UK: Southampton and Portsmouth

A posting joking about Southampton, Portsmouth (and Um Casr) led me to ask John Heelan, who lives in the Isle of Wight, how those two ports are faring. He replies: "Perhaps the best way to distinguish between Portsmouth, which I can see some 5 miles away across the water, and Southampton is that the former is a typical naval town and ferry port, whereas Southampton is a major seaport.

Portsmouth's demonstrates its naval tradition, derived from at least half a millennium association with the "Senior Service" in many ways, good and bad. The good ways include naval shore stations (still regarded, named and treated as "ships") hosting the shore-based sailors (called "ratings" or "matelots" in local parlance) abound with fixed and floating museums, including Nelson's flagship "Victory". The less than good ways are those associated with the social "service industries" associated with large bodies of fit, young people, i.e. bars, prostitutes (both sexes) and intermittent bouts of fisticuffs between local youths and matelots. The centre of Portsmouth is a somewhat nondescript shopping area despoiled by an unused, rotting concrete multi-storey car park whose demolition and reconstruction has been promised for many years without any progress (perhaps they should rename it Iraq and suggest oil lies beneath it).

Both Portsmouth and Southampton experience the strange phenomenon of a double high-tide, caused by the mass of the Isle of Wight interfering with the tidal flows emanating from the English Channel. The narrow entrance to Portsmouth Harbour is often aggravated by rough water just outside the harbour entrance caused by the collision of the two high tides; large ships have to take extreme care entering/leaving the harbour, so much so that it would probably be impossible for today's large container ships to use Portsmouth as a base. On the other hand, Southampton is approached by the (usually) more smooth Southampton Water running more than one mile inland from the rough Solent. Large ships can manoeuvre this stretch reasonably easily, although the sandbanks at the entrance can be treacherous and usually a specialised pilot is employed for the purpose. So Southampton has developed as a major freight seaport and has plans in place for a large-scale expansion of its container and cruise-liner facilities. For many years it was the home base of transatlantic cruisers such as the Queen Mary and the Queen Elisabeth; the new Queen Elisabeth will be based in Southampton. Last year, I saw the cruise liner that is reputed to be the largest in the world (the name escapes me) moored by the Southampton Cruise terminal en route from its shipyard to the Caribbean.

Southampton feels itself (and could well be) a cut above Portsmouth in the social scheme of things, possibly stemming from its association with the "Queens" and the profits made from commercial seafaring over the centuries. The centre of Southampton has been largely rebuilt after being devastated by WWII bombing and boasts a major shopping complex designed on a US shopping mall model that draws in customers from considerable distances. Both cities have reputable universities and enjoy/suffer the activities of thousands of students away from home. Ronald's old school, Taunton's College, is a fine building about 1.5 miles from Southampton city centre, with a fine reputation as a college for pre-university students and a local focal point for tutorials given by the Open University.

Drug cultures plague both cities accompanied by the range of problems usually associated with that menace to society. I personally prefer Portsmouth because it has a nuclear ambience that can be grasped, where Southampton is far amorphous and anonymous. Is Um Casr also amorphous and anonymous?

RH: I personally do not want to grasp a nuclear ambience. I knew the port of Southampton long before container ships were invented. It was the home port of many large liners taking people to the US or to the distant parts of empire. Some foreign ships were manned by dagoes, i.e. Diegos, i.e. Spaniards- Little did I realize that "dagoes" would play such an important part in my life.

Ronald Hilton - 3/30/03