Jack Tar Adventures

link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/5ba8a0bc-bf8e-410a-a3db-257288da0b5a

The Peterborough lift lock is quite a spectacle! Now we know why it is the most famous of the Trent locks. It was considered an engineering marvel at the time (the original lift lock was designed in Northwich, Cheshire, England, but numerous technical problems forced its conversion to a counterbalanced, electric operation). Instead of a gate, there are two pans, kind of like scales. To me, the pans are like two giant bathtubs. Each pan weighs 1300 tons when filled. With one pan up and the other down, the two balance each other. It doesn’t matter how many boats are in either pan. A boat displaces its own weight in water. It’s science. When it’s time to lower one pan and raise the other, one extra foot of water (130 tons) is allowed to enter the upper pan. The extra weight allows the upper pan to lower, raising the lower pan to the top level. The two pans are locked in place, and the excess water is released from the lower pan.

You have to see it to believe it!