Comments on: Christmas at Rye Harbour - and a handsome old motor launch hull for sale http://intheboatshed.net/2007/12/26/christmas-at-rye-harbour-and-a-handsome-old-motor-launch-hull-for-sale/ Gavin Atkin's weblog about great boats, boatbuilding and restoration Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:31:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Casco Bay Boaters Blog » » Boxing Day at Rye Harbour http://intheboatshed.net/2007/12/26/christmas-at-rye-harbour-and-a-handsome-old-motor-launch-hull-for-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-21695 Casco Bay Boaters Blog » » Boxing Day at Rye Harbour Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:03:50 +0000 http://intheboatshed.net/2007/12/26/christmas-at-rye-harbour-and-a-handsome-old-motor-launch-hull-for-sale/#comment-21695 [...] house to take a trip down to Rye Harbour on Boxing Day, if the weather’s bright and clear - see this post from the same day last year. This time Julie’s cold and my injured right Achille’s heel [...] [...] house to take a trip down to Rye Harbour on Boxing Day, if the weather’s bright and clear - see this post from the same day last year. This time Julie’s cold and my injured right Achille’s heel [...]

]]> By: Dave Payne http://intheboatshed.net/2007/12/26/christmas-at-rye-harbour-and-a-handsome-old-motor-launch-hull-for-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-11875 Dave Payne Sun, 18 May 2008 18:52:53 +0000 http://intheboatshed.net/2007/12/26/christmas-at-rye-harbour-and-a-handsome-old-motor-launch-hull-for-sale/#comment-11875 Just read your account of the loss of the VALKYRIEN, good to hear your dad was ok, but as a child I lived at Camber sands in a cafe right on the beach. So as a kid we used to roam about the beach, and I remember her being stranded on the beach. My mum and dad used to have the registration document for the boat. Don't know how they ended up with it, not sure if my mum still has it. But I also remember going aboard her, she was buried sofar down in the sand within a couple of tides that you could step from the beach to the deck without a climb. This must have been around 1968-69ish. Dave Just read your account of the loss of the VALKYRIEN, good to hear your dad was ok, but as a child I lived at Camber sands in a cafe right on the beach. So as a kid we used to roam about the beach, and I remember her being stranded on the beach. My mum and dad used to have the registration document for the boat. Don’t know how they ended up with it, not sure if my mum still has it. But I also remember going aboard her, she was buried sofar down in the sand within a couple of tides that you could step from the beach to the deck without a climb. This must have been around 1968-69ish.

Dave

]]> By: Gavin Atkin http://intheboatshed.net/2007/12/26/christmas-at-rye-harbour-and-a-handsome-old-motor-launch-hull-for-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-9029 Gavin Atkin Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:20:44 +0000 http://intheboatshed.net/2007/12/26/christmas-at-rye-harbour-and-a-handsome-old-motor-launch-hull-for-sale/#comment-9029 Wow - what a story! Thanks Dick, Gav Wow - what a story!

Thanks Dick,

Gav

]]> By: Dick Wynne http://intheboatshed.net/2007/12/26/christmas-at-rye-harbour-and-a-handsome-old-motor-launch-hull-for-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-9023 Dick Wynne Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:06:34 +0000 http://intheboatshed.net/2007/12/26/christmas-at-rye-harbour-and-a-handsome-old-motor-launch-hull-for-sale/#comment-9023 A propos Rye harbour, I have posted this before on the WoodenBoat forum, but Boatshed readers may be interested: Sometime around 1949 my Dad, Deane (who died last June aged 82) crewed for a friend Chris who owned a 40-odd foot wooden fishing boat called the Valkyrien. The two of them trawled off the Sussex coast out of Newhaven and Rye, selling their catch door-to-door from a 3-wheeled motorcycle van affair, and sharing the proceeds three ways - between themselves and the boat. One day a film company offered to hire them and their boat for a movie called Green Grow the Rushes - aka Brandy Ashore (US?) a comedy about smuggling on the Romney marshes. One of Richard Burton's first films, and his last before moving to Hollywood, the stars were Honor Blackman & Roger Livesey. The exterior shots of the boat leaving Rye Harbour, also those in impressively rough seas offshore, are courtesy of Dad and skipper Chris. (The studio interiors featured an upright piano played by skipper Livesey...every boat should have one) One evening the film company requested the boat out at sea off Newhaven next day for some final shots, and the skipper was unavailable, so Dad took her west from Rye alone at night, under her ancient hot-bulb paraffin engine. It began to blow from the west, water got in the fuel and the engine failed. He had no choice but to heave up her massive lug rig and run back to Rye. Too dangerous to get upriver to the harbour under sail, so he anchored in Rye Bay and, exhausted, fell asleep. Unfortunately she was not not far enough out, and as the tide ebbed she pounded out her keel on the hard sand and was lost, my father almost with her. The boat was not insured, but Chris the owner took it very well, being the son of the local bishop probably helped. Not to mention the film company fees, which at £800 probably exceeded the boat's value. Had she survived I would not be here as the plan was for Dad and Chris to sail her to Australia and make their fortune there. A propos Rye harbour, I have posted this before on the WoodenBoat forum, but Boatshed readers may be interested:

Sometime around 1949 my Dad, Deane (who died last June aged 82) crewed for a friend Chris who owned a 40-odd foot wooden fishing boat called the Valkyrien. The two of them trawled off the Sussex coast out of Newhaven and Rye, selling their catch door-to-door from a 3-wheeled motorcycle van affair, and sharing the proceeds three ways - between themselves and the boat.

One day a film company offered to hire them and their boat for a movie called Green Grow the Rushes - aka Brandy Ashore (US?) a comedy about smuggling on the Romney marshes. One of Richard Burton’s first films, and his last before moving to Hollywood, the stars were Honor Blackman & Roger Livesey. The exterior shots of the boat leaving Rye Harbour, also those in impressively rough seas offshore, are courtesy of Dad and skipper Chris. (The studio interiors featured an upright piano played by skipper Livesey…every boat should have one)

One evening the film company requested the boat out at sea off Newhaven next day for some final shots, and the skipper was unavailable, so Dad took her west from Rye alone at night, under her ancient hot-bulb paraffin engine. It began to blow from the west, water got in the fuel and the engine failed. He had no choice but to heave up her massive lug rig and run back to Rye. Too dangerous to get upriver to the harbour under sail, so he anchored in Rye Bay and, exhausted, fell asleep.

Unfortunately she was not not far enough out, and as the tide ebbed she pounded out her keel on the hard sand and was lost, my father almost with her. The boat was not insured, but Chris the owner took it very well, being the son of the local bishop probably helped. Not to mention the film company fees, which at £800 probably exceeded the boat’s value. Had she survived I would not be here as the plan was for Dad and Chris to sail her to Australia and make their fortune there.

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