Top 10 Most Massive Objects Ever Relocated by Humanity

In Werner Herzog's 1982 cinematic masterpiece "Fitzcarraldo," the protagonist, played by Klaus Kinski, aspires to become a rubber tycoon in Peru. To achieve his goal, he devises an unconventional plan to access a remote area filled with valuable rubber trees. Fitzcarraldo navigates a massive paddlewheel steamship up a river until it can go no further. With sheer determination, he persuades a group of indigenous people to haul the 300-ton vessel over a steep hill using ropes and pulleys, enabling him to reach another river and continue his journey. Against all odds, they accomplish this incredible feat [source: Canby].

Although Fitzcarraldo's quest for wealth ultimately fails, his relentless ambition and audacity leave a lasting impression. This story reflects humanity's timeless fascination with moving colossal, immovable objects. We remain in awe of the ancient Egyptians, who transported 2.5-ton granite blocks across vast distances and lifted them into position to construct the pyramids, all without the aid of modern technology. (Researchers believe they used oxen to pull the stones along oil-slicked paths and raised them using mud-brick ramps coated with plaster [source: Science Daily].) Equally remarkable is the tale of B.C. Miller, who in 1888 elevated the three-story, 174-room Brighton Beach Hotel and constructed a temporary railway underneath it. He then moved the entire structure 600 feet inland on flatbed cars to safeguard it from coastal erosion [sources: Boston Evening Transcript, Brooklyn Public Library]. Even today, we gather in stadiums to witness the spectacle of monster trucks pulling enormous loads.

Discover the fascinating details about 10 of the most massive objects ever moved by humans.

10: A Meteorite

The Ahnighito meteorite, also referred to as the Cape York Meteorite, is a colossal 4.5-billion-year-old fragment of an asteroid that plummeted to Earth, landing in Greenland approximately 10,000 years ago. While non-natives first learned of its existence in 1818, it wasn’t until 1894 that Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary successfully located it. Determined to bring it to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Peary faced the monumental task of transporting it to the coast. This endeavor required the construction of Greenland’s sole railroad. After three years of effort, the meteorite was finally moved to its current home, where it rests on a custom stand anchored into the museum’s bedrock [sources: Fabricius, American Museum of Natural History].

9: A Big Rig ... Towed By a Man

While trucks typically rely on their engines to move, if your engine fails to start, you might consider reaching out to Rev. Kevin Fast for assistance. This Canadian minister and strongman, who leads a congregation of 120 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Cobourg, Ontario, has turned pulling trucks with raw strength into a remarkable pastime.

In 1996, he secured his first Guinness World Record by pulling a 17.6-ton (16-metric-ton) truck for 98.4 feet (30 meters). Six years later, he surpassed his own achievement by towing a 28.6-ton (26-metric-ton) fire truck the same distance. In 2008, he raised the bar even higher by dragging a truck weighing 63.1 tons (57.2 metric tons). As Fast once told a reporter, his philosophy is "Go big, or go home" [source: National Post]. Beyond his truck-pulling feats, he also set a record in 2009 by towing a 208-ton (188.7-metric-ton) aircraft [source: Catel].

8: A Huge Boulder

In ancient Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned by the gods to endlessly push a massive boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down each time. Thankfully, the team tasked with transporting a 340-ton (308.4-metric-ton), 21.5-foot (6.6-meter)-tall boulder 85 miles (136.8 kilometers) from Riverside County, California, to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art only had to complete the journey once.

With the aid of heavy equipment, the colossal boulder — thought to be the largest ever relocated — was loaded onto a 176-wheel transporter truck. The vehicle traveled at night on temporarily closed roads to avoid endangering other drivers. Moving at a sluggish pace of 10 miles per hour (16 kilometers per hour), the trip took a week and a half. This monumental effort was undertaken to supply artist Michael Heizer with the centerpiece for his outdoor installation "Levitated Mass," which features a 456-foot-long (139-meter), 15-foot-deep (4.5-meter) concrete trench beneath the boulder for visitors to explore. Michael Govan, the museum's CEO, proudly told the Los Angeles Times, "It's evident that this is one of the largest monoliths ever transported" [sources: DesignTaxi, Times Editors].

7: An 850-ton Engine

In today's world, even record books struggle to keep pace with extraordinary feats of moving massive objects. As a result, many now showcase their achievements by uploading videos to YouTube. A prime example is the Texas Department of Transportation, which in 2010 transported an 850-ton (771.1-metric-ton) Toshiba steam turbine engine from the Port of Houston to a power plant in Riesel, located east of Waco.

To transport the enormous machine, officials assembled a specialized rig featuring two truck cabs and a total of 520 tires. This massive vehicle, as long as a football field but only 39 feet (11.9 meters) wide, carried the engine approximately 250 miles (402 kilometers) across state roads and over 82 bridges. Progressing at a rate of about 10 miles (16 kilometers) per day, the operation was documented in a YouTube video by the department, which declared the turbine as "the heaviest load ever moved such a distance in Texas" [source: TxDOTpio].

6: A Ship ... Hauled by a Man

While large ships typically rely on their own engines or tugboats for movement, some individuals prefer a more challenging approach. In 1999, Simon Ford, a 34-year-old British strongman, demonstrated his incredible strength by pulling the HMS Lancaster, a 2,000-ton (1,814-metric ton) Royal Navy frigate, along with its 157 crew members, about 25 feet (7.6 meters) at the Devonport dockyard in Plymouth. Ford, who performed this feat for charity, reportedly collapsed afterward and struggled with breathing, according to news accounts [source: Independent].

5: A Rocket

Massive space rockets are designed to carry satellites and crewed spacecraft into orbit, but before they can launch, they must be transported to the launchpad. The Saturn V rocket, used by NASA to send astronauts to the Moon during the late 1960s and early 1970s, was an enormous challenge to move due to its sheer size and weight.

Standing at 363 feet (110.6 meters) tall, the Saturn V was 60 feet (18.3 meters) taller than the Statue of Liberty. When fully fueled for launch, it weighed a staggering 3,100 tons (2,812 metric tons), equivalent to the weight of about 400 elephants [source: NASA]. To transport this colossal rocket, NASA developed a massive 2,750-ton, 131-foot-long (39.9-meter) crawler-transporter. This vehicle moved on tank-like treads along a specially constructed -mile-long (5.6-kilometer) road, coated with Tennessee river rock to minimize friction. Although the crawler-transporter was capable of moving the equivalent of three Saturn Vs, such a feat has never been attempted.

The two crawler-transporters, the largest tracked vehicles ever constructed, cost approximately $14 million in the 1960s, equivalent to around $100 million today. Their exceptional ability to move the Saturn V led NASA to repurpose them for the Space Shuttle program. Currently, one of these vehicles is being upgraded to accommodate the Space Launch System, the next-generation rocket NASA is developing for future crewed missions [source: Major].

4: A Hotel

Although the exact weight of the Brighton Beach Hotel during its 1888 relocation is unknown, San Jose's Hotel Montgomery, built in 1911, is undoubtedly much heavier. Standing four stories tall, it boasted a restaurant, ballroom, two dining rooms, and 142 guest rooms. Notably, it was the first hotel in the region constructed with reinforced concrete, making it resistant to both fire and earthquakes.

While the Montgomery Hotel was once a grand establishment, it gradually fell into disrepair over the years. In 1989, when plans emerged to construct a modern hotel on its site, San Jose officials opted to relocate the historic building rather than demolish it. Weighing an estimated 4,800 tons (4,354 metric tons), the hotel was lifted and placed onto specially designed, remote-controlled, rubber-wheeled vehicles. It was then moved 186 feet (56.6 meters) to its current location. Despite the complexity, the $8.5 million relocation cost was significantly lower than building a new hotel. An additional $4.5 million was invested to retrofit the structure, enhancing its earthquake resilience [source: Joie de Vivre Hospitality].

3: An Evaporator

If you found the turbine engine in Texas impressive, prepare to be amazed by this colossal load, which also has its own celebratory YouTube video. In January 2012, Al-Majdouie, a company specializing in project logistics and supply chain management, transported a massive evaporator to a water desalination plant under construction in Saudi Arabia. While the exact distance traveled isn’t specified, the machinery was enormous—stretching the length of a football field and weighing 4,891 tons (4,437 metric tons), making it slightly larger than the Hotel Montgomery.

To relocate the evaporator, Al-Majdouie employed a tractor-trailer equipped with 172 axles and 688 double-width tires. The company proudly claims this cargo is the largest ever moved by road in the Middle East, and likely the world. They also plan to transport several more of these massive units in the near future [source: Almajdouie].

2: The Titanic

It would be an oversight not to mention the Titanic, the grand luxury liner that tragically struck an iceberg during its maiden voyage in 1912. While modern ships like the Oasis of the Seas far exceed the Titanic in size, they are typically launched by flooding their dry docks, allowing them to sail out under their own power. The Titanic, however, was launched traditionally, relying on gravity to slide it into the water.

During its initial launch in May 1911 from the Belfast shipyard, the Titanic became the largest object ever moved by humans at that time. The unfinished ship weighed approximately 26,000 tons (23,587 metric tons). Workers applied 22 tons (20 metric tons) of tallow and soap to create a 1-inch-thick (2.5-centimeter) lubricating layer on the slipway, enabling the Titanic to glide smoothly into the water. At 12:15 PM, a celebratory rocket was fired, and the restraining timbers were released, allowing the ship to slide into the water. Unbeknownst to the cheering crowd, the launch claimed its first victim—a worker named James Dobbins, who was struck by one of the timbers [source: Eaton].

1: A Natural Gas Drilling Platform

Until humanity begins lassoing asteroids for their resources, the record for the largest object ever moved by humans will likely remain with the Troll A Platform. This offshore natural gas drilling platform, located off Norway’s west coast, weighs a staggering 1.2 million tons (1.1 million metric tons) and stands 1,548 feet (471.8 meters) tall, making it both the heaviest and tallest object ever relocated [sources: Statoil].

Transporting the platform to its location 174 miles (280 kilometers) offshore required 10 tugboats—eight pulling from the front and two steering from behind. The slow-moving convoy traveled at just one knot per hour, taking seven days and six hours to reach its destination. Once there, the tugboats formed a star pattern around the platform to stabilize it as it was ballasted, and piles were driven 118 feet (36 meters) into the seabed to secure it [source: Potter].