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How Do You Lift a 30,000-Pound Mast From a Warship Built a Record-Breaking 261 Years Ago? With a Really, Really Big Crane
Key takeaways
- Ellen Wexler | Assistant Editor, Humanities
- First, shipwrights below the deck detached the mast from the Victory, which is stationed at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in England.
- “We’re going to reveal parts of Victory that were last seen by the 18th-century shipwrights who built her,” Andrew Baines, executive director of operations for the National Museum of the Royal Navy, says in a statement.
Ellen Wexler | Assistant Editor, Humanities
Add as preferred source The HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in England Andrew Holt via Getty Images After months of planning, workers arrived at the dockyard ready to carry out their mission: removing the foremast from HMS Victory, the world’s oldest warship still in commission. They needed to ensure that the mast—which weighs more than 30,000 pounds—wouldn’t damage the 261-year-old vessel.
First, shipwrights below the deck detached the mast from the Victory, which is stationed at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in England. A massive crane then lifted the pillar into the air and carefully lowered it onto the dockside, where it will be repaired as part of a $57 million restoration effort.