Gavin Atkin's weblog for the sort of people who like looking inside boat sheds. It's about old boats, traditional boats, boat building, restoration, the sea and the North Kent Coast
This is a dory, for those who haven’t come across one before – which will include most boating enthusiasts in my country, as this is by no means a British Isles boat.
The origin of the dory is clouded in the mists of time, but this kind of boat Continue reading “A dory in winter”
Three Brothers
Some important historical information has emerged regarding a Morecambe Bay prawner or Nobby now being restored at Newson’s, the Three Brothers. Apparently it was named after owner and skipper David Willacy’s three sons. David’s grandson Keith who passed the information on to Newson’s, along with the original specification.
The brothers are pictured at Newson’s website, together with several other old photos and more recent shots of the boat in its condition before restoration began. I gather work should be starting on the boat about now.
Like many people I rather admire the prawners; the low decks and handsome round sterns that made them suitable for prawning make them very elegant, and they seem to be pretty good performers.
Looking around, there are a few links worth looking at:
The Fleetwood Museum has this gallery and this jolly exploration sequence. Isn’t it a shame that essentially educational organisations seem to feel that the pictures they put up have to be so small that you can see few if any details?
Gondola
Send this link to an interested friend: http://intheboatshed.net/?p=577
This is the handsome steam launch and pleasure boat Gondola, first built by railway tycoon Sir James Ramsden in the 1850s to take tourists on tours of Coniston Water, and later rebuilt in the 1980s.
The local railway was originally built to transport raw materials mined in the Coniston Fells to Barrow in Furness from where they were shipped out to their final destination. Sir James saw the potential for Continue reading “Gondola on Coniston Water”