June 2008 – Page 6 – intheboatshed.net

Nick Smith’s handsome clinker-built boats at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show

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Nick Smith’s boatbuilding work at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show. If you
ring him, this is now the preferred telephone number: 0778 6693370

I’ve had another frantically busy week, so I’m afraid it’s taken me a little while to get these first photos from the Beale Park Thames Boat Show up.

In fact, I haven’t a huge amount to say about these photos of Nick Smith’s very nice work, so I’ll leave the pictures to tell their story.

Nick tells me that he builds these craft because he was brought up using similar craft, and that he learned his trade in a long-closed boatyard at Salcombe.

Apparently the historic old place is being developed for housing. In an expensive place like Salcombe, I guess that someone is about to make a killing even in these times, but Nick’s certainly less than happy about the loss of the old yard. I can remember the place he’s talking about, and rather agree with him.

I’d also like to thank Nick for his kindness in taking us under his wing at the show this year – he has a lot to share about traditional boats and boatbuilding and I’ve a lot to learn, so I’m looking forward to having the chance to listen to him again soon.

143-year old Solomon Islands canoe is restored for Maidstone Museum

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19th century Solomon Islands canoe arrives at
Maidstone Barracks for restoration

A mid-19th Century canoe brought to the UK by explorer Julius Brenchley is being restored before going on public show at Maidstone Museum, close to where we live in Kent, England. I hope to be able to let you all know when it goes on show. Curiously, the work’s being done at Maidstone Barracks.

Here’s the museum’s press release:

Canoe leaves museum for a year to undergo a revamp

A canoe has now left Maidstone Museum for a year’s worth of restoration work.

The 143-year-old Soloman Island fishing canoe left the St Faith’s Street museum yesterday (Thursday) to go to Maidstone’ s army barracks.

The 25-foot vessel would have been crewed by eight people and was collected by Julius Brenchley in 1865 when he travelled through the South Pacific.

While at the 36 Royal Engineer Regiment in Royal Engineers’ Road the wooden canoe will be housed in one of the hangers, where it will be worked on.

Eight people helped get it onto the removal lorry and once it had made its short journey down the road, Maidstone’s Royal Engineers helped get it into the hanger.

Conservator Justin McMorrow will be repairing and restoring the piece to bring it up to display standards. This will include cleaning; strengthening it to ensure it will stay together for the next few years and consolidating it meaning repairing parts which have previously broken. It will eventually end up as one of the key exhibits in the new East Wing of the museum.

Keeper at Maidstone Museum, Giles Guthrie said this canoe is going to be one of the ‘wow’ objects of the museum and was pleased the canoe made it in one piece. He said: ‘This piece has to be conserved because it’s an unusual item. The fact Julius Brenchley managed to get it back is a test of his ability’.

For much more on boats from cultures around the globe, go to Bob Holtzman’s great weblog Indigenous Boats.

The Wikipedia on punts and punting

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$Punt builder\'s workshop, photo from the Wikimedia Commons, taken by Thruston$

Punt in boatbuilder’s workshop, photo from the
Wikimedia Commons, taken by Thruston

I really can’t add anything to this excellent Wikipedia entry on the punt – one day all its entries will be like this.

Do you know there are still people out there, particularly in publishing, who think the Wikipedia is useless? I once had a rancourous argument with a senior director for a magazine and events company when I dared to suggest that the model was a good and useful one. No doubt sour grapes can grow almost anywhere…

$The names of a punt\'s various parts$

The names of a punt’s component parts, image from the
Wikimedia, drawn by Thruston

•Punts galore at Oxford

•Free online boatbuilding plans for a racing punt

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