Keeping the craft of traditional rigging alive: Meet Dinnie Jay, rigger at the National Museum of the Royal Navy

Now living in Portsmouth with her partner, whom she met while both were sailing abroad, she is part of the specialist rigging team working on HMS Victory and the other iconic ships that are cared for by the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

Dinnie’s path to Victory began at sea. She started out washing dishes on charter schooners before working her way up to deckhand and eventually mate, where she mastered traditional rigging through hands-on experience. Dinnie’s work has taken her around the world, however she explains that crossing the Mediterranean on an authentically restored Swedish tall ship, known as a Götheborg, was a favourite, formative experience.

Today, Dinnie is part of a four-person square-rigging team at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard for HMS Victory: The Big Repair - the ten-year, £42m project to conserve the ship for future generations. The team develops rigging design and makes new rope and other materials in the workshop, alongside working on board Victory, where they meticulously inspect and record which components of the existing rig can be re-used and which must be built from scratch.

It’s the largest project Dinnie has ever tackled. 

“The lines of the ship, from its ropes and cables, through to its masts, are massive,” she laughs, “you have to be innovative with how you achieve things.”

Reflecting on her route into her career, she explained: 

“I feel that in maintaining historic ships like Victory, I am not only saving important pieces of history but also fully bringing history back to life.

“I found a particular calling in traditional rigging because, unlike other elements of ship preservation, the tools and techniques we use as riggers are virtually the same as they would have been in the 18th and 19th centuries. It means I’m helping to keep the craft alive every day, and I am also protecting historic ships for generations to come."

Like all maritime crafts, rigging has historically been dominated by men. However, the team of riggers at the Museum is an even split of men and women, and Dinnie says she doesn’t feel that her gender has ever been a barrier to her career. In fact, she’s passionate about passing her skills on to the next generation to keep the craft of rigging alive.

For Dinnie, rigging is more than a job: it’s a craft and a calling. She relishes the teamwork, the challenge and the chance to preserve maritime heritage on such an iconic ship. She says, 

“I'm really excited to see the project through to the end. I feel like I’m part of Victory’s history now.”

Want to see The Big Repair take place in real time?

HMS Victory remains open to the public during The Big Repair, where visitors can continue to get on board the ship, with the added opportunity to watch the conservation project take place in real time from a three-storey viewing platform. To find out more about HMS Victory: The Big Repair, visit our dedicated information hub, where we share the latest project updates, milestones, and stories.