Category: Techniques

Speaking of waterside loafers, land sharks and small cruising yachts

Cooke

Writing shortly after the Great War, F B Cooke has every bit of the bluff, blokey do-exactly-as-I-say-and-everything-will-be-all-right style that was popular in his era, but today seems bossy and a little odd.

For Cooke the popular yachting harbours may have been full of good chaps but they were also home to waterside loafers and land sharks who would find a dozen ways to rob the poor innocent yachtsman. Rather like a sheriff in a Wild-West movie, Cooke could distinguish between them in a moment, knew exactly how to handle both types and briskly tells us how to [ad name=”intheboatshed-post”] Continue reading “Speaking of waterside loafers, land sharks and small cruising yachts”

intheboatshed.net has a new paint job

The launch of the John Nash skiff Belem John Smith shallop detail

Softwing, a Truro river oyster dredger John Smith 400 Beth

Intheboatshed.net has had its new-style presentation for some days now, and I hope you are quickly getting used to the new three-column layout.

The idea behind the change was to make navigation easier – the old right-hand column was so long I was sure many readers never found it, and dividing its site navigation contents between two short columns on each side seems very much better.

I expect to tweak the design over the coming weeks, not least because I miss the airy, comforting quality of the old green and cream colour scheme. If I can work out how to use the style-sheet side of this new layout, I may go back to it while keeping the new three-column arrangement.

The thumbnail photos above link to some of our recent posts. In almost every case, the information and photos they present were sent in by people with a story or a viewpoint they wanted to share – but of course we need more.

So why not join the enthusiasts, experts and craftsmen and women who support or benefit from intheboatshed.net? You might have restored an old boat or built a boat based on traditional methods or designs, perhaps you have an interesting boat to sell, or maybe you have some traditional boat or boatbuilding related knowledge to share?

If you have a story, please send it to us at gmatkin@gmail.com .

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The Short Flatner is launched

Short Flatner

The Short Flatner is launched

The Short Flatner on the water and on the ramp at Watchet harbour

Fans of the unique traditional Somerset flatner family of British flat-bottomed small turf, river and sea boats will be interested to learn that there’s a new baby among the fleet: the Short Flatner.

Watchet Boat Museum honorary curator John Nash developed and built her, so I’ll let him tell the story. But before he begins, I should explain that John Short was a well known local character and provided folklorist Cecil Sharp with a long list of great sea songs. There’s a list of the songs and a surprisingly large collection of photos of Short at the English Folk Dance & Song Society website.

I’ve heard that Short earned the nick-name Yankee Jack simply because he had once crossed the Atlantic by ship at a time when the world was a bigger place than it is today, but who knows what the real reason may have been? My old friend Tom Brown offers a talk on the topic.

I’ll let John Nash tell his story of the new boat his way: Continue reading “The Short Flatner is launched”