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
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The Chest of Books is a new source of boatbuilding plans I haven’t been aware of before now. Here are some samples, but I’d guess that more could be found using its search engine:
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A yawl for HMS Victory, build by Stirling & Son. Even the supports
Boatbuilder Will Stirling of Morewellham has sent us these photo of the striking yawl his company Stirling & Son has just built for HMS Victory. She was built to a Ministry of Defence contract using drawings dating back to 1793 supplied by the National Maritime Museum, and a specification from David Steel’s book Naval Architecture published in 1805. So it should be authentic!
One question I feel is particularly relevant, however: how did men manage when they had to wear hats like that?
Will is perhaps best known in the boating world for having designed and built the 18th century style lugger Alert, which is now back from a trip to Iceland and is for sale: read about her here.
The news on Alert is that Will has dropped the price a little to £67,500, as he’d like to get on with a new project – if you’re in the market for a magnificent boat like this, it would be well worth taking a look also at the Stirling & Son website for more information. Alert is an outstanding piece of floating history, and the kind of boat that would be noticed and admired anywhere.
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Sound Waters Eagle, schooner or a variety of ketch?
From America, Peter Vanderwaart writes:
‘I found the pictures of smack and barge racing very interesting. For some reason, I especially like the shots that show several boats. I gather you can join in the fun with a fiberglass gaff cutter, if you happen to have one.
‘I noticed windmills in the background of one shot. We don’t have these in our waters yet. If you take a good look at the attached shot which shows typical summer weather, you will probably see why I think windmill builders will go elsewhere first.
‘You might be interested in the vessel if you haven’t seen it before. It’s a steel sharpie about 65 feet long. I think it was built in the Chesapeake region in the ’50s or ’60s. Currently, she is called the Sound Waters Eagle, and is used to take school kids out on educational trips. Her rig is unusual: gaff rigged on three masts, with the middle mast being the tallest. I think this should be considered a variety of ketch.
‘Olin Stephens designed a vessel with fore, main, and mizzen masts bermuda rigged, and he called it a ketch. However, the word “schooner” is deemed more romantic, and gets used.
‘Peter’
There are more photos of Sound Waters Eagle here: http://www.soundwaters.org/
Fibreglass gaff cutters are very popular here, even if many of them do have modern-style lines beneath the waterline. Some of them command astonishing high second-hand prices and, yes, you can race them along with the old gaffers.
Wind turbines may be generally less popular, but I still find the group off the Swale is an interesting and sometimes useful navigational feature, though I may change my mind if they become very common.
There are some more photos here, and I’ve got some rather closer ones somewhere.
Schooner or ketch? I’d say the Eagle was a schooner at heart, if not in fact.
Thanks for the photo Peter!
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