East Coast Pilot author Dick Holness has been in touch with a question about these two photos taken at Conyer, just off the Swale off the North Kent coast – and I’m hoping that readers can help.
Here’s what he says:
Hi Gav:
An old contact of mine in the IT industry got in touch recently, she sails a modern boat down on the South Coast, and had found some photos of her uncle, Professor Alan Bishop.
He had a boat, Welcome II based at Conyer in the 1960s. Currently a book is being written about him to which she will be contributing, and one chapter is to reflect his sailing, which was also quite key to his work as he had monitoring equipment in the Thames estuary in preparation for the enginering work on the Thames Barrier.
She would really like to know if the boat still exists somewhere.
Her understanding is that her uncle bought the clinker hull after it had been used during WW2. He then got a cabin, new engine, centre board drop keel, ballast and rigging done at a boatyard.
She thinks the boat would have been in use by her uncle from around 1956 or earlier. It was painted light blue hull with cream cabin and deck, and had a gunter or gaff rig with sails the same red colour as a Thames sailing barge. She also remembers it was very heavy to raise the mainsail.
Kind regards, Dick
Dick suggests the boat looks like a cross between a harbour workboat and a Dauntless, and that the Dauntless yard might have done the conversion all those years ago.
If you have any information, please email me at gmatkin@gmail.com and I’ll pass the message on to Dick and his friend.
