dock , and raised the Square Tower in 1494. He made Portsmouth a Royal Dockyard, England's only dockyard considered "national". Although King Alfred may have used Portsmouth to build ships as early as the ninth century, the first warship recorded as constructed in the town was the Sweepstake (built in 1497). Henry VIII built Southsea Castle, financed by

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4732-453: The country's first ragged school . The Portsea Improvement Commissioners installed gas street lighting throughout Portsmouth in 1820, followed by Old Portsmouth three years later. During the 19th century, Portsmouth expanded across Portsea Island. Buckland was merged into the town by the 1860s, and Fratton and Stamshaw were incorporated by the next decade. Between 1865 and 1870, the council built sewers after more than 800 people died in

4823-484: The dockyard and military establishments. On the night of the city's heaviest raid (10 January 1941), the Luftwaffe dropped 140 tonnes of high-explosive bombs which killed 171 people and left 3,000 homeless. Many of the city's houses were damaged, and areas of Landport and Old Portsmouth destroyed; the future site of Gunwharf Quays was razed to the ground. The Guildhall was hit by an incendiary bomb which burnt out

4914-410: The dockyard during the war, making it one of the empire's most strategic ports at the time. Portsmouth's boundaries were extended onto the mainland of Great Britain between 1920 and 1932 by incorporating Paulsgrove , Wymering , Cosham , Drayton and Farlington into Portsmouth. Portsmouth was granted city status in 1926 after a long campaign by the borough council. The application was made on

5005-508: The early 19th century as "azure a crescent or, surmounted by an estoile of eight points of the last." Its design is apparently based on 18th-century mayoral seals. A connection of the coat of arms with the Great Seal of Richard I (which had a separate star and crescent) dates to the 20th century. Marc Isambard Brunel established the world's first mass-production line at Portsmouth Block Mills , making pulley blocks for rigging on

5096-924: The far north of Canada, and James Ross personally planted the British flag at the pole. It was on this trip, too, that Ross charted the Beaufort Islands, later renamed Clarence Islands by his uncle. Ross then served as supernumerary-commander of HMS Victory in Portsmouth for 12 months. On 28 October 1834 Ross was promoted to captain. In December 1835 he offered his services to the Admiralty to resupply 11  whaling ships which had become trapped in Baffin Bay . They accepted his offer, and he set sail in HMS Cove in January 1836. The crossing

5187-528: The flames. The two victims were a pensioner and a signalman. The attack was notable enough to be reported on in the press in the United States , with the New York Times reporting on the disaster two days after with the headline "Big Portsmouth Fire Loss". The report also disclosed that at a previous police raid on a suffragette headquarters, "papers were discovered disclosing a plan to fire

5278-402: The following century, and its exports included wool, corn, grain, and livestock. Edward II ordered all ports on the south coast to assemble their largest vessels at Portsmouth to carry soldiers and horses to the Duchy of Aquitaine in 1324 to strengthen defences. A French fleet commanded by David II of Scotland attacked in the English Channel , ransacked the Isle of Wight and threatened

5369-538: The following mountains: Major glaciers, from north to south, include: Download coordinates as: Features or groups of features in the Prince Albert Mountains have been named by various survey groups and expeditions. From north to south they include: [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey . James Clark Ross Sir James Clark Ross DCL FRS FLS FRAS (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862)

5460-486: The globe. The 11-ship First Fleet left on 13 May 1787 to establish the first European colony in Australia , the beginning of prisoner transportation; Captain William Bligh of HMS  Bounty also sailed from the harbour that year. After the 28 April 1789 mutiny on the Bounty , HMS  Pandora was dispatched from Portsmouth to bring the mutineers back for trial. The court-martial opened on 12 September 1792 aboard HMS  Duke in Portsmouth Harbour; of

5551-423: The grounds that it was the "first naval port of the kingdom". In 1929, the city council added the motto "Heaven's Light Our Guide" to the medieval coat of arms. Except for the celestial objects in the arms, the motto was that of the Star of India and referred to the troopships bound for British India which left from the port. The crest and supporters are based on those of the royal arms , but altered to show

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5642-423: The guns of Southsea Castle were fired at the town's royalist garrison. Parliamentarians in Gosport joined the assault, damaging St Thomas's Church . On 5 September 1642, the remaining royalists in the garrison at the Square Tower were forced to surrender after Goring threatened to blow it up; he and his garrison were allowed safe passage out of the city. Under the Commonwealth of England , Robert Blake used

5733-424: The harbour as his base during the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652 and the Anglo-Spanish War . He died within sight of the town, returning from Cádiz . After the end of the Civil War , Portsmouth was among the first towns to declare Charles   II king and began to prosper. The first ship built in over 100 years, HMS  Portsmouth , was launched in 1650; twelve ships were built between 1650 and 1660. After

5824-402: The harbour; navigational charts use the contraction. According to one historian, the name may have been brought back from a group of Portsmouth-based sailors who visited Pompey's Pillar in Alexandria , Egypt, around 1781. Another theory is that it is named after the harbour's guardship, Pompee , a 74-gun French ship of the line captured in 1793. Portsmouth's coat of arms is attested in

5915-422: The industrial area. The fire spread rapidly as there were many old wooden buildings in the area, including the historic semaphore tower which dated back to the eighteenth century, which was completely destroyed. The damage to the dockyard area cost the city £200,000 in damages, equivalent to £23,600,000 today. In the midst of the firestorm, a battleship, HMS  Queen Mary , had to be towed to safety to avoid

6006-433: The interior and destroyed its inner walls, although the civic plate was retrieved unharmed from the vault under the front steps. After the raid, Portsmouth mayor Denis Daley wrote for the Evening News : We are bruised but we are not daunted, and we are still as determined as ever to stand side by side with other cities who have felt the blast of the enemy, and we shall, with them, persevere with an unflagging spirit towards

6097-407: The island, passes between Old Portsmouth and Gosport. Portsmouth Harbour has a series of lakes, including Fountain Lake (near the commercial port), Portchester Lake (south central), Paulsgrove Lake (north), Brick Kiln Lake and Tipner (east), and Bombketch and Spider Lakes (west). Further northwest, around Portchester, are Wicor, Cams, and Great Cams Lakes. The large tidal inlet of Langstone Harbour

6188-412: The mainland. Portsdown Hill dominates the skyline in the north, and contains several large Palmerston Forts such as Fort Fareham , Fort Wallington , Fort Nelson , Fort Southwick , Fort Widley , and Fort Purbrook . Portsdown Hill is a large band of chalk ; the rest of Portsea Island is composed of layers of London Clay and sand (part of the Bagshot Formation ), formed principally during

6279-439: The mortar bombs they were designed to fire and constructed with extremely strong hulls, to withstand the recoil of the heavy weapons. The ships were selected for the Antarctic mission as being able to resist thick ice, as proved true in practice. En route to the Southern Ocean , Ross established magnetic measurement stations in Saint Helena , Cape Town , and Kerguelen before arriving in Hobart in early 1840 and establishing

6370-420: The navy's ships. The first machines were installed in January 1803, and the final set (for large blocks) in March 1805. In 1808, the mills produced 130,000 blocks. By the turn of the 19th century, Portsmouth was the largest industrial site in the world; it had a workforce of 8,000, and an annual budget of £570,000. In 1805, Admiral Nelson left Portsmouth to command the fleet which defeated France and Spain at

6461-408: The northeast tip of Somerset Island where he was frozen in at Port Leopold . In the spring, he and Leopold McClintock explored the west coast of the island by sledge. He recognized Peel Sound but thought it too ice-choked for Franklin to have used it. In fact, Franklin had used it in 1846 when the extent of sea ice had been atypically low. The next summer he tried to reach Wellington Channel but

6552-588: The presence of Elizabeth II , the Duke of Edinburgh , and twelve senior members of the royal family. Redevelopment of the naval shore establishment HMS  Vernon began in 2001 as a complex of retail outlets, clubs, pubs, and a shopping centre known as Gunwharf Quays. Construction of the 552-foot-tall (168 m) Spinnaker Tower , sponsored by the National Lottery , began at Gunwharf Quays in 2003. The Tricorn Centre , called "the ugliest building in

6643-665: The ten remaining men, three were sentenced to death. In 1789, a chapel was erected in Prince George's Street and was dedicated to St John by the Bishop of Winchester. Around this time, a bill was passed in the House of Commons on the creation of a canal to link Portsmouth to Chichester; however, the project was abandoned. The city's nickname, Pompey, is thought to have derived from the log entry of Portsmouth Point (contracted "Po'm.P." – Po' rts m outh P. oint) as ships entered

6734-424: The town. Edward   III instructed all maritime towns to build vessels and raise troops to rendezvous at Portsmouth. Two years later, a French fleet led by Nicholas Béhuchet raided Portsmouth and destroyed most of the town; only the stone-built church and hospital survived. After the raid, Edward   III exempted the town from national taxes to aid its reconstruction. In 1377, shortly after Edward died,

6825-801: The volcanoes Mount Erebus and Mount Terror , which were named for the expedition's vessels. They sailed for 250 nautical miles (460 km) along the edge of the low, flat-topped ice shelf they called variously the Barrier or the Great Ice Barrier, later named the Ross Ice Shelf in his honour. After being forced to overwinter in Tasmania , Ross returned to the Ross Sea in December 1841 before travelling east past Marie Byrd Land to

6916-561: The war; before permanent accommodations could be built, Portsmouth City Council built prefabs for those who had lost their homes. More than 700 prefab houses were constructed between 1945 and 1947, some over bomb sites. The first permanent houses were built away from the city centre, in new developments such as Paulsgrove and Leigh Park ; construction of council estates in Paulsgrove was completed in 1953. The first Leigh Park housing estates were completed in 1949, although construction in

7007-477: The yard". On 1 October 1916, Portsmouth was bombed by a Zeppelin airship. Although the Oberste Heeresleitung (German Supreme Army Command) said that the town was "lavishly bombarded with good results", there were no reports of bombs dropped in the area. According to another source, the bombs were mistakenly dropped into the harbour rather than the dockyard. About 1,200 ships were refitted in

7098-595: Was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer of both the northern and southern polar regions. In the Arctic , he participated in two expeditions led by his uncle, John Ross , and in four led by William Edward Parry : in the Antarctic , he led his his own expedition from 1839 to 1843. Ross was born in London, the son of George Ross and nephew of John Ross , under whom he entered the Royal Navy on 5 April 1812. Ross

7189-411: Was a pirate who founded Portsmouth in 501. England's southern coast was vulnerable to Danish Viking invasions during the eighth and ninth centuries, and was conquered by Danish pirates in 787. In 838, during the reign of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex , a Danish fleet landed between Portsmouth and Southampton and plundered the region. Æthelwulf sent Wulfherd and the governor of Dorsetshire to confront

7280-466: Was also where he served as midshipman with Francis Crozier , who would later become his close friend and second-in-command. From 1829 to 1833 Ross again served under his uncle on John's second Arctic voyage. It was during this trip that a small party led by James Ross (including Thomas Abernethy ) located the position of the north magnetic pole on 1 June 1831, on the Boothia Peninsula in

7371-684: Was an active participant in the Napoleonic Wars , being present at an action where HMS Briseis , commanded by his uncle, captured Le Petit Poucet (a French privateer) on 9 October 1812. Ross then served successively with his uncle on HMS Actaeon and HMS Driver . Ross participated in John's unsuccessful first Arctic voyage in search of a Northwest Passage in 1818 aboard Isabella . Between 1819 and 1827 Ross took part in four Arctic expeditions under William Edward Parry , taking particular interest in magnetism and natural history. This

7462-638: Was blocked by ice and returned to England. Ultimately every member of Franklin's expedition perished. Ross married Ann Coulman in 1843. A blue plaque marks Ross's home in Eliot Place, Blackheath, London . His closest friend was Francis Crozier, with whom he sailed many times. He also lived in the ancient House of the Abbots of St. Albans in Buckinghamshire . In the gardens of the Abbey there

7553-460: Was built in Fratton in 1948, and others were built at Paulsgrove and Farlington during the 1950s and 1960s. Although traditional industries such as brewing and corset manufacturing disappeared during this time, electrical engineering became a major employer. Despite the cutbacks in traditional sectors, Portsmouth remained attractive to industry. Zurich Insurance Group moved their UK headquarters to

7644-489: Was completed in 1838; some supplementary measurements by Robert Were Fox were also used. On 8 April 1839, Ross was given orders to command an expedition to Antarctica for the purposes of 'magnetic research and geographical discovery'. Between September 1839 and September 1843, Ross commanded HMS  Erebus on his own Antarctic expedition and charted much of the continent's coastline. Captain Francis Crozier

7735-527: Was difficult, and by the time he had reached the last known position of the whalers in June, all but one had managed to return home. Ross found no trace of this last vessel, William Torr , which was probably crushed in the ice in December 1835. He returned to Hull in September 1836 with all his crew in good health. From 1835 to 1839, except for his voyage with Cove, he was one of the principal participants in

7826-693: Was evidence of its increasing national importance. Between 1667 and 1685, the town's fortifications were rebuilt; new walls were constructed with bastions and two moats were dug, making Portsmouth one of the world's most heavily fortified places. In 1759, General James Wolfe sailed to capture Quebec ; the expedition, although successful, cost him his life. His body was brought back to Portsmouth in November, and received high naval and military honours. Two years later, on 30 May 1775, Captain James Cook arrived on HMS  Endeavour after circumnavigating

7917-691: Was not mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book , Bocheland ( Buckland ), Copenore ( Copnor ), and Frodentone ( Fratton ) were. According to some sources, it was founded in 1180 by the Anglo-Norman merchant Jean de Gisors . King Henry II died in 1189; his son, Richard I (who had spent most of his life in France), arrived in Portsmouth en route to his coronation in London. When Richard returned from captivity in Austria in May 1194, he summoned an army and

8008-567: Was second-in-command of the expedition, commanding HMS  Terror , with senior lieutenant Archibald McMurdo . Support for the expedition had been arranged by Francis Beaufort , hydrographer of the Navy and a member of several scientific societies. On the expedition was gunner Thomas Abernethy and ship's surgeon Robert McCormick , as well as Joseph Dalton Hooker , who had been invited along as assistant ship's surgeon. Erebus and Terror were bomb vessels —an unusual type of warship named after

8099-579: Was sent on one of three expeditions to find John Franklin. Franklin's second in command was Ross's close friend Francis Crozier. The other expeditions sent to find Franklin were the Rae–Richardson Arctic expedition and the expedition aboard HMS Plover and HMS  Herald through the Bering Strait . He was given command of HMS  Enterprise , accompanied by HMS  Investigator . Because of heavy ice in Baffin Bay he only reached

8190-412: Was stabbed to death in an Old Portsmouth pub by war veteran John Felton five years later. Felton never attempted to escape, and was caught walking the streets when soldiers confronted him; he said, "I know that he is dead, for I had the force of forty men when I struck the blow". Felton was hanged, and his body chained to a gibbet on Southsea Common as a warning to others. The murder took place in

8281-615: Was to find the position of the south magnetic pole . While Ross failed to reach the pole, he was able to determine its location. The expedition also produced the first accurate magnetic maps of the Antarctic. Ross's ships arrived back in England on 4 September 1843. He was awarded the Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations in 1843, knighted in 1844, and elected to the Royal Society in 1848. On 31 January 1848, Ross

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