This past week, sailors in New York Harbor were treated to an extraordinary scene: the great, four-masted barque Peking loaded whole into the heavy-lift vessel Combi-Lift III.

Last September, the 106-year-old Peking left her Street Seaport dock and was escorted by tug to Caddell’s Drydock on the Kill van Kull, to prepare for her trip to Hamburg, Germany. Ten months later, she was finally ready to go.

How did Peking get inside Combi-Lift III on July 14 without being dismantled? The crew of the heavy-lift vessel first flooded the ballast tanks to lower the cargo deck below the water’s surface. Peking was moved into position for loading, stern first. The tanks were pumped out and the deck rose, the tall ship with it, secured with more than 70 bottom and side support structures. The Combi-Lift III, Peking ensconced inside, lingered in New York Harbor for six days, and left for Hamburg on July 20 for the 12-day crossing.

Built in Hamburg in 1911, Peking was one of the famous “Flying P Liners” of F. Laeisz Lines, voyaging from Europe to the west coast of South America with general cargo and returning with guano for use in the production of fertilizer and explosives. The ship was acquired by the South Street Seaport Museum in 1974.

“The gift of Peking to Hamburg, where they’ve got 30 million euros to restore her, is good for our museum; it will allow us to focus our growing resources on a leaner fleet, the centerpiece of which will be the mighty three-masted ship Wavertree. It’s also good for Hamburg; they’ll have a restored ship they can be proud of. She was built in Hamburg and sailed from there. She belongs on the Hamburg waterfront. And it’s good for Peking; she’ll have the resources and the attention she deserves” said Captain Jonathan Boulware, executive director of the South Street Seaport Museum, in a statement released last fall.