Category: Traditional carvel

Traditional carvel plans and boatbuilding

Holmes of the Humber explained

 

Holmes of the Humber new colour

[June 2011 – This book is now available again after selling out less than a year after publication.]

Holmes of the Humber is a new book by long-standing Humber Yawl Club member Tony Watts. But just who was the book’s subject, George Holmes? The publisher’s notes tell the story so well, I repeat them here just as they appear on the fly-leaf:

‘George Holmes lived from 1861 to 1940 on the northern side of the Humber estuary. He was an avid and accomplished sailor in small craft of his own design, in British waters and in mainland Europe, and his prolific writing and drawing have left us an absorbing and charming record of his cruises, his boats, and the people and places he encountered.

‘In common with his friend and sailing companion Albert Strange, boats were not his regular occupation but were a diversion from his working life. And along with Strange, his name is forever associated with the development of the Canoe-Yawl, now enjoying a renewed popularity. Its sailing qualities make it arguably the best choice of craft for the single- or short-handed coastal and estuary sailor.

‘Holmes of the Humber is a nautical book and a social document. Look within to appreciate the pioneering days of cruising under sail, when enjoyment and fulfilment sprang from personal endeavour and the camaraderie of the group, and were largely independent of the external forces which would control us today.

‘Tony Watts has combined original sources, Holmes’ published output and the recollections of his family, and his own knowledge and experience of the Humber sailing scene to produce this, The Essential George Holmes.’

For more information and sample pages from the Lodestar Books webpages, click here: Holmes of the Humber.

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A carvel-built Mouse in Vietnam

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CONSTRUCTION BATEAU 009

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Here’s a surprise – a carvel-built The Edge member of the Mouseboat family being built in Nha Trang, Vietnam by Jacques Molinari.

I don’t normally write about Mouseboats here. They’re simple little boats intended to be made from plywood that I designed years ago for people without either money or skills who wanted to construct a little boat and get afloat. In fact, the first Mouseboat was originally designed for teenagers and children to make!

I’m delighted that some of the Mouse family designs have been very popular, but although some have been built to very high standards and many have been used for purposes very far from my original conception, I don’t generally see them as belonging on a weblog that focuses on boats that either are traditional, or which include a clear traditional element, and which also likes to celebrate old-fashioned rather than new-fashioned craftsmanship – so they rarely feature at intheboatshed.net.

But this particular scow-bowed spritsail Mouse is an exception, for it isn’t being built by stitch and glue, not least because plywood is difficult to obtain in Nha Trang. In the absence of the dimensionally stable and easy to work 20th century wonder material Jacques has clearly used the offsets from the plans, and is building his boat in the traditional way. He plans to be in the water in December, after the hurricane season is over.

Great good luck Jacques!

I’m greatly looking forward to seeing how this project goes; it’s terrific to see this boat being built in this way, and The Edge is one of my favourite Mouseboat designs, even if it hasn’t been built as often as some of the others.

For other stories relating to Mouseboats at intheboatshed.net click here.

If you’d like to join the Mouseboats forum and download the plans, click here.

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Dory fishermen’s lives in the 1920s on film

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Albert Khan

Still of fishermen long-lining from dories in the 1920s, from the Albert Khan archive

Some fabulous documentary film of French fishermen catching cod from on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland is online now via the BBC iPlayer – if you’re lucky enough to have access to it. Click here!

Originally from Alsace, Albert Khan was a rich pacifist, philanthopist and internationalist who sought to promote world peace by using photography as a means of persuading the people in the West of the enormous diversity of human life and culture – so he sent French photographers on trips throughout the World to shoot black and white as well as early colour photos and film.

To say that the material his photographers brought back is hugely impressive would be an understatement. It clearly demonstrates the richness and high degree of civilisation of the lives lived by many in even the remotest areas of the world and should be seen by anyone who doesn’t know enough about people in other parts of the world, just as Khan intended.

But enough of the sermon – this particular programme includes some fabulous footage of the lives and work of dory fishermen fishing from French boats in the era before the trawlers emptied the Grand Banks of cod, as well as excerpts from the telling diary of the photographer who took it.There’s also some nice clips of sailing Breton tuna fishermen in port.

If you can see material on the iPlayer, do catch it before it’s no longer available!

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