Modern day technology is being used to explain latter day shipbuilding in a new permanent exhibition.

Hearts of Oak at Chatham Historic Dockyard tells the story of wooden shipbuilding at what was once the world’s greatest yard in the age of sail.

Visitors see the process from saw pit, where huge trunks of English oak were cut to size to form the ships’ structures, through various construction stages until they walk through a warship’s gun deck.

The story is told by ‘digital theatre’ - a dramatised story of a retired shipwright giving his grandson a conducted tour of the yard. Projected scenes explain the process and workings of the yard and guide visitors through the building of a wooden ship.

The aim, says the historic dockyard, is for “new technology and interpretation techniques [to] bring the story of people, ships and processes to life in a vivid and exciting way.”
 
Richard Holdsworth, Chatham’s Preservation and Education Director, explained the new attraction replaces the former Wooden Walls of England gallery.

He said; “The former gallery dated from the 1970s and although it has been a great success over the years it was starting to be a bit dated. With the new technology now available the story of shipbuilding can be told in a  much more engaging way.

“We are delighted to add it to the other attractions of the dockyard”. Hearts of Oak opened at Easter.