Events – Page 82 – intheboatshed.net

Rotoiti 2011 photos by Owen Sinclair

Russel Ward’s Romany (see steam.co.nz). A lovely boat in a fabulous setting

Reader Owen Sinclair has written in with a short report and some stunning photos from the 2011 New Zealand Antique & Classic Boatshow at Lake Rotoiti. His photos appear on this weblog with his permission. Many thanks Owen!

Here’s what he says:

‘Hello Gavin,

‘Numbers seemed to be down this year, presumably due to the Christchurch earthquake, and perhaps also due to a forecast for heavy rain. But after heavy rain early in the morning the clouds cleared and the day became brilliantly sunny.

‘This whaleboat was built recently by Ron Perano to the lines of a whaleboat built in Tasmania and used for whaling in Cook Strait, and donated to the Canterbury Museum in 1926. I think this was one of the few shore-based whale fisheries in the world. The Perano family was one of several associated with whaling and has many descendants in the area today.

‘Another whaling family was the Guard family, and a Guard was on the whaleboat today. I was offered a row, an entirely new experience. The oars are long, heavy, flexible and pivot between thole pins. Although it was an impromptu crew with half probably aged over 70 the boat moved along really well with six rowers and a man steering with a sweep oar. A wonderful opportunity, greatly enjoyed. Thank you Messrs Perano and Guard.

Romany – see owner Russell Ward’s website: steam.co.nz .

Canoe-yawl built to the lines of Eel, a George Holmes design, by a man from Timaru whose name I unfortunately didn’t get. He has built many boats and it shows.

Hamilton jetboat built about ’73, steam launch, stitch and tape version of Rushton’s Wee Lassie, and a lug yawl designed and built by an Australian boatbuilder. I think this boat and some detail of the builder was posted recently on Dave Perillo’s website: openboat.co.nz .

The yellow boat in this shot is a John Welsford Whaler, built and sailed by Peter Murton.

Trailer built in Oregon pine, otherwise known as Douglas fir. I didn’t see what it carries. Nice work!

Pipedream, built in England.

‘Regards,

‘Owen Sinclair’

Pier traditional and historic boat events this weekend launch British Tourism Week

Poster for Painting Party on the Quay at Newlyn this weekend

National Historic Ships has worked with British Tourism Week to make sure historic vessels have a central place in Party on the Pier (POTP) – a series of events around Britain on Saturday 12the March to mark the launch of British Tourism Week.

The event was conceived as a celebration of piers including jetties, harbours, river piers and landing stages, but also involves a wide range of vessels including the steam-powered passenger ship Shieldhall, Cornish lugger Ripple, motor tug Touchstone and Humber super sloop Spider T.

There may well be something going on near you:

Greenwich Historic Ships Harbour Project aims to make East Greenwich Coaling Jetty a public heritage facility enabling historic ships to visit and dock in London. The GHSH team will put on a tented exhibition on the history project and proposals for the pier, with handouts by the boat crews and the opportunity to sign up as a supporter.

Discover Lincolnshire Weekend event Historic Fleet vessel Spider T will be open from 10am-5pm on Sat 12th and Sun 13th March. Owner Mal Nicholson will be giving talks, opening a new library filled with many rare book copies of historic Humber vessels, people and places, and launching the ‘Friends of Spider T’ support group. Artist Lesley Everatt will be exhibiting some of her work, and Chris Horan author of the recently launched book Humber Sail and History will be on hand.

Heritage Quay, Newson’s Boatyard and Waveney District Council Newson’s Boat Yardwill showcase Lowestoft’s maritime heritage. Vessels on show at Heritage Quay will include sidewinder fishing ship Mincarlo and MTB102, a display by the International Boat Building College at Lowestoft and a sample engine from a steam ship; Newsons Yard will meanwhile be exhibiting vessels involved in the Dunkirk evacuation now under restoration, and there will be a display on the steam fishing vessel Lydia Eva.

Southampton Pier & Docks’ contribution is a tour of maritime Southampton starting from Kuti’s Royal Thai Pier restaurant, including the pier itself, the Titanic Museul and Southampton Maritime Museum before moving on by bus to see the Shieldhall.

Pooley Bridge Pier, Ullswater will see a Tea Party on the Pier from 10am and 3pm, with hosts in 1930’s costumes. Light refreshments are being supplied by Dalemain Historic House and the local RNLI group, and scheduled steamers calling at Pooley Bridge that day will be decorated with bunting and flags.

Newlyn Harbour & Quay Luggers and traditional boats in The Old Harbour at Newlyn are getting a fresh coat of paint for the new season, and artists will be on the Quay painting the scene. A Newlyn Archive will put on a photographic display of the 14th century harbour and its luggers in their heyday. All are welcome to bring their cameras, canvas, brushes, paints and sketch pads and join in. Visitors with memories from the past will also be able to have them recorded.

Gillingham Pier, Kent Visit light vessel LV21 and hear sea shanties performed by the Hog Eye Men and music by the Big Fish Street Band. Visitors can make paper boats to their ever growing fleet, try their hand at ‘porthole art’ or learn Morse code, and meet people behind local restoration projects including the paddle steamer Medway Queen.

Rochester Pier, Kent will offer free river trips and vessel tours from the Sun Pier, The Esplanade at Rochester on 18-20 March, 10am – 3pm, on the motor tug Touchstone.

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is offering half price entry to the dockyard and the Spinnaker Tower.

Small boats in wartime – Survival at Sea and Dunkirk at the IWM

The jolly boat of the Anglo Saxon – sadly now badly dried out; the poster above was shot without flash

A trip to the Imperial War Museum is always moving, but those who appreciate and fear the sea will be very struck by the exhibition Survival at Sea my son and daughter and I saw this week.

The statistics in relation to merchant navy losses during World War II are impressive. I didn’t know that more than half of shipping losses world wide during the period of the war were British, or that more than twice as many merchant navy seamen were lost in WWII compared with WWI. The years 1939-45 were a very, very dangerous time to be a seaman.

Naturally many of the sailors caught in enemy attacks escaped from burning and sinking ships in lifeboats and ship’s boats, and two exhibits are particularly striking in their humanity. In one, young men in a lifeboat used a pencil and torn bits of canvas to record how their crewmates died one by one; the other the jolly boat from the ship Anglo Saxon is an 18ft open boat with 24 notches cut in the inwale near the stern – each one records a night at sea before rescue. Some crewmen survived in each case, but they were pitifully few.

By an extraordinary coincidence, our way back to London Bridge Station passed the home of another extraordinary survivor – Captain Bligh of the Bounty. Following the famous mutiny, Bligh and his loyal officers and seamen cast off in an open boat then sailed first to the relatively island of Tofua (30 miles away) and then survived a 47-day voyage to Timor in the Dutch East Indies.

He seems to have been an extraordinary seaman and leader, even if he was flawed in the way apparently described by the oddly named J C Beaglehole:

‘[Bligh made] dogmatic judgements which he felt himself entitled to make; he saw fools about him too easily… thin-skinned vanity was his curse through life… [Bligh] never learnt that you do not make friends of men by insulting them.’

I’d say that was a common enough flaw and difficult to forgive – but naturally not quite enough to justify sending someone off to near-certain death.

Another exhibit we noticed was the Tamzine – easily the smallest Dunkirk Little Ship I’ve ever seen, though there must have been many like her.

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