Historic Vessels
Early sailing ships, pioneering iron-and-steam designs and heritage steamers, including PS Waverley. This focused collection follows changes in construction, propulsion and preservation.
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Gunboat Philadelphia at 250: Conserving the 1776 Hull
At Valcour Island’s 250th anniversary, conservation of Philadelphia reveals shipwrights’ marks and the legacy of earlier treatments.
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HMS Victory: Nelson’s Flagship and the World’s Oldest Commissioned Warship
How HMS Victory was built at Chatham, refitted for Trafalgar, saved in dry dock at Portsmouth and kept in commission as a flagship.
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Cutty Sark: From the Tea Trade to Australian Wool and Greenwich
How a clipper built for the China tea trade made her name carrying Australian wool, survived as Ferreira and became a museum ship at…
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Great Eastern: Breaking Up Brunel’s Iron Steamship on the Mersey
How Brunel’s Great Eastern came to be beached on the Mersey in 1888, auctioned in lots and taken apart, and what her double iron…
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PS Waverley: How a Seagoing Paddle Steamer Works
Following steam through Waverley’s boilers, triple-expansion engine and paddle wheels, and what the 2020 Brodick accident showed about running her.
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HMS Warrior: Britain’s First Iron-Hulled Armoured Warship
How HMS Warrior combined an iron hull, armour, steam and sail in 1861, and how a ship that became a hulk and an oil…
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Vasa: Why the King’s Warship Sank and How She Survives
Why Vasa sank in Stockholm harbour in 1628, how she was raised in 1961, and the long work of keeping her hull from deforming…
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Mary Rose: Raising and Conserving Henry VIII’s Warship
How the Mary Rose was found, raised from the Solent in 1982 and conserved over 34 years, from PEG spraying and air drying to…
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SS Great Britain: Brunel’s Iron Screw Steamer and the Hull That Survived
How SS Great Britain joined an iron hull to screw propulsion in 1845, and how that hull survived Australia, the Falklands and a return…
