Tag Archives: ship

Harbour Festival 2025

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Harbour Fest was held on 19th and 20th July this year, as always it was a packed event with lots of visitors. The crowds mean taking additional safety measures such as volunteers on crowd control duty. Always a busy time but no mishaps, thanks to the volunteers and staff of the Working Exhibits.
Saturday night saw a BBQ for the workers, held aboard John King.
Pyronaut unfortunately sustained some damage due to another vessel. She required some emergency repairs to the handrails to be able to take part in the celebrations.
A particular highlight was the attendance by replica tall ship Galéon Andalucia. Very impressive!

Thanks to Katie, Dave and Bob for the photos!

Mayflower’s Boiler Lift

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On Thursday 20th August 2020, steam tug ‘Mayflower’s boiler was lifted back into place. As the museum and working exhibits have been closed during the Coronavirus crisis, it was nice to be able to have them alive again. All volunteers taking part were complying with COVID-19 restrictions throughout. The lift went very smoothly, a credit to all involved. Hopefully this means the 159-year old Mayflower can be in steam again soon!

Cranes stand ready in the morning, the weather held out for us thankfully (photo courtesy Bob Edwardes)
‘Portbury’ was in steam again, seen here shunting the yard to enable the boiler to be brought out of the running shed
Crane 32 was in charge of the lift, its higher capacity of 10 tons being ample for the 8-ton boiler
The first task was to lift off ‘Mayflower’s wheelhouse, exposing the engine room below.
‘Portbury’ brought the boiler down to the quayside
The boiler awaiting fitting of the smokebox
The boiler alongside Crane 32, showing the fresh lagging (photo courtesy Bob Edwardes)
The smokebox (which has been renewed with fresh metal to replace rotten parts) fitted to the boiler.
The boiler is eased into ‘Mayflower’ (photo courtesy Bob Edwardes, with thanks)
The boiler is eased into its cradle
Lined up successfully with its mounting points
Crane 32 getting ready to detach from the boiler and lift the superstructure back on (photo courtesy Bob Edwardes, with thanks)
Job done for the day, ‘Portbury’ did some more shunting before heading back to the shed.

End of Season and Farewell

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On the last day, M Shed’s waterborne fleet (Mayflower, John King and Pyronaut) went out on a cruise around the harbour, followed by all 3 and Portbury sounding off to say goodbye to a BIM/M Shed volunteer who sadly passed away this year.

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Photo courtesy Rob Skuse

On the Friday before, Portbury and one of the electric cranes were used to deliver a model ship to the SS Great Britain.

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