Abstract: For use where a hanging load 81 is vertically hung and released with a crane having either a jib or a boom which can be raised or lowered, or where a long hanging load 81 is raised from its lowered state to its vertical state so as to be hung-up and released a control device of the has a control section for performing automatically the raising of the jib 60 or boom 61 and the winding-up or -down of the winding-up rope 70, in cooperation with each other in response to their initial states. In case that the initial angle of the jib or boom is large or small, it is controlled in such a way as a rate of variation of the hanging load .DELTA.T applied to the winding-up rope 70 becomes constant. It positions the extreme end of the jib or boom on the vertical line passing through a center of gravity of the hanging load. With such a control device, the handing load is not oscillated and a smooth vertical releasing is carried out.