Duncan Sclare pours the lead keel for his 19ft Paul Gartside-designed cutter. Click on the thumbnails for larger images

Duncan Sclare in County Mayo, Ireland has an advantage over many amateur boatbuilders: 30-odd years of experience as a furniture-maker, cabinet-maker, carpenter and joiner. See his website here to see what I mean.

Talented and practical man though he is, I still think the story of how he cast his own lead keel this week is quite something. Here’s what he says:

‘Hi Gavin. Your readers may be interested in my project to build Paul Gartsides cutter design 163. This build is going to take some time as it has to be fitted in around making wardrobes, kitchens and other stuff I do to make a crust. I have been working on it for almost a year now with little to show exept lofting, lists, stacks of timber and so on.

‘Last weekend however work for real started with the casting of the keel. The pictures show the mould made from MDF and softwood and buried it in sand. Just short of 1 tonne of scrap lead was then melted down in an old cast iron bath. This took about three hours, but then the plug was pulled and the molten lead allowed to run into the mould. There was some singeing of timber and my hair, but otherwise it seems to have been successful!

‘The keel now needs shaping up and we can start to add the oak timbers on top. It will be great to get into some woodwork after that messy job!

‘In the background of the picture of the mould shows larch boards (planking) air seasoning and my battered Orkney Strikeliner still used for day trips around our West Coast.

‘I will keep you posted on (slow) progress. BTW, I love the site – great work keep it up. Best wishes, Duncan.’

Wow Duncan. With so much danger and excitement going on, I’m astonished you found time to take the shots! The result looks excellent, by the way

See Duncan’s striking photos of Inishkea in an earlier intheboatshed.net post.

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Sailing yachts around Horning. Click on the images for much larger photos

Last Friday the weather was gorgeous and the yachtsmen of the Norfolk Broads were busy trying out their boats and skills to get ready for the famous Three Rivers Race – and here are some photos taken in and around Horning to prove it!

Naturally, I took many more than these during our visit, but I thought intheboatshed readers might  enjoy this taster. The Broads area of ancient man-made lakes, rivers and reed-filled marshy valleys is a wonderful place for a holiday, and for boat nuts like me the number of gorgeous traditional boats is astonishing.

For more Norfolk-related posts at intheboatshed.net, click here.

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Boat Building Academy principal Yvonne Green has sent us a final set of photos from the student launch day down in Lyme back in December, this time showing a 12ft glued clinker stem dinghy built by Joe Blathwayt.

Joe, a former architect, has moved to Lyme and wanted a fun beach and sea angling boat with an outboard, and so he built his dinghy on a course at the Academy.  The lines were taken from a 40-year old 10’ stem dinghy, and then adapted for the new purpose.

Now he’s based at Lyme, I gather Joe plans to combine working on boats and undertaking architectural projects.

Yvonne comments: ‘We started a new 38-week course today. It’s always interesting to see the different mix of people who come to us.

‘We showed them photos of the launch and the boats and told them that’s where they would be 38 weeks from now. The news was greeted with some disbelief… ‘

PS Don’t forget to ask for a pdf copy of the Academy’s prospectus for the coming year, as it makes interesting reading. Email Yvonne at office@boatbuildingacademy.com and I’m sure she’ll send you a copy.

Jack Daly shakes hands with our justly proud commodore, David Williams

The Hollowshore Cruising Club’s new premises were officially opened this weekend by one of its youngest and most venturesome members, Jack Daly.

Fitted out largely by the club’s members, the new premises are a credit to the volunteers who took on the work and to the club’s excellent chairman, David Williams. For more on the club itself, see its website.

I should explain that young Jack has just completed a round-Britain trip in his Coribee, named Padiwak. Some months before his 17th birthday, he left Ramsgate at the end of June this year, determined to get round before school started again. Supported by his amazing parents, who took turns to follow him round by road, Jack made it back to Ramsgate in mid-September after being delayed by weather – so he only missed a few weeks of his first term back. See Jack’s website.

In the process he raised £5000 for the Westbere Sailability Centre.

Ed’s 10ft Maine Skiff, built from plans and instructions
supplied by Duck Trap Woodworking

Ed Engarto in New York State is one of the many people who build a boat, only to discover that it can be a life-changing experience.

This seems to happen a lot. I know there’s a lot of satisfaction to be gained from building even the smallest boat and then using your creation on the water, but I think there’s more to this phenomenon: perhaps it’s the fact of slowly over time creating a tangible object, the quality of which the maker can judge and come to terms with as they proceed, perhaps it’s the discovery that, after all, one can learn new skills and complete a new category of projects, or maybe it’s the result of all those quiet hours the boatbuilder spends working alone in quiet contemplation.

Ed seems to me to be a typical convert to amatuer boatbuilding. I hope he enjoys his second project as much as he did his first.

He writes:

‘I built this little ten foot, lapstrake row boat over a period of three plus years, ending in July of 2008. The design comes from Duck Trap Woodworking and is known to those fine folks as their Maine Skiff. I started out journaling every working session and before the molds were even finished, the entries began to touch on life experiences, the trials of a large project, the virtue of commitment, and some thoughts about events that took place during the skiff’s construction. It actually became a mechanism through which I shared the most influential events in my life and therefore is much more than a sequence of construction steps explained. I learned so many boatbuilding skills and enjoyed the project so much, that I have become a lover of wood and water and am already looking towards my next boat.’

See the Duck Trap Woodworking website.

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(Above) Boat Building Academy alumnus Charlie Hussey’s latest project. She was
launched in 1892. (Below) Another Clyde 17/19 lugger, Harlequin, in flight

Principal Yvonne Green writes from the Boat Building Academy at Lyme Regis:

‘Hi Gavin,

‘Thought you might be interested that Charlie Hussey (the student who built Seapod the Peapod during the last academic year) has just started a job restoring a Fife-built and designed Clyde 17/19 lugger, and has started a terrific blog that will chart the commission at http://www.marinecarpentry.com/katydid/ .

‘We will also be launching seven (crossed fingers) student boats on  the 10th December at noon in Lyme Regis harbour.

‘They’re an interesting lot, both students and boats. Student profiles and photographic diaries of the boats are at http://www.boatbuildingacademy.com/students/ClassofMarch2008.htm The students started the builds in mid-June this year, and are also required to attend lessons and complete assessment pieces, so they’ve been quite busy.

‘I’ll send further details, and photographs of each boat nearer launch time, but thought you might like an idea of what’s happening on the workshop floor at the moment.

‘Very best wishes,

‘Yvonne’

I certainly do – and thanks for the update!

Websits: Boat Building Academy

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The water boiled with motor boats and yachts as the competitors left harbour,
and the local press quoted the police as saying there were 130,000 watching
the send-off. It was quite a sight! As usual, click on the thumbnails for much
bigger images

Astrid

Capitan Miranda

Cuauhtemoc’s lively Mexican crew fires a cannon salute off Pendennis Point

Mir approaches Pendennis Point

Mir catches the late afternoon light

Pogoria

The Russian sail training ship Sedov approached from over the horizon. There’s
something special, I think, about a sailing ship that approaches alone in this way,
without the modern distraction of hundreds of little plastic boats

Shabab Oman

Alexander von Humboldt and Tecla

We’ll return to the usual menu of smaller craft for the rest of the week!

The Storm engraving by William Miller after Van de Velde, published in 1858.
From the Wikimedia

We’re in the midst of yet another storm here in the UK. I might have enjoyed them as a child, but now they set my mind racing, first to worrying about safety on the roads and to property such as houses and boats, and then I start thinking of those at sea, and finally the lifeboat crews who have to go to sea in a storm that’s already raging when they leave the land. It’s enough to stop me sleeping, but in the scheme of things that’s a minor irritation.

Last night I found myself thinking about grandeur and truth of the hymn For Those in Peril on the Sea.

Here are the lyrics complete with written-out music.

Here they are again with a playable midi sample.

Here The Daily Telegraph newspaper tells the hymn’s story.

For a little history, read a historical discussion of how Scottish fishermen coped with storms before the days of weather forecasts and also about how storms affected the fishing community at Polperro, Cornwall.

Again, here’s a 19th century story of heroism in the North-East of England.

I’ve also been thinking about the terror of going out onto a big sea in a small open without the benefit of a weather forecast. No doubt that spawned a host of superstitions and the slightly neurotic activity described in the song The Candlelight Fisherman. There’s a joke that some allegedly lazy fishermen wouldn’t go if the flame didn’t blow out, on the grounds that there would be no wind to carry them home, and like most jokes I’m sure it had some grain of truth.

Also, see Out on a Shout, the RNLI’s rescue activities as they happen. In case you’re wondering, there have been a lot of launches in the bad weather of this winter.

I started off by saying that we’re thinking about storms here in the UK, but I’d argue the weather is making many of us think of more than just the weather. Stay safe and stay alive, everyone.

PS – If you get a moment, print out the Miller engravings – on some nice paper, they could be just what you need to hang on your wall!

The Shipwreck engraving by William Miller after JMW Turner, published
as part of a series of 120engravings from Turner’s paintings.
From the Wikimedia

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]]> http://intheboatshed.net/2008/03/12/o-hear-us-when-we-cry-to-thee-for-those-in-peril-on-the-sea/feed/ 0 http://intheboatshed.net/2006/12/03/classic-sailboats-starts-work-on-the-charles-henry-ashley/ http://intheboatshed.net/2006/12/03/classic-sailboats-starts-work-on-the-charles-henry-ashley/#comments Sun, 03 Dec 2006 14:19:20 +0000 Gavin Atkin http://intheboatshed.net/?p=70 Based near Caernarfon, North Wales, Classic Sailboats is run by partners John Jones and Andy Long. The company undertakes a wide variety of traditional work, and have some nice pictures of both their restorations and new builds on their site. The pic below shows the 100-year old lifeboat Charles Henry Ashley arriving at the Classic Sailboats yard.

For more on Classic Sailboats:
http://www.classicsailboats.co.uk

For more on the Charles Henry Ashley:
http://www.cemaes-bay.co.uk/RNLI%20CHA/index.htm

Ironically, Keith is a land-lubber by birth, originally hailing from the English county of Derbyshire and still living there today. Despite this, he did live on the East Kent coast for eight years where he was able to nurture more effectively an already strong leaning towards all things maritime. He has a long established and well documented history of performing and recording all kinds of music of the sea worldwide both solo and with various collaborations over forty years!

Keith is clearly passion-driven in his performance of sea shanties, fore-bitters and various other maritime related material including dance tunes on the English and Anglo concertinas.

He draws his influence from the old sailors and source singers of the material like: Stan Hugill (the last real shanty man), Bob Roberts and Cyril Tawney to name just three.

All of these three great singing heroes are now sadly gone and singers who have really studied their singing styles and songs, such as Keith, play an important role in carrying their legacy forward.

Listen in particular for the breaks and turns in his voice in the shanty set, for example – they’re one of the keys to real shanty singing.

Here are two tracks from his latest CD on the Wildgoose label Songs from the Derbyshire Coast. The first is the shanty Bold Riley (I’ve read somewhere that it’s a halyard shanty) and a set of three shanties, A Hundred Years Ago, Essiquibo River, and Rolling Down the Bay to Juliana. The files will take a moment to download but I can assure you that they’re well worth the short wait – this is shanty singing with real class.

Bold Riley is a windlass shanty that started life making the sugar run from the West Indies to the UK. Who ‘Riley’ was, unfortunately, is anybody’s guess.

A Hundred Years Ago is to one of two melodies commonly associated with this halyard Shanty from the USA – the other one is English in origin and both can be found in Stan Hugill’s seminal book, ‘Shanties From The Seven Seas’. Two other shanties: ‘A Long Time Ago’ and ‘Leave Her Johnny Leave Her’, share the same metre and are likely its two closest relatives.

The name of the Essiquibo River gives away the West Indian origins of this song – it would likely have been used originally inland for heavy shifting work and would have been lead by a Negro ‘shantyman’ eventually finding it’s inevitable way to sea where it’s use would need little adaptation. I take this at a slightly faster lick than it would have been sung in a working context.

Among the shanty set, I guess Rolling Down the Bay to Juliana, sometimes called Emma, is probably the least well known. It’s nevertheless one of the best halyard shanties around, and Keith tells me he believes it was collected in the early 1950s by folklorist A L Lloyd from ex-sailor Ted Howard. Ted, it is said, was on his death bed in a sailors’ hospital surrounded by all his shipmates when he sang this to Mr Lloyd. Apparently, his dying words were ‘Strike up South Australia and let me die happy!’

Bold Riley

Shanty set

Songs from the Derbyshire coast is available here:
http://www.guestlistwebarts.co.uk/eyup/cds.htm

More songs from Keith and friends:
http://intheboatshed.net/?p=78

A song from me:
http://intheboatshed.net/?p=609

Photo by Andrew D C Basford (2006)

Restoration is only one part of the company’s business, for it is also a boatbuilder in wood, steel and fibreglass, makes masts, and undertakes surveys and engine installations. Nevertheless, Newson’s has surely done some terrific boat and yacht restoration projects of various sizes, and the company has kindly promised to let us publish some of their photos over time.

Just for a start, though take a look at the William & Kate Johnston (pictured below), and then take a look around for a taste of what’s to come from this yard:
http://www.newson.co.uk

This is where it is:
www.multimap.com

Launched in 1923, William & Kate Johnston was designed as a prototype lifeboat by James R. Barnett, Consulting Naval Architect to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and at the time of her launch she was the largest lifeboat in the world at 60ft in length. She was built with a double diagonal teak hull by J. Samuel White and Co at Cowes. For more on her:
http://www.william-kate-johnston.co.uk

If you would like to see your yard, project or boat listed here, please email us at gmatkin@gmail.com . There’s no charge, and no catch.