Preparations are under way to re-float Dundee’s RRS Discovery.
Following successful tests of the pumps earlier this year, water is now gradually being introduced into the dock in a “trial and error” process.
Following successful tests of the pumps earlier in the year the water is slowly rising in the dock. Exciting times! #DiscoveryDundee #MadeInDundee pic.twitter.com/Zcivsn3sD9
— Discovery Point (@DiscoveryDundee) August 14, 2018
The famous vessel carried Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton to the Antarctic.
Kim Adamson, marketing officer at the Dundee Heritage Trust, said: “Because the ship has been dried up for such a long time, we’ve got to introduce water gradually as it’s going to react with the wood.
“This is something that will be happening in the next month or so.
“At the moment it’s just tests – ‘testing the water’, if you will. It’s a process of trial and error so we can’t say for sure when the ship will be re-floated.
“There is still a lot of work to be done on the ship itself, such as work to the decks, but that will be determined by how the water introduction goes.”
The refurbishment of the ship has cost an estimated £350,000. The work has been helped by a £40,000 crowdfunding campaign by Dundee Heritage Trust, which owns the ship.
Repairs to the Discovery’s masts and rigging was part of the work in a bid to help the attraction remain preserved for future generations.
