Earlier crews helped heel ships for hull maintenance

Did sailors run back and forth to heel ships during early Victorian tests?

Not by Victorian times. In earlier periods, crews could help turn or haul a vessel over so workers could reach the hull for maintenance.

Older ship-handling methods differed from later inclining experiments. Crews could help turn or haul a vessel onto one side when workers needed access to the underwater hull. Some methods brought the ship partly out of the water, while others turned it farther over. This historical context does not establish one standardized early trial procedure.