'Tog Mor' flat-bottomed lifting crane used for the lifting of the 'Mary Rose' in the Solent, Portsmouth

Return of the 'Task Force' from the Falklands War
On 17th September 1982, after serving in the South Atlantic, the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible [R05] - part of the Royal Navy 'Task Force', made a triumphant return to the Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth. The ship was greeted by a huge flotilla of small vessels. This was the second carrier to return from the Falklands, after HMS Hermes arrived back on 21st July. I made the journey down again to capture this historic occasion, and as an added bonus saw this amazing crane at work lifting the 'Mary Rose'!.

'Tog Mor' (big lifter in Gaelic) is a flat-bottomed, anchored barge, used for shallow water offshore construction activities. In mid-September 1982 'Tog Mor' was moved to the Solent and anchored alongside the Mary Rose ready for the lift. The lifting frame was delivered and the cradle put on the seabed near the ship. The upper frame was lowered over the ship and divers attached cables. The frame and ship were then lifted over the cradle Unfortunately, the frame distorted and only three of the guide spuds could be placed in their sockets. To solve this problem the leg was cut off underwater and that corner was supported by a wire sling.

When all was ready the lift commenced. In everyone’s memory is the pin sheering at the opposite corner to the wire and the lift shuddering. All was well in the end and the hull of the Mary Rose was so watertight that the divers had to pump it out as we lifted. The crane lifted up to 1050 tonnes and waited for the pumping. After several pumping stops the ship was lifted clear and the lift was 860 tonnes.

The ship in its cradle was placed on a pontoon and towed into Portsmouth. 'Tog Mor' prepared for tow and sailed for Cameroon. Subsequently it moved to Singapore and was later converted to a pipelay barge in 1997 by its new owners Allseas. Sadly its Stuekelmast has now been removed and replaced by a lower capacity revolving crane. More info here: maryrose.org/blog/where-were-you-in-82-lifting-the-mary-r...
and here allseas.com/equipment/tog-mor/

The Mary Rose was a carrack in the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She was launched in 1511 and served for 34 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her last action on 19 July 1545. She led the attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet, but sank in the Solent, the strait north of the Isle of Wight.

The wreck of the Mary Rose was located in 1971 and was raised on 11 October 1982 by the Mary Rose Trust in one of the most complex and expensive maritime salvage projects in history. The surviving section of the ship and thousands of recovered artefacts are of great value as a Tudor period time capsule. The excavation and raising of the Mary Rose was a milestone in the field of maritime archaeology, comparable in complexity and cost to the raising of the 17th-century Swedish warship Vasa in 1961. The Mary Rose site is designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 by statutory instrument 1974/55. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. More on the 'Mary Rose' here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rose

Taken using a Soviet made Zenith TTL camera and 300mm lens. Scanned rom the original slide with no digital restoration.

You can see a random selection of my aviation memories here: www.flickriver.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/random/

Taken in: UK / England / Southsea (show map)

Taken on: September 17, 1982

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