All aboard the party boat! HMS Victory hired out for dinners to fund its upkeep - at £1,500 a head

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Hiring out Nelson's Great Cabin costs around £30,000 for 20 guests
Parties in Captain Thomas Hardy's cabin start at £750 per head - and it's £240 on the lower decks

Published: 16:01 EST, 12 May 2012 | Updated: 16:01 EST, 12 May 2012

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Britain's most celebrated war ship, HMS Victory, is being hired out for parties and dinners costing £1,500 per person.

The Great Cabin, where Admiral Lord Nelson plotted his strategy during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, is available for fine dining by a group of 20 people for a minimum cost of £30,000.

The use of the vessel – which led Britain to victory against the French and Spanish fleets – will dismay traditionalists who believe treasured parts of the nation’s heritage should not be exploited for commercial benefit.

For hire: Britain's most celebrated war ship is being touted out for dinner parties at £1,500 per head to help fund repairs. It is docked in Portsmouth

However, the dilemma of how to fund heritage projects – when government money is no longer available – has forced the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN), which now has responsibility for the ship’s upkeep, to find finance by other means.

Anna Tribe, 82, the great-great-great granddaughter of Admiral Lord Nelson, said: ‘I suppose they are terribly short of money. If it is absolutely necessary, and they are very selective about who uses it, then I suppose it will have to be.’

Shot: Lord Nelson was shot aboard the HMS Victory - now the room where he plotted his strategy during the Battle of Trafalgar is being touted out

Jeanette Ryder, from The Nelson Society, said: ‘A lot of money is needed for renovation so, if it’s not for hen nights or that sort of thing, it will help preserve the ship.’

The Royal Navy handed over the ship, based at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Hampshire, to the NMRN last month as part of Ministry of Defence cuts to help plug a £38 billion deficit.

But the MoD agreed a £25 million capital grant to help the NMRN look after the ship – which is undergoing a £16 million restoration project including the replacement of rigging and timber.

The NMRN, which has to raise £2 million a year for the ship’s upkeep, is now promoting Victory as a ‘privileged’ party venue. It has taken out full-page advertisements in ‘select’ publications including The Oldie and the Royal Opera House corporate magazine.

The NMRN says the ship usually hosts a corporate event every week, but would not reveal which companies had booked it.

On hiring the ship, a client is allocated a liaison officer from the NMRN who helps them create a menu and wine and champagne list to suit their individual needs.

A seat at the table in Nelson’s Great Cabin starts at £1,500 and the room can accommodate 20 people – meaning a typical party costs at least £30,000.

I see no chips: Nelson's Great Cabin which is being hired out for £1,500 per person. Clients get upmarket food and wine for their money

The Lower Gun Deck: Dinner on board - where crew survived on stale biscuits and ale - is provided for £240 per person

Parties in Hardy’s Cabin – the smaller and less luxurious control room occupied by Captain Thomas Hardy – start at £750, and dinner on the Lower Gun Deck – where the lower ranks survived on stale biscuits and ale – starts at £240 a head. But the food is not prepared on site as Victory does not have kitchens.

Giles Gould, enterprise manager at NMRN who deals with bookings, said: ‘The ship is available for hire on a selective basis. We want to keep it exclusive. It won’t be available for 18th or 21st birthday parties or hen nights.’

Victory was launched in 1765 and taken out of service in 1812. It remained in Portsmouth Harbour until 1922, when it was moved to the Royal Naval Dockyard.