Category: Traditional carvel

Traditional carvel plans and boatbuilding

Frank Carr writing on bawleys

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‘The Leigh bawleys which form  the subject of Mr Mason’s drawing are a type that it is indeed a pity to see vanishing from the Thames Estuary and giving place to a class of modern motor craft, less pleasing in design, where sails are but auxiliary to power.’

Frank Carr describes the history and development of the lovely bawley. Of course, these days I’m sure we’d be happy to preserve examples of the bawley’s successor – no doubt it too was a handsome carvel-built craft, even if Carr found them a little too plain and modern to be interesting.

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For more posts on bawleys at intheboatshed.net, click here.

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Bawleys off the Nore

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Bawley’s off the Nore drawing by Frank Mason

This is the frontispiece from Vanishing Craft: British Coastal Craft in the Last Days of Sail by Frank G G Carr with drawings by Frank Mason.

Published in 1934, the book was written by Carr with the aim of persuading the yachtsmen, curators and scholars of the time to record and record the last small sailing working boats. I don’t know how influential it was, but it stands as a charming and informative piece of work.

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The astonishing Portuguese muleta

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The astonishing Portuguese muleta fishing boat
– download a larger image here

Rooting around in my pile of old books, I found this illustration, which reminded me of a model of the muleta I saw as a boy in the London Science Museum, which has a fantastic collection of models of craft from around the world.

Here’s the blurb from the book in which I found the illustration, The Story of Sail by GS Laird Clowes and Cecil Trew. It’s well worth reading, for as well as being an interesting historical survival it seems the boat evolved for a kind of drift netting, and that the rig is a highly adjustable means of adjusting both the rate of drift and the boat’s balance before the wind as it slides gently to leeward.

It also suggests that anyone who once seens one of these boats is unlikely to ever forget the sight, and it seems to be true – even when the sighting concerned is only of a model.

Here’s a photo of the Science Museum’s model.

See illustrations of muletas and similar boats here and here.  There’s an excellent description and a small photo in a newsletter published by European Maritime Heritage. I haven’t been aware of this group up to now, but its website says it is a non-governmental organisation for private owners of traditional ships, as well as for maritime museums and other interested bodies.

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