The 1805 Dispatches #26.03 June 2026 4 of 8 MASTS LIFTED FROM HMS VICTORY (Edited version of the story by Steven Morris from The Guardian Tuesday 28 April) (As a follow-up to the report in the most recent KA:) 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 30strong 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. Then the mizzen and bowsprit were craned off and laid on a Portsmouth dockside ready for conservation work to begin. Patrizia Pierazzo, the deputy project director, hailed it as a “great start”. She 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. “I think you’re always nervous when you’re dealing with something like Victory, which is a 250-year-old structure that’s been knocked about over the years. “These masts have not always been maintained as well as they might have been. We’re lifting historic wrought iron structures out of a very important timber historic structure. So it’s fairly complex.” “There’s six months of planning gone into this process, refining and perfecting and making sure those risks to fabric have been reduced to (Story from BBC News 21 May 2026) A handwritten letter from Admiral Nelson has been snapped up at auction as part of a huge sale of personal belongings once owned by Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts and his wife Shirley (right). The letter, written in 1795, went for £6,000 when it went under the hammer in Exeter, helping push the total sale to £410,000. It was penned two years before British naval commander Nelson, famous for his victories in the Napoleonic Wars, lost his right arm in battle, with his handwriting described as neat and his signature clear before he later had to switch to writing left-handed. More than 870 items from the couple's home, in Dolton, Devon, were sold following their deaths in 2021 and 2022. ROLLING STONE GATHERS NELSON LETTER
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