Will Stirling draws boatbuilding plans for a gentleman’s cutter of 1880

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Gentleman’s cutter Integrity in the style of an 1880 cruiser-racer, beautifully drawn by Will Stirling. Click on the thumbnails for a bigger image

Here’s a lovely piece of work: a set of drawings by Will Stirling for a forthcoming project to be built by Stirling & Son.  She’s a 43ft gentleman’s cutter of the period around 1880 drawn with careful reference to craft of that era including Nicholson’s Marigold, Beavor-Webb’s Partridge, GLWatson’s Vanduara, Dixon Kemp’s Zoraida and Fife’s Bloodhound. A cruising-racer, she can set 2,000 square feet of canvas in fine weather, yet Will says she will snug down to trysail and storm jib in poor conditions.

Click on the thumbnails above to see the lines and boatbuilding details more clearly. As you do, it’s worth reflecting that thay have been created without the aid of computer-aided drafting software – Will completed the whole drafting job the traditional and laborious way using ships curves and calculations. I have no doubt that her carvel-built wooden hull will be equally historically accurate from stem to stern.

Many thanks for this Will! I think Integrity is bound to attract some serious attention over the coming months, and I’m delighted to be able to give the boating world this preview.

Contact Will at http://www.stirlingandson.co.uk, tel 01822 614 259.

Holmes of the Humber: a review

 

Eel

Eel, drawn by her skipper and designer, George Holmes

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

Now that my copy has arrived, Tony Watts’ book Holmes of the Humber seems bigger than I’d expected. This is seriously good news, for although it isn’t quite coffee-table book sized, it’s nevertheless big enough to do justice to old George Holmes’ lovely illustration work.

There are also several intriguing photos of the man himself – they’re fascinating because he is so much everybody’s idea of what a slightly eccentric Edwardian uncle really should look like, and rather at odds with his own whimsical depictions of himself in drawings.

I should also add that it’s packed with an impressive amount of material, much of it drawn or written or both by the man himself. As I leaf through the pages I’m struck by how many pages are made up of a mixture of drawings and hand-written text, and can’t help wondering whether this may have been where Alfred Wainright – consciously or unconsciously – found his inspiration for his meticulously hand-written and illustrated books about the Lake District.

The chapters start with his early years, and include a map of the rivers and coast of much of Yorkshire and also the rivers of Lincolnshire. This map is essential to understanding much of the content of this part of book. Quite quickly Watts moves on to material from the Eel years, including a charming draftsman-like drawing of the boat itself and her dinghy Snig quickly followed by an equally sweet page of comic-book style drawings depicting Eel’s first cruise and accompanied by captions including 11pm May 26 1897 Hornsea Beach. Waiting followed by Midnight May 28 1897 Hauling through the surf, then A bit lumpy off the Newsand Noon May 29 1897, Passing the Bull Lightship 2pm May 29 and finally Moored at Ferriby Sluice. May 29 1897.

Holmes’ illustrations and texts just go on and on – the Eel years alone runs to 60-something pages. There’s a nice chapter of descriptions of some of the Humber’s local boat types including the crab boat, the Goole billy boy, the Humber duster, the Paull shrimper and of course an illustration of how a smack’s boat is converted into a blobber, complete with small cutter rig and cozy – but unstable-looking – house.

It’s notable that the up-river blobbers had much taller houses, which went neatly with having no rigs – at least in Holmes’ illustration.

After 15 years with the little 21ft Eel, Holmes moved on to the 28tft Snippet in search of greater comfort – as he says ‘there had come a slight increase in my beam, a disinclination to bend and a desire for standing headroom below’. The early Snippet drawings are then immediately followed by more of Holmes’ comic book-style annotated drawings – this time scenes from his first cruise with Snippet on the Norfolk Broads.

There’s another section of Holmes’ descriptions of various sailing areas including the tidal Trent and the Upper Humber, the Rivers Ouse and Hull, and – astonishingly to me – the River Ancholme. I should explain that the Ancholme lies just a few miles from the small North Lincolnshire town where I grew up, and was pleasantly pleased to recognise some scenes from the river that I haven’t seen since I was a boy, including, of course, the bridge at Brigg, from where the delightful but rarely sung traditional song Brigg Fair got its name.

There’s a short section on Holmes the artist, followed by another on his boat designs including canoe yawls Cassy; the first, second and third Ethel; Daisy; Yum-Yum; Kittiwake; Redwing; T’Rotter; Trent; Design No 7 and Ripple. If you’re in search of material about canoe yawls, you certainly won’t feel let down, but this chapter also includes some ‘house boats’, which are really like more conventional yachts, and a curious round-bottomed barge yacht.

And, finally, there’s what looks like a comprehensive list of Homes’ designs and boats compiled by Albert Strange Association technical secretary Richard Powell.

At £25, Holmes of the Humber isn’t cheap, but it’s a heck of a good package that’s well worth the money. If you’re at all interested in Holmes this book should certainly be on your wish list this Christmas! See http://www.lodestarbooks.com for information.

1930s Atkin-designed 25-footer for sale in New York State

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Miss O 5

Miss O 4 Miss O 2 Miss O 3

Miss O

This attractive 1934 Billy Atkin-designed 25ft Matthews Sailer is up for sale – and it’s such a sweet boat I have decided to post some photos.

The Sailer described in the sales literature as a Seabird-type cruiser, and I gather she was built to plans that the Atkins lost in a hurricane in 1938. (By the way, I should explain that I’m not related to Billy and his boat designer son John Atkin so far as I know.)

Miss O has a four-cylinder Graymarine engine (I think this may be orginal), lots of nice bronze, including a screen for the companion way and a folding mast for use on the New York State canal system that can be raised or lowerd by one or two people. The owner and his wife haveve enjoyed the boat for several years and even honeymooned aboard – but have now bought something new.

Click here to find the advert (look for the link to ‘Matthews’): http://cayuga-marina.homestead.com/index.html

Click here to see the original sales leaflet: http://camper-boat-sales.homestead.com/matthews.pdf

THIS BOAT IS NO LONGER FOR SALE – HER OWNERS DECIDED TO KEEP HER AFTER ALL. I’M JUST GLAD SHE’S BEING LOOKED AFTER…

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