ferry – intheboatshed.net

Hay’s Boatyard and the Mousa ferry, Lerwick

Our pals Tina and Vic Smith visited Shetland earlier in the year and took these photos.

Here’s what Vic says about them:

‘The excellent, very impessive new Shetland Museum has been built on the waterfront of Hay’s Dock in Lerwick, and includes Hay’s Boatyard, an old boat shed on the same site

‘The present boat shed was built around 1900 to replace an earlier shed built in 1844, though there has been boat building on this spot since at least the 18th century.

‘The shed was restored in 2015 and fulfils the same role today as when it was a commercial going concern: repairing, renovating and building craft to traditional Shetland designs including the famed sixareens. An entry from the museum building next door leads to a gallery where visitors can see the work in progress.

‘When we visited, one of the current projects was the Loki, which was originally built in the Boat Shed in 1904 under her original name of Maggie Helen. More than a century later she had returned for restoration. This is a long term project.

‘The small island of Mousa is the location of the oldest surviving ‘broch’ – an Iron Age roundhouse in Scotland (and therefore the world). Visitors to the island use a small ferry to get there.

‘In the ferry terminal on the mainland side is the Robina, a rowing boat that ferried visitors across in times gone by.’

Developers threaten Appledore’s grade II* listed dry dock of 1856

Lundy ferry Oldenburg in dry dock at Appledore in 1993

The dry dock as it is today

The good folks of Appledore in North Devon have got in touch to alert intheboatshed.net readers about another cause that’s well worth protecting – the fishing village’s grade II* listed dry dock completed in 1856.

In terms of importance, that grade II* listing puts it on a par with Jacobean mansions and medieval manor houses.

It seems Faversham’s Standard Quay (see the top left) is certainly not the only important maritime site at risk in this country.

The Appledore dock was built for an extraordinary-sounding business first established during the Napoleonic era by local businessman James Yeo. After Napoleon Bonaparte blocked supplies of shipbuilding timber from the Baltic, Yeo had the idea of part-building ships in Canada. They were completed to a seaworthy stage, packed with a cargo of timber, and towed across the Atlantic to Appledore for completion.

It sounds strange now, but it was obviously successful as it continued long after the Napoleons rule in Europe was over.

An organisation known as Celebrating Appledore’s Shipping Heritage (CASH) was set up in 2003 to fight inappropriate housing development on the historic site, which is known as Richmond Dock.

The situation now is that a local developer has appealed the latest refusal of planning ppermission and there is to be a public inquiry. The timescale for submitting alternative plans is mid-May so the clock is ticking is ticking for CASH, which is putting together a fully-costed business plan to place a maritime heritage centre on the site of the dry dock.

This would include the reinstating the dock for boat maintenance and repair and providing boat storage on-site, but also a museum, educational and gallery facilities, rentable office and workshop units, a retail area and a cafe.

As part of its campaign, CASH is seeking expressions of interest from prospective users of the site who may wish to use the dry dock, visit the centre, or work with the trust perhaps by providing help and advice on how to set up a successful heritage centre – and, of course, sources of funds.

Photographer Matthew Atkin in Thailand

Matt Atkin’s photos from Thailand

I never cease to be amazed by my brother Matthew Atkin’s beautiful photos of boats in the Far East.

It seems amazing and wonderful that Western and Eastern water craft should still be so different in a globalised and homogenous era, and also given that the physics of water, the technology available for powering craft, and many of the materials available for boatbuilding are often the same or at least similar.

These latest photos from Thailand make the point. Check out the stylish young men, the older couple fishing, the elegant small canoes, the curvaceous pleasure boats and, perhaps most remarkable of all, the ferry with its astonishing truck motor balanced on what looks like a precarious pole and with a vicious-looking straight prop arrangement. I’ve seen photos of smaller craft set up like this, but this is much bigger than anything I’ve come across up to now.

Thanks bruv!

See more of Matt’s photos from Hong Kong and Vietnam.

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