1765 HMS Victory masts, Portsmouth, England
1765 HMS Victory masts, Portsmouth, England
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Go to Sailing Texas classifieds for current sailboats for sale The HMS Victory has three masts and a bowsprit. The main mast reaches 220 feet above sea level. When first built the Victory had "pole masts", each made from a single pine tree. Imported from New England until America gained independence and contracts were dissolved. Later masts were "composite" masts, not made from a single piece of wood (see below). These masts spread 4 acres of sail in all.
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The bowsprit was pretty large itself, extending far out in front of the ship. |
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A maze of lines held the masts aloft and controlled the sails. |
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The "fighting top", not exactly where I'd like to be in a fight. |
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Lots of shrouds going up the mast, nothing on this ship was undersized. |
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The mizzen mast came out the afterdeck, and had a boom and what looked like a gaff rig similar to more modern sailboats. |
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The mast step was down in the hold near the bottom of the ship. The white posts are tubes for the water pumps. |
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The foremast was shattered in the Battle of Trafalgar, and this piece was saved in the refit of 2006. This baltic pine mast was a composite design, you can see the different pieces of wood that were bound together to make the mast. |
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Many scars of the battle are in evidence on this relic, which passed through several hands before coming back to the Victory around 1967. |
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The elm tree pump, mounted next to the mast where it past through an upper deck, was used to pump water from the sea for cleaning and fire fighting. The pump casing was made from a bored out elm tree and contains a fixed valve box. The simple handle could deliver 25 gallons per minute. |
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A bilge pump, also mounted near a mast, had cups mounted on a chain. Turning the handle brought cups of water out of the bilge to keep the ship afloat. |
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