2. July 2005
Work to raise the SeaGuernsey 2005 Mast is officially under way.
Representatives from the SeaGuernsey Mast project have inspected groundwork for the rigging of the 32 metre high structure that will stand on the Weighbridge roundabout, in St Peter Port. The mast is set to fly the Royal Standard when Her Majesty The Queen visits the island on 9th May, to mark the 60th anniversary of Guernseys liberation at the end of WWII.
The Memorial Mast is a scale replica of the mizzenmast of a classic 18th century line-of-battle ship, the Bellona. It is being built in steel, unlike the timber original, by Marine and General Engineers using modern construction techniques.
Mr David Norman, the companys Managing Director, explained: The mast will give islanders some idea of the scale of the ships that would have been seen in local waters in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its built to an 80 percent scale of the smallest of the Bellonas three masts, so its worth remembering that the men who crewed these ships would have had to climb a lot higher than this to take in sail, in all weathers and often at night.
Notes for Editors:
1. A total of 300 vessels were built in 14 major shipyards on Guernseys coast during the nineteenth century, with a total weight of 42,000 tons.
2. The largest ship ever built in Guernsey was the Golden Spur, which was built at Ogiers shipyard in 1864. She was 200 feet in length, weighed 656 tons and carried a cargo of 1200-1400 tons of tea. The Golden Spur carried over half an acre of sail, which enabled her to reach speeds of 17 knots. She was wrecked off the China coast in 1879.
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