The above picture gives an indication of the number and variety of vessels that attended the International Festival Of The Sea Portsmouth 1998. The photo is of some of the smaller vessels in one of the basins at the Dockyard. Around 700 boats and ships worth approximately £5.1 billion were on display which included 30 Royal Naval ships, of the 30 Royal Naval ships 3 were aircraft carriers. Entertainers and musicians performed throughout the four day festival at Portsmouth. On Saturday the second day of the festival attendance figures topped 70,000.

During the Festival many demonstrations were held and the above picture is of the crew of HMS Nottingham carrying out a fire fighting demonstration.

The Festival was a huge success with tens of thousands of people attending each day.

Due to the huge success the International Festival Of The Sea returned in August 2001. For more information about the Festival of The Sea 2001 please click here.