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https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/14908
Title: | The dockyard 160-ton hydraulic crane, guns, and an unlikely connection with Venice |
Authors: | Cassar, Michael |
Keywords: | Dockyard -- Malta -- History Cranes, derricks, etc. -- Hydraulic drive |
Issue Date: | 2016 |
Publisher: | University of Malta. Junior College |
Citation: | Cassar, M. (2016). The dockyard 160-ton hydraulic crane, guns, and an unlikely connection with Venice. Symposia Melitensia, Vol. 12, p. 41-51 |
Abstract: | Since its demolition at Somerset Wharf, at the Malta Dockyard, half a century ago, there is nothing left to remind one of an outstanding Victorian engineering artifact – the 160 ton Armstrong Mitchell Hydraulic Crane. Armstrongs manufactured huge guns for pre-Dreadnought battleships and then provided the means for hoisting them ashore for overhaul. The Armstrong Mitchell crane worked by hydraulic water pressure; old timers recalled being spattered with water when working in the vicinity. In the 1966, Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, who managed Malta Drydocks, replaced the huge, static structure, which was visible from the Upper Barracca Gardens, with modern, travelling cranes. Similar cranes at foreign naval dockyards met the same fate but the one at the Arsenale di Venezia escaped the breakers’ torches. The Venice crane is in dire need of attention, and a British charity, the Venice in Peril Fund has stepped in to raise money for its restoration and conservation. |
URI: | https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar//handle/123456789/14908 |
ISSN: | 1812-7509 |
Appears in Collections: | SymMel, 2016, Volume 12 SymMel, 2016, Volume 12 |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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The dockyard 160-ton hydraulic crane.pdf | 614.99 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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