HMS Victory - mast removal challenge

[LittleSister]

And you thought raising/lowering your mast was expensive and nerve-wracking?

All this palaver, and it's not even the main mast (which is already down), nor even original!

Turns out the masts are wrought iron, and second-hand - taken from another ship in the 19th century to replace the original wooden masts.

‘Protected for another century’: experts lift 15-tonne foremast from HMS Victory

 

[Mark-1]

a huge scaffolding structure will encase the vessel and remain in place until the conservation project ends in 2033.

Our mooring was the other side of the Harbour entrance so we regularly took the ferry/water taxi and visited with the kids until quite recently. Glad we did if it's going to be undercover until they're adults.

 

[Poignard]

In that fascinating and perfectly illustrated book "The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor: Or, a Key to the Leading of Rigging, and to Practical Seamanship" by Darcy Lever, is a description of how masts could be stepped without the benefit of dockyard cranes or sheer.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...al_seamanship_(IA_youngseaofficers00leve).pdf

 

[johnalison]

In Two Years before the Mast, Dana describes them lowering the topmasts while under way before rounding the Horn.

 

[Mark-1]

In that fascinating and perfectly illustrated book "The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor: Or, a Key to the Leading of Rigging, and to Practical Seamanship" by Darcy Lever, is a description of how masts could be stepped without the benefit of dockyard cranes or sheer.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/The_young_sea_officer's_sheet_anchor;_or,_A_key_to_the_leading_of_rigging,_and_to_practical_seamanship_(IA_youngseaofficers00leve).pdf

A strangely addictive read, thanks for sharing.

PDF can't have been a very convenient format in the C19th.

 

[Marsali_1]

A strangely addictive read, thanks for sharing.

PDF can't have been a very convenient format in the C19th.

They didn't use PDFs at sea because of, as you state, the inconvenience of the format. What they did have was a water proof nautical version of Alexa who could be programmed to recognize and speak in various accents according to the local dialect of the user. Kept the fo'csle crew enthralled for hours and, joking aside, yes, it is a fascinating document which contains still useful information.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

In that fascinating and perfectly illustrated book "The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor: Or, a Key to the Leading of Rigging, and to Practical Seamanship" by Darcy Lever, is a description of how masts could be stepped without the benefit of dockyard cranes or sheer.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/The_young_sea_officer's_sheet_anchor;_or,_A_key_to_the_leading_of_rigging,_and_to_practical_seamanship_(IA_youngseaofficers00leve).pdf

If I remember correctly, the exercise was called "bringing in their new mast by way of the old".

I'm pretty sure that either Jack Aubrey or Hornblower did it!