Baroque
Built by John Hambly of Cardiff in 1902, Baroque worked from Barry in the Bristol Channel as a sailing pilot cutter until she was sold in 1922, and after a few less than auspicious years was fitted out as a yacht in the 1930s. She then worked as a charter boat on the Hamble for a few years, then did service as a two-engined harbour launch at Scarborough during WWII, which led to her being bombed and sunk. Then she became a houseboat. And then…
And then she became a legend! She was bought by explorer Bill Tilman who sailed her to Greenland and Iceland several times, including a circumnavigation of Spitzbergen.
When he turned 80, Tilman sold her to James Sunderland, who restored and kept her for the following 24 years, and until finally selling her to Tina Trollmo and Martin Rogetzky, who live on the island of Ljustero in the Stockholm archipelago, where she has been restored and is again working as a charter boat. It’s quite a story, and it’s a great relief that she seems to be in such good hands.
See Tina and Martin’s website on Baroque for more details, and some very nice photos including her latest restoration:
http://pilotcutter.org
My thanks to Chris Berry of Traditional Sail, whose site is the source of the link for this story. Chris is a surveyor and boatbuilder and restorer. If you’re interested you might check his links pages for more on sailing pilot cutters with Tilman.
http://www.traditionalsail.co.uk
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I knew James and Baroque back in the 90`s. We (my husband, Ian Heath, owner of Charmian Gaff ketch by Uphams of Brixham ) and my son sailed on her from Falmouth to the Scilly lsles and then back via St Ives and finally Swansea.
I remember encountering swarms of bugs and flies off the coast which lasted for about 2 hours and was distinctly gross.
The sea was calm and so we motored almost all the way. When we finally arrived and tidied and redid all the sails, millions of bugs, flies and bees and wasps fell out on the deck.
It was the best of times and the worst of times!!!
Tilman was 79 when he sold Baroque and sadly never reached 80 going by the timeline as En Avant left Rio on November 1st 1977,never to be seen again. Simon Richardson did celebrate his own birthday aboard the ill-fated tug and a rather gaunt Tilman can be seen in the photograph from Dorothy Richardson’s book The Quest of Simon Richardson. Baroque must have been well worn by the time Tilman he sold her.