Day: December 8, 2008

Nick Smith’s Lisa gets her sole boards

[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]

Lisa’s sole boards and engine

Hampshire boatbuilder Nick Smith has just sent us his latest update on his current project, a 17ft motor launch named Lisa.

‘Hi Gavin

‘Lisa’s sole boards are finished and fitted; the next job is the engine box.

‘The boards have gone in better than I could have hoped. They’ve left a sitting height of 16 inches – not bad for a boat of this size, bearing in mind there are always ergonomic compromises. The ideal height, for a dining chair for example is 18 inches, but I have to proportion everything to look sweet to the eye, for as they say, “if it looks right, it is right”.

‘The sea cock is easily accessible and has the Fisherman type of strainer: the top can be unscrewed and easily cleared of any blockage, like weed or mud for example.

‘It’s been a slow couple of weeks, with lots of bits and pieces and trying to get as much varnish on as possible, the weather doesn’t help at this time of year.

‘Thats it for now Gav, I’ll send some more when there is something else tangible to see.

‘Nick’

Thanks Nick! We’ll look forward to the next stages – I’m sure you’ll put me right, but, notwithstanding the little issue of varnish, from where I’m sitting there can’t be many more to go before the big day.

Nick has sent us quite a few photos of the Lisa project over the past few weeks.  If you’d like to see all our posts about his work, click here and scroll down the page. If you don’t already know him, Nick comes from Devon and specialises in new builds in clinker and carvel for  sail, motor and rowing power from 8ft to 28ft with a special emphasis on West Country style and design, and also takes on repairs and refits from 25ft to 50ft. He can be contacted by email at nick_smith_boatbuilder@yahoo.com and by phone on 07786 693370.

The Dream of Napoleon


Longwood House, St Helena. This is where Napoleon was imprisoned
by the British from 1815 until his death in 1821. Photo taken by Isaac
Newton and published by the Wikipedia

Thinking about South Georgia also led me to to muse on St Helena and also, perhaps inevitably, to Napoleon’s exile there.

And then I recalled the striking ballad about it, The Dream of Napoleon, shown below, with thanks to the Mudcat Cafe and the Digital Tradition.

I mean to learn this song some time so, if you’re sufficiently curious, please come back in a while, when you may find there’s an MP3 to download and listen to. It’s an interesting example of the broadside balladeer’s work, and once again underlines the point that not all of the English-speaking world saw Napoleon as a thoroughgoing baddie, or felt that the people of France were their enemies.

For more on St Helena, see the Wikipedia, and this tourism site.

The Dream of Napoleon

One night sad and languid I went to my bed
And had scarcely reclined on my pillow
Then a vision surprising came into my head
And methought I was crossing the billow;
I thought as my vessel sped over the deep
I beheld that rude rock that grows craggy and steep
Where the billows now seem to weep
O’er the grave of the once famed Napoleon

Methought as my vessel drew near to the land
I beheld clad in green his bold figure
With the trumpet of fame he had clasped in his hand
On his brow there shone valor and rigor
He says noble stranger you have ventured to me
From that land of your fathers who boast they are free
If so then a tale I will tell unto thee
‘Tis concerning that once famed Napoleon

You remember the day so immortal he cried
When we crossed o’er the Alps famed in story
With the legions of France whose sons were my pride
As I marched them to honor and glory
On the fields of Marien lo I tyranny hurled
Where the banners of France were to me first unfurled
As a standard of liberty all over the world
And a signal of fame cried Napoleon

Like a hero I’ve borne both the heat and the cold
I have marched to the trumpet and cymbal
But by dark deeds of treachery I now have been sold
Though monarchs before me have trembled
Ye princes and rulers their station demean
And like scorpions ye spit forth venom and spleen
But liberty all over the world shall be seen
As I woke from my dream cried Napoleon

Lyrics thanks to Mudcat Cafe’s DigiTrad pages.

Here’s a rather rough recording of my version – I hope you like it.

From Songs the Whalemen Sang, by Gale Huntington.

I gather one can buy a copy here.

 

Longboats and life on Tristan da Cunha

[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]

Boatbuilding on Tristan da Cunha

My researches have led me to this wonderful collection of photos of Tristan da Cunha from the 60s, 70s and 80s taken by Swedish explorer and painter Roland Svensson – I’ve been thinking about remote islands quite a bit this week following my post about South Georgia a few days ago.

Do please take a look at this collection – many show the local canvas-covered longboats being built, rowed and sailed, and, in one case, used as a home.

If you look carefully, you’ll also spot one of Sven Yrvind’s Bris boats. For more intheboatshed.net posts on Yrvind, click here.

For much more on Tristan da Cunha longboats, click here.

For more on Tristan da Cunha at the Wikipedia, click here.