Month: September 2010

The Watcher’s Cottage at Worbarrow – and is that Witch on the beach?

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Worbarrow, circa 1913-18. Click on the image to see a larger photo

Cottage at Worbarrow 2 Worbarrow Hill Cottage and coastguard station c1910 Cottage at Worbarrow

The Watcher’s Cottage and Coastguard Station, Worbarrow, photographed by Pat Leach and others

Sheila Leach has sent in some photos of the watcher’s cottage at Worbarrow, one of which shows a boat in the background, and I wonder whether it’s the Witch of Worbarrow, a rare Dorset crab and lobster fishing boat that can be seen at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall.

Witch has been getting some attention lately, as Boat Building Academy student Ian Baird has been appealing for information about her. He’s building a replica of the boat as part of his 38-week BBA course, as this earlier intheboatshed.net post and comments explain.

Sheila spotted the earlier post, and got in touch to let me know about the photos and also about a painting made from one of the shots. She says:

‘My husband’s family lived in the coast watcher’s cottage for many years. Husband Pat Leach took a photo of the area back in the 1950s or 1960s and a work colleague painted a copy. There is a boat in the background.

‘Pat’s grandfather, George Augustus Leach, is shown on the 1901 census as living at Worbarrow, and Pat’s dad, Alfred George Leach was born later that year at Warbarrow. Pat’s dad was later killed at Moreta in the 1939-1945 war.’

Thanks Sheila! Not having been to Worbarrow myself, it’s good to get a sense of place. Ian Baird will no doubt have a view about whether Witch appears in the photo.

On the subject of Witch herself, Ian has appeared on local television to appeal for information about the boat’s history. Once again, my thanks go to Chris Partridge of Rowing for Pleasure for pointing out the link.

A classic work on the beach boats of Britain is this book: Beach Boats of Britain.

Nick Smith’s latest motor launch – the ribs are steamed out and riveted

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Clinker built boat riveting ribs into place Nick Smith

Using an ‘iron’ or ‘dolly’ to drive the nail over into the ribs. It is of course very important for the iron to be in the right place as the nail comes through!

riveting ribs into position clinker built motor launch ribs clinker built boat ribs

Nick Smith’s latest project has taken a big step forward with the addition of her ribs, and our friendly boatbuilder has kindly sent in some more photos and a few words of explanation.

I must say the process looks like hard work, but no doubt many hands make light work, and entertaining banter too.

Nick tends to call the new project Bamboo Viper II, because she’s very much like an earlier boat he built by the same name – you can see earlier posts here and here. 

Here’s what Nick says about the latest phase in BVII’s construction:

‘Hi Gav,

‘Some photos of BVII yesterday.

‘We got a crew of five – luxury! – together to steam out the ribs on the new Bamboo Viper II. We pulled the first rib out of the steam box at 10.30am, and drove the last nail at 12.15am, which was the best time in all the years we have been building. We only broke three timbers, which was fine as the shorter lengths can be used forward or aft, where they butt onto the apron or transom knee.

‘So had some “spare ribs”, which I bent off the job to come in for odd repairs to broken timbers on customers boats.

‘The next task is to rivet up, I tend to do the upper-most four or five by myself (as my arms are long enough) then get my “oppo” to lie on the floor and “hang on” while I get inside the boat and rivet.

‘When I was apprenticed this job was done in one hit immediately after steaming had finished, so as the “boy” there wasn’t time to draw breath – as soon as the rib was in place I was straight under the boat (damp earth floor) holding on with an iron whilst the journeyman rivetted as fast as he could, no stop, no hesitation, no breaks, til we had done. And if ever I was on the wrong nail head as he drove or rivetted I was referred to by him in no uncertain terms as a ‘f****** c***’ so I learned very quickly to concentrate. This is not a teaching method I have carried on.

‘Gav, I think it’s brilliant what you have done and are doing with this weblog, many thanks,

‘Nick’

Thanks very much Nick – it’s particularly good to see photos of the riveting process in action. You must make a video one day!

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Nick comes from Devon, learned boatbuilding the traditional way 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. These days he’s based in Hampshire, and can be contacted by email at nick_smith_boatbuilder@yahoo.com and by phone on phone on 07786 693370.

Want to learn more about boatbuilding using the clinker technique? Try John  Leather’s book Clinker boatbuilding at the revived intheboatshed.net A-store.