Nelson will always be associated with HMS Victory. She was his flagship for his final battle at Trafalgar, and it was on her orlop deck that he breathed his last, just as the battle was won. This association with Britain’s great naval hero would go on to help save the Victory from the breakers yard when, in the early part of the 20th century, the government decided that they had no further use for her. Fortunately, a noisy campaign, organised by the Society for Nautical Research, succeeded in raising the funds to preserve her for the nation. The ship now rests in a drydock in Portsmouth and is open to the public. But this campaign was not the first time that the warship had to be saved from disaster. The first occasion occurred on the 7th of May 1765, the day that she was due to be launched.
Source: The Man who saved the Victory
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