Category: Traditional carvel

Traditional carvel plans and boatbuilding

Wherry Albion dismasted!

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Norfolk Broads wherry Albion dismasted during the Breydon Wherry Race of 1952

This photo taken by John Hopthrow comes with permission from the Broadland Memories website – and this page in particular, which includes a scene from the beginning of the Breydon Wherry Race of 1952, and another in which Dragon and Hathor run aground while Albion overtakes. It seems that Albion’s luck didn’t hold out on this occasion…

The page also includes a shot of the ‘new’ Barton Turf sign erected around the same time, which I’m glad to say was still there when I last saw it. If you’ve got a soft spot for the Broads, as we have, you’ll love this site.


The White Ship – Portuguese fishing schooner

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Here’s a fabulous piece of film following the crew of a Portuguese schooner fishing off the Grand Banks in the middle of the last century, complete with footage of dories stacked on deck and being rowed and lifted aboard, and the fishermen themselves hauling long lines, gutting fish, getting lost in fog and even attending the funeral of a fellow crew member.

The commentary feels a little over-cooked for our times – whoever wrote it may have been reading a little too much Hemingway – and the screen is a little fuzzy, but what it shows is priceless for anyone with an interest in this aspect of maritime history and the boats involved.

I’m grateful to the excellent Mal Nicholson, owner of the Humber supersloop Spider T (of which more soon!) for letting me know about it.

PS – The really good news is that several of these Grand Bankers are still alive and being renovated and restored by the Portuguese as Jay Creswell tells us in his comment below. Don’t miss what he has to say…

Dixon Kemp’s Galway hooker

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Galway cutter from Dixon Kemp. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image

Intheboatshed readers interested in the video of Galway hookers I posted the other day will be interested in this lines drawing of a 35ft hooker taken from Dixon Kemp’s legendary Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing.

I can confirm that it’s similar in many ways to the Boston ‘Irish Cutter’ of similar size shown in Howard I Chappelle’s book American Small Sailing Boats, but that boat has slacker bilges and slightly less displacement. It’s also interesting to compare this drawing with the Paull shrimper noted by George Holmes.

It’s difficult to get these lovely old survivals of old boat types out of one’s head, but as if to make it even harder, Daniel Newton wrote a few days ago to share some photos of a sailing model of the Boston boat that he made to sail with his kids.

Dan Newton’s model. He says it wasn’t really made for display purposes, but with those curves, I’d say it had every chance of working well as a sailing model.