Category: Locations

What is the story of this 1937 Liverpool-built towing boat please?

 

Fowey boat builder Marcus Lewis has this new motor launch restoration project to work on this winter, and would very much like to know more about it, if anyone can help.

He knows that the launch and was built as a towing boat in Liverpool in 1937, and has a builders plate of  Burton and Fawcett, Liverpool.
It is carvel built with battens inside every seam. Unusually, the steamed ribs are in contact the battens, not the carvel planks.

The boat was Henry, but is is now named Clarence and has spent some time around Norfolk.

If you know anything about this boat and its type and can help Marcus, contact him directly or write to me at gmatkin@gmail.com and I’ll pass the message on.

The Wings of a Gull

A whalerman’s lament learned from the singing of AL Lloyd, who at one time worked on the whalers… I really don’t know how traditional it is, given Lloyd’s talent for improving the songs he picked up. Whatever, it’s a damned powerful piece that doesn’t shrink from describing the brutality of the work, nor what seems to be an example of exploitatation. It’s also yet another sea song designed to be a warning to others…

A Christmas card from Lowestoft, 1911

What a cracking little Christmas card in reader Tom Edom’s family!

Can anyone tell us what these boats were please? Write to me using the comments link below or by email to gmatkin@gmail.com and I’ll pass the message on.

This is what Tom has to say:

‘This was a Chrismas card sent to my Grandfather in 1911, who seems to have owned Snipe a one design raced out of that fine port. But my one design knowledge starts somewhere in my parents generation.
‘They look like raters to me but raters were not one designs were they?
‘It seems that Snipe was not quite at the head of the pack but that a good time was had by all.
‘Hope this is an interesting quest.
‘Best regards, Tom’
Many thanks Tom – I’m sure it will be!