Flook - the first Heron, designed by Jack Holt

Not long ago, it would have been difficult to imagine popular small dinghies appearing at the National Maritime Museum - but that’s one of the important things that the NMM has been able to do at its Falmouth site in Cornwall.

The boat shown here on show at the NMMC is Flook, the very first Heron dinghy.

Designed in 1950 by the world renowned and highly respected Jack Holt, this 58-year old remains a popular do-it-yourself project and starter boat.

In the years following World War II, people began taking to the water in greater numbers than ever before in boats they built for themselves using waterproof glues and plywood developed during the war. The new materials meant that designers such as Holt could provide a new range of affordable boats.

The popular Heron can be rowed, sailed or even driven by a small outboard motor, and can be carried on the roof of a family car, and more than 10,000 Herons have been built around the world.

In addition to the Heron, other well known Jack Holt-designed boats include the Mirror dinghy (Mirror No 1 is also on display at the museum), International Enterprise, Solo, Hornet, Flying Ten, Lazy E, Merlin, GP14 and Streaker.

See the NMMC website.

There’s a section discussing waterproof glues and plywoods in my book Ultrasimple Boatbuilding.

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John Welsford’s interesting Fafnir design. Click on the images for larger drawings

John Welsford tells me that the level of interest in his new Fafnir pocket cruiser design is exceeding all expectations.

It’s certainly an interesting boat - a blue-water cruiser capable of being build in a typical garage, and there’s a good case for saying that it’s the best choice available for someone who wants to sail alone in a small, easily handled boat.

Its crucial dimensions are:
•Length on deck 13ft 1in (4.00m),
•Beam 6ft 2in (1.90m)
•Draft 2ft 7in (0.800m)
•Sail area 139sqft (14.9sqm)
•Dry weight estimated 1430lbs (650kg)
•Ballast 550lbs (250kg)
•Maximum sailing weight 2420lbs (1100kg)

John describes Fafnir as a tough little cruiser for one or two, and tells a story about how the design came about at his website.
It seems a customer wanted to build a 10ft boat in which to circumnavigate, so John worked out a route, the amount of current assist that was possible, the weather windows and the climatic and stores consumption issues - and decided the voyage wasn’t practical.

But he went on to draw the minimum boat he considered workable - and Fafnir is the result.

Go to John Welsford’s site to learn more!

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An oar, and a fine example of Australian bush carpentry, says Jeff Cole

Jeff Cole sails an Iain Oughtred MacGregor canoe and occasionally sends us photos from his wonderful and growing collection of yachting photos from the 19th and early 20th centuries. What’s less obvious is that he also has an interesting line in collecting items of old Australian bush carpentry.

Here’s what he says about the oar in the photo above:

‘This is a vernacular creation, bush carpentry at its most basic, an oar that seems old but it’s hard to tell - but very collectible.

‘I found it on the woodheap at a Mallee (sandy desert without water) clearing sale. The closest water is an irrigation channel, next to the Murray river. It’s six feet long, and made of wood, with iron spikes, some cotton sash cord, a little rubberised canvas, nails and red paint.

‘The roughly shaped triangular “blades” of the oar fixed by iron rod roughly peened over and in some cases using triangular galvanised “roves”. It’s absolutely out of balance, but a prize for my collection nevertheless!

‘Jeff’

Thanks Jeff - now that’ll give all those home boatbuilders something to think about!

For more of Jeff’s contributions, click here.

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Victorian postcard taken at Tolverne on the Carrick Roads

The NMMC is offering an opportunity to travel back in time at the end of this month, when local historian Ralph Bird presents a talk at the museum that will take his audience down the River Fal.

Timed to coincide with this year’s Fal River Festival, the talk will start at 6.30pm on Wednesday 28 May, and will look back at how the Fal has changed over the past 100 years, during which it has gone from being predominantly a river of business to the river of pleasure we know today.

Starting in Truro and ending in Falmouth, Bird will reveal places of interest and highlight the different uses to which this once-bustling waterway has been put. He will also discuss some of the many ships that have been laid up in the furthest reaches of the river - there have been as many as 70 war and cargo ships laid up in the Fal’s creeks.

For more information go to the NMMC website.

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Bill’s little boat Faith. Click on the image to see his videos showing her
making way

Those of us who have had our faith shattered by the election of the new comedy mayor of London can draw some comfort from the success of a much more modest celebrity: Bill Serjeant.

Brave Bill has now made the trip from Essex to Plymouth in his little 14ft boat Faith, and I say he and his little craft deserve applause all round!

Follow his progress on his weblog Bill’s Log.

For more posts featuring Bill, follow this link.

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Chris Partridge of the weblog Rowing for Pleasure has pointed out the astonishing projects below. See them, and gasp:

University College Oxford boathouse

and

Lea Rowing Club boathouse

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Intheboatshed.net as it approaches its 200,000th hit

200,000 seems like a big number for a weblog devoted a such a niche subject. It’s great that we’re reaching lots of people!

If you’d like to receive a weekly digest, click on the link below - and if you’ve got a story to tell and pictures to share, please let us know at gmatkin@gmail.com. There’s no charge, and no obligation.

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The arrival of Napoleon III at Gênes in 1859, by Théodore Gudin, and details

Apart from Napoleon’s canot, another striking feature in the first room at the Paris Musée de la Marine is this painting of the arrival of Napoleon III at Gênes in 1859, by Théodore Gudin.

Many of the paintings of this era at the Musée seem to have been created to be read like a book - they are crammed with details each requiring the viewer’s attention. Almost every where I pointed my camera I found painterly details that seemed to be worth recording.

I’ll be putting more of these photos from our brief Paris holiday trip up over the next few days and weeks. Often they show interesting boat details, though in this case the interest lies in the individual characters and scenes. For example, the look on that poor bride’s face as Napoleon III steals the limelight on her wedding day is a picture, so to speak. And what about the boy climbing the rudder, and those characters in the water?

I’m not particularly proud to admit that as an Englishman I know little of French history, but I had heard of Napeoleon III - in fact, I lived for a while in Chislehurst, where he spent his final years in exile.

Just yards from my flat were two landmarks associated with him, the Imperial Arms pub named in his memory and a quiet lane called Susan Wood, where legend has it that he installed a mistress of the same name. I later became friendly with a family who lived in the house she was said to have lived in, and often looked at what is said to be a stained-glass portrait of the lady set into their 19th century kitchen door. I should perhaps explain that the family’s three sons are all music and sailing enthusiasts, so we had and still have a lot in common!

To read more about Napoleon III, check his Wikipedia entry. There’s no mention of Susan Wood, sadly.

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A smack, in the late afternoon light at Hollowshore

We took ourselves to Whitstable and Oare Creek just outside Faversham today to see and meet some Morris dancing friends, to mooch around Whitstable and to check on our little boat. As usual, I couldn’t stay out of the second-hand bookshops, and among other things found a copy of The Last Stronghold of Sail by Hervey Benham - a book I’ve been hoping to find for a while. It’s splendid stuff!

We also stopped by at Macnade’s amazing Faversham delicatessen and foodstore, and vowed never to miss an opportunity to buy provisions there, particularly if we’re setting off for a trip.

To celebrate both a nice day out after some weeks of rather hard work, and buying Benham’s book about the bygone world of working smacks and barges , I thought I should post the photo above taken this afternoon - a typical shot of a smack apparently waiting to take its turn in the dry dock at Hollowshore.

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Was she built, and is she still alive in the world somewhere? If you have
information on this or any other Mylne yacht, please let David Gray know!

As reported earlier, naval architect David Gray recently bought the historic Mylne company complete with a vast library of plans and drawings. As he and his colleagues go through the files I gather some real treasures are turning up - and some interesting mysteries.

So can anyone help with answer David’s question below? Who was the boatbuilder? And what was her story? Then as now, I’m sure yacht designers frequently sweated blood over plans that were never built, but if she was made real, she’s the kind of yacht that would be outstanding anywhere. Follow the link to see the Mylne website.

‘Gavin

‘Please find attached the general arrangement drawing for the large gaff schooner we found yesterday. We are currently investigating to see if she still exists. Built for a Mr Lewis around 1912-1913, she’s 95ft over deck, 68ft waterline, 108ft spar length, 20ft beam and 11ft draft. If anyone has any information we would be pleased to hear from them.

‘Best regards

‘David Gray, Director
‘A Mylne & Co - Classic Yacht Design - Est 1896′

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Rowing on the river with the London Whalers. You can join them -
just follow the weblink below

Dick Wynne has written to say that his restored 1934 Montague whaler is being repainted and will be afloat again in two weeks or so.

Regular readers will recognise Dick from the Albert Strange Association - see the Blogroll to the right of this post. This time, he’s recruiting a group of people to her off the ground (so to speak) in London under oar and sail. She’ll be operating evenings and weekends, given enough interest, so if you’re in London and fancy a little old-fashioned rowing - mixed, no doubt, with some old-fashioned socialising - get in touch via the London Whalers website.

-

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Lowestoft sailing trawler, drawn by Rowland Hilder

‘… the life of the average fisherman of Britain - it is a never-ending “game of snakes and ladders,” and so accustomed is the fisherman to playing this game from the time he first goes to sea, that I am inclined to doubt that he would be happy if he was certain of always finding himself on a ladder.’

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The head of Charlemagne, from the ship Réal de France, built in 1694. He
makes a noble, striking figure at something like 5 feet tall, and it’s difficult
to believe he’s over 300 years old

La Réale de France stern, fighting figures, and a naval officer

Figureheads. Amphitrite, goddess of the sea, from the French ship Amphitrie built
in 1810 - she should have been a mermaid!. Gaul leader Brennus from 1899

Figurehead of Napoleon from the Iéna, 1846

More photos from the Musée de la Marine in Paris.

The pomp and circumstance surrounding fighting ships of the past is astonishing to behold. They’re ornaments as well as instruments of war - and what ornaments! What these shots don’t really show is the scale of these carvings - Napoleon, for example was massive - the distance from his waist to the top of his head must have been six feet or so.

It’s striking to us Brits that the disgraced autocratic ruler Napoleon should be so honoured decades after his death. Someday I must learn something about the mysteries of history of France!

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The delicate wrought iron stern of the Cutty Sark was successfully raised
last week to allow work on the ship’s structure below to proceed

The Cutty Sark Conservation people kindly sent me this update a few days ago. As you’ll see, it slightly predates the successful lift of the stern section pictured above.

Like most people who have lived in London, I’ve very fond of the Cutty Sark, and I find the news very heartening!

There will be a major step forward in the Cutty Sark Conservation project tomorrow when the counter, a large part of the stern, located at the back of the ship, is removed for electrolysis and repair.

The removal of this delicate and large wrought iron structure counter was part of the original conservation plan which was in place before the fire broke out last May and its removal marks a major step forward in the project which aims to be completed by Spring 2010.

The Cutty Sark Conservation project is firmly back on track following a generous £10m grant from Heritage Lottery Fund received in January this year.

The conservation project will not only to secure the physical fabric of the ship but also to ensure that she is re-displayed in an appropriate manner for the 21st century. When the project is completed the ship will be raised almost three metres above her current position, allowing visitors for the first time to appreciate fully the beauty of her hull form, as well as using the latest technologies in sound and light to bring the stories of the ship to life.

Before the fire, Cutty Sark was a quarter of the way through a £25 million conservation project, which had been on target for completion in 2009. The fire caused a major set back in the schedule, with millions of pounds worth of additional costs incurred.

However, despite the fire, the Trust did not stop the conservation work. Fabric which had already been removed has been worked upon and since the Trust has been able to access the ship again, more planking has been taken off for consolidation and it the conservation programme on the iron framework has started again.

What damage did the fire do?

* The fire on 21 May 2007 burnt through all three decks and destroyed all the building structures, services and tools that were on the ship at the time.
* Amazingly, we learned very quickly that less than 2 per cent of the fabric from her working life as a sailing ship has been lost. We are remarkably lucky – Cutty Sark is still here.
* At the time of the fire, the ship’s masts, gear and deckhouses and saloon, along with half of the historic planking had been removed for conservation or storage.
* Of the remaining planks only a few were badly damaged and even so we have been able to remove the charring so they can be rehung.
* More importantly, we found out that the ship’s iron frame has not distorted significantly so we can complete the overall project vision to lift the ship 3m above her current position to allow visitors to walk under her uniquely shaped hull.
* We can pursue our active treatments for corrosion, stress and wear and tear.
* It added £10 million to the project cost to make the final cost £35 million.

When will the ship reopen?

We aim to reopen in Spring 2010.

What’s been going on on-site in the meantime?

* Momentum on the project has been sustained since the fire. Now for the first time since she was built, the iron frame is fully exposed as 85 per cent of the hull planks are now off. 45 planks on port side and 38 on starboard side remain out of total of 528. Conservation has been completed on 160.

* Over 75 per cent of the ship has now been cleaned with a wet abrasive process exposing foundry marks not seen since 1869. The bowsprit, rudder, and saloon framework have been removed for conservation. The poop has been raised to expose the metal work underneath. Scaffolding is in place to remove the counter at the top stern end in its entirety to carry out vital electrolysis to remove corrosive salts. Straightening of fire-damaged metalwork is progressing to plan.

What will the future Cutty Sark look like?

* The ship will be raised three metres above its current position and suspended in a steel cradle so visitors can walk beneath her – unique in the world. This solves the problems of stress on the keel.
* There will be a stunning glass canopy meeting the ship at the waterline and covering the dry dock.
* There will be a new entrance at the stern end through the glass canopy – this leaves the Cutty Sark Gardens side of the ship completely unimpeded and thus a breathtaking introduction to the World Heritage site from the river and DLR station.
* The ship will be fully conserved, and represented with authentic paint colours and new Muntz metal hull sheathing (brass alloy).
* Inside, original structures will be revealed and the decks restored to the original configuration. We are using authentic materials including reclaimed 19th century teak.
* The new auditorium will be sited on a suspended ‘lilypad’ floor between the tween deck and lower hold. This will be the location for dramatic insights into the past using live story-tellers in the characters of the people who made Cutty Sark’s history such as her owner Jock ‘White Hat’ Willis, and her most famous and successful captain, Captain Woodget. Others will be the unsung heroes and heroines such as members of the crew or the families they left behind in port.
* Other key galleries will use the latest multimedia to create atmospheric and memorable visits where you can learn the fascinating aspects of the ship’s history: the Tea Story, the Australia Story, Cutty Sark Today, Conservation and Science of Shipbuilding, her impact on art and popular culture.

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Hermann Goering’s yacht Carin II

Read all about Hermann Goering’s splendid yacht, the Carin II at Wallyworld. It seems she survived the war virtually unscathed, and was requisitioned as a spoil of war by Field Marshal Montgomery who passed it on to our Royal Family who used it for their holidays for 15 years.

From this distance in time is seems to have been an rather unusual kind of Royal Yacht, but perhaps things seemed rather different 60-odd years ago.

The story of Carin II became even stranger - for she was later owned for a time by the journalist at the centre of the fake Hitler diaries scandal.

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Views of Napoleon’s famous canot at the Musee de la Marine, Paris.
Truly a boat fit for an emperor!

On entering the Paris Musée de la Marine, the first thing the visitor sees is Napoleon’s wonderful canot - and it hits you right between the eyes. The gilding is fantastic, even down to the fish that adorn each of the oars.

What do you think - does it represent a challenge to amateur boatbuilders?

The canot was apparently built in secret and used by the emperor and his young empress Marie-Louise to inspect his fleet at what the museum authorities are pleased to call the Port of Anvers in 1810 - though the people who live there call it Antwerpen, while anglophones generally use the name Antwerp. I’ll put up a post about a painting of that event in a few days.

Of course there are lots of other things to see and do in Paris, as the Rough Guide to Paris makes clear!

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The Duke of Bedford’s boathouse (note the blocks in the foreground), a rebuilt
Tamar Valley salmon skiff, a skylight from the Garlandstone, and
Garlandstone, the WWII Naval pinnace and Alert, all mentioned below

We’ve also received these splendid photos and an update from Will Stirling of Revenue Cutters & Smuggling Luggers. I’m sure many readers will remember his knockout 18th-century inspired design and build project Alert last year (see previous posts) and will be interested to know what he’s been up to in the first half of 2008. In fact, he seems to have a tremendous lot of work going on!

Connoisseurs will notice some good sheds here too…

‘Dear Gavin,

‘I’m spending a lot of time banging in nails!

‘We have a 150 ton West Country trading ketch Garlandstone on the slipway and are beginning a programme of further restoration after she suffered a period of neglect.

‘The upper works of a 40′ Admiralty pinnace built in Scapa Flow, Orkney during World War II are in the process of being entirely replaced. This has included redefining her sheer as it had been pushed out of shape after many years landing on the beach.

‘We have just completed a completed rebuild from a new backbone up of a Tamar Valley Salmon Skiff. An original member left in the boat has the rope marks where the net led over the side.

‘We have also restored the Duke of Bedford’s boathouse for the Tamar Valley Trust and extensively repaired a neglected cornish punt.

‘We have an MOD contract from the flagship of the Royal Navy, HMS Victory, to build a new 26ft ship’s cutter to a draught from the National Maritime Museum to an 1805 specification form D. Steele’s ‘Naval Architecture’.

‘Cornish Master Shipwright Ted Luck is now helping me and lending much valuable experience to the operation.

‘I received an MA in Maritime History from Exeter University and a distinction for my thesis ‘What Factors influenced the design and construction of Revenue Cutters between 1770 and 1850?’

‘Four photos attached and I will send more when I take them,

‘Best Wishes

‘Will Stirling’

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but Will’s report has left me breathless!

See much more at Will’s website: Revenue Cutters and Smuggling Luggers

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‘Hastings is one of the most interesting fishing centres on the South Coast and if one studies early 19th century paintings and drawings one realises that
Hastings beach cannot have changed very much in the past hundred years.
Even the boats have retained their general lines…’

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Often they come from a Google search that has turned up several interesting pages in addition to intheboatshed.net - and that’s how I found this interesting piece about Ian Proctor and his Tempest design.

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Esperanza, the day she was relaunched and at earlier stages in her restoration

It’s been a great few days for people sending me photographs, and here are some more. If any of you happen to have any stories to tell and photographs to share, please send them in!

Robin Marshall, a supporter of the Florida Gulf Coast Maritime Museum sent us these photos of a little flat-bottomed fishing boat that someone had used to sail from Cuba to the USA.

I’ve tried imagining what it must have been like so far from land in such a small boat - a flatiron skiff so small and limited in terms of seaworthiness that most of us wouldn’t sail more than a mile or two out in it, let alone the 90-plus these this brave crew must have covered.

It was all years ago, so I hope the weather was good and that what they thought they wanted really was what they wanted after all!

Here’s what Robin has to say:

‘Hi Gavin.

‘I thought you might be interested in an unusual restoration.

‘Our local maritime museum the Florida Gulf Coast Maritime Museum in Cortez took on this project - the remains of a Cuban refugee fishing boat.

‘It had been left to rot in someones yard down in southern Florida and was almost rotted away.

‘Under the guidance of Bob Pitt, who is in charge of the workshop, the museum restored her using as much as possible of her original timbers. She was re-launched this weekend at our annual wooden boat festival.

‘Robin Marshall a member of the museum’

Many thanks Robin!

For more on boat restoration in the area, check this lot: Great Florida Gulf Coast Traditional Small Craft Assn

For more on flatiron skiffs and a whole range of other North American boat types, I recommend the classic work by Howard Irving Chappelle, Small American Sailing Craft. For material on building them try The Sharpie Book.

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New Nick Smith 12-footer at Salcombe

While I was whooping it up in Paris this weekend, another set of photos arrived from boatbuilder Nick Smith over the weekend. Here’s what he had to say:

‘I am back from NZ and have just completed a 12 foot six runabout, mahogany on oak, pictured here in Salcombe harbour - that’s my brother sitting on the pontoon.

The other pictures are of the sistership Bumble which you have seen before, on the Thames. In the first, she’s fully laden and under full power. The second comes from a Stuart Turner event.

‘I will be exhibiting again at Beale Park Thames Traditional Boat Show, from the 6th to 8th June this year.

‘The last picture is of the steam launch SL Puffin under steam on the Beaulieu River.

‘Regards, Nick”

Thanks Nick - I’m sure intheboatshed.net readers will admire your boats!

Nick’s a member of the Wooden Boatbuilder’s Trade Association, and you can read more about him here:
Nick Smith at the WBTA website

Take a look at our extensive coverage of last year’s Beale Park Boat Show.

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Boats at the Armfield slip, close to Goolwa

This picture came from our very good friend and supporter Jeff Cole. Here’s what he said about it:

‘This is Armfield Slip, the base of a volunteer wooden boat restoration organisation in the original buildings of the Armfield family of boatbuilders.

‘The organisation teaches techniques and builds and restores boats. The example under the lean-to is a station supply and ‘picnic’ boat from a property on the River Murray. She’s now restored and fully operational, and I rode in her at the last Goolwa Wooden Boat Festival.

‘The open boat in the foreground is a ships boat from HMSAS Protector of 1884, the only ship in the South Australian Colonial Navy. She had a long history including deployment to China with the Aussie contingent to the Boxer Rebellion. (see link below) There are plans to replicate the ships boat as it is beyond restoration.

‘There are several boats on the lake that the Armfield group have restored, and a local schools boatbuilding programme is very active, financed in part by raffling a boat they build at each festival. The current project is a large yacht.

‘The lower Murray Lakes face permanent acidification because of the long-term drying of the Murray catchment and the over-allocation of what water there is. The resulting ecological disaster overtaking the Murray’s drought-ravaged lower lakes has hit home, and it was recently confirmed that they could be deliberately flooded with seawater: South Australian Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald said opening barriers to let in the sea was an option that could be considered this year.

‘That fact that the action is even being thought about Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert underlines the severity of the crisis in the Murray’s lower reaches.’ Read more here. The river will probably look totally different at the next Festival, if it goes ahead.’

Thanks Jeff - as always we’re grateful for your photos and explanations.

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Boatshed at Botton, on the Hamble

I came back from Paris late this evening to find this photo in my inbox, with a note from the photographer:

‘Hi Gavin

‘I rowed up the Hamble today with the DCA and came across this boatshed in Botley, where the river is almost too narrow to swing an oar. You can’t imagine a prettier location.

‘All best,

‘Chris’

Thanks Chris Partridge - it’s nice to have another shed to celebrate! Paris museum photos and more to come shortly.

I should explain that the DCA is the Dinghy Cruising Association - a splendid club of individuals who often sail and camp in small open boats, and who occasionally find time to meet together to sail in company. Find out about them here.

Julie, who grew up in the area, tells me that a restaurant in Botton was a family favourite when she was a child.

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Biche, the last sailing French tuna fishing boat is scheduled
to be relaunched in two years.

Googling around for Parisian boat-related material led me to the website of Les Amis du Biche - a society devoted to restoring and relaunching the historic sailing tuna fisherman. The grand old boat is due to be back in the water by 2010, and from the photos there has been a lot of work to do.

I’d also draw readers’ attention to the quaintly entertaining name on the side of the crane. This kind of light-hearted humour seems to happen around these machines: the crane that’s about to put our little boat in the water proclaims itself to be an Iron Fairy. It’s obviously been around long time, but I gather they are still available if you want to buy one - though the more convenient Matchbox toy version is apparently a rarity .

I was entertained by this ingeniously made video appealing for new supporters for the Biche project.

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The rocket boat explodes into a thousand pieces

It’s clearly French Week at intheboatshed.net, as we limber up for a lightning trip to Paris on Friday. This engraving depicts the explosion that killed the rocket power experimenter Just Buisson and a young helper, and badly burned his assistant Al Ciurcu a little way downstream from the Pont de Clichy bridge in 1886. Ciurcu recovered and continued with his rocket development work, by the way. I’d never for a second imagined that I might see a rocket engine in a clinker-built boat!

The basic boat was designed and built with displacement for a crew of six oarsmen.

The engraving below shows what the boat looked like before the explosion. For more on Buisson, a photo of his boat and a discussion of early rocket development generally, click here.

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