How Can You Raise a 30,000-Pound Mast From a Warship Constructed a Remarkable 261 Years Ago? Using an Extremely Large Crane

HMS “Victory” participated in the American Revolution, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. It holds the title of the oldest commissioned warship in the world—yet it critically needs restoration.

After extensive preparation, the crew showed up at the dockyard, ready to execute their task: extracting the foremast from HMS Victory, the oldest warship still active. They had to ensure the mast, weighing over 30,000 pounds, wouldn’t cause harm to the 261-year-old ship.

Initially, shipwrights below deck detached the mast from the Victory, which is located at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in England. A huge crane then hoisted the structure up and gently set it down on the dockside, where it will undergo repairs as part of a $57 million restoration project.

“We’re going to uncover elements of Victory that haven’t been seen since the 18th-century craftsmen who constructed her,” noted Andrew Baines, operations executive director for the National Museum of the Royal Navy, in a statement. “It feels as though we’re connecting with that team across time.”

The operation occurred overnight from April 27 to 28. The foremast stands at over 75 feet tall, making it the ship’s second-largest mast. The mizzen mast and bowsprit are slated for removal in the following days. The vessel’s main lower mast, measuring 105 feet and weighing more than 57,000 pounds, was taken out in 2021.

The restorations are part of a project called the Big Repair, commemorating a century since the ship was relocated to dry dock. The Victory will be enveloped in scaffolding for the project’s duration, with all masts expected to be reinstated by 2033.

In the meantime, guests will still have access to the warship, although the Victory will appear different without its masts. The wrought-iron structures had been part of the ship since their installation in the 1890s, when they replaced the deteriorating wooden ones.

However, the Victory‘s legacy extends far beyond that. Launched in 1765, this Royal Navy ship was constructed using over 2,000 oak trees. Those who believed in sailing superstitions thought its name to be jinxed, as a previous ship named Victory had perished in 1744, resulting in the loss of all crew members.

Commissioned in 1778 during the American Revolution, the Victory is most renowned for its significance in the Napoleonic Wars. It served as Horatio Nelson’s flagship during the pivotal 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, where 27 British ships triumphed over a fleet of 33 French and Spanish vessels. Nelson, injured in battle, passed away hours later, but his triumph solidified Britain’s status as the preeminent naval force globally.

The Victory sustained severe damage at Trafalgar and underwent repairs upon returning to England. In 1893, the warship was equipped with masts sourced from HMS Shah. Today, these are believed to be the sole remaining 19th-century iron masts still operational. Eventually, the vessel became a popular tourist attraction, having drawn over 30 million visitors since 1928.

Currently, the Victory holds a prominent place in popular culture. Russell Crowe visited the ship to prepare for his lead role as a Royal Navy captain in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), and it was also used for filming scenes in Persuasion (1995) and Napoleon (2023).

In 2012, the British Ministry of Defense handed over the ship’s stewardship to the National Museum of the Royal Navy. Around ten years ago, specialists discovered that the Victory was collapsing under its own weight. The upper deck had been shifting closer to the keel at approximately half a centimeter each year.

“Half a centimeter might not seem like much, but when it has been occurring for 40 years and is accelerating annually, it raises alarms,” Baines remarked to the Telegraph’s Ben Farmer in 2016. “Ultimately, it will reach a point where that’s not feasible. No one knows if that’s next Tuesday or in a century.”

The Big Repair commenced a few years later. Experts have been meticulously performing structural overhauls, removing damaged planking, and fabricating replacement sections. The mast removals are a critical aspect of the project.

Shipwrights, conservators, engineers, and riggers collaborated to ensure the success of this week’s operation. After its completion, Patrizia Pierazzo, deputy project director, informed the Guardian’s Steven Morris that the endeavor had been a “promising start.”

“The team overcame some initial difficulties,” she continued. “Nevertheless, the lift process was carried out safely, and we now have the foremast securely extracted from the vessel.”