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

There is only one correct way to extricate a 15-tonne wrought iron mast from one of the world’s most famous and beloved warships – very slowly, and with extreme care. Which is precisely how a 30-strong team led by shipwrights and riggers set about their task on Monday night into Tuesday morning when they lifted the foremast from HMS Victory as part of a £42m conservation project. A 750-tonne crane removed the 23-metre mast from the ship in an operation requiring power to lift the wrought iron structure but also a great deal of delicacy to make sure the fabric of the vessel was not harmed. In the coming days, as long as the wind does not get up, two more masts – the mizzen and bowsprit – will also be craned off Nelson’s 18th-century flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar and laid on a Portsmouth dockside ready for conservation work to begin. Stuart Sheldon, lead rigger, and Angela Middleton, head of conservation, preparing for the lift. Photograph: Matt Sills At daybreak on Tuesday, Patrizia Pierazzo, the deputy project director, hailed it as a “great start”. He said: “The team worked through some initial challenges but overall the lift process was undertaken safely and we now have the foremast securely removed from the ship.” Andrew Baines, the executive director of museum operations at the National Museum of the Royal Navy , admitted he had been a little anxious. …