Festive Greetings to one and all

A Happy Christmas, Merry Solstice or whatever to everyone who bothers to read this stuff,or happens to stumble on it in a forage through the blogosphere.

It's pretty wet and miserable in Argyll today and I wonder how the ancestors coped, kippering themselves with peatsmoke, maybe just a cow or a few pigs to keep them warm, or perhaps just the heat of a doctrinal discussion. As an old professor said, the Scots like philosophy because it's free and heats you up in a metaphysical sort of way. But then there's the cratur too, and that was free too, if you had a wee copper still hidden away.

Right now it's hard to believe that the above image is from around here, actually it's of Erraid taken more years ago than I'd like to work out.

And that reminds me, given that the papers are full of highfallutin books to read, there should be a recommendation for holiday reading, so scottishboating recommends RLS's Kidnapped and Catriona. If you haven't read them shame on you and if you have, well, read them again. The ship went down just outside this island.

The magical Isle of Gigha, nice memories for horrid winter days

My log for 1979 contains the following entries for the Glasgow Fair Weekend:-

"Self and PS

Saturday July 14 HW Oban 09.42 BST, pressure 1030, cloudy, rainy wind S force 2

Departed Ardfern 09.00 wind increased to SW 4/5 had quick beat down to Craighouse. Becalmed off Nine Foot Rock and had slow sail through Small Isles Bay. Got anchor down at 18.00.

Sunday 15 July, pressure 1035, bright, light W wind

Departed Craighouse 08.45 wind backed SW force 3 had pleasant reach across to Gigha, anchored in 11/2 fathoms in Ardminish Bay (white sandy bottom) at 12.20.

Monday 16 July HW Oban 11.21 BST North going stream in Sound of Gigha starts 02.44.

Departed Ardminish 05.20, visibility very bad, pouring rain. Wind SW 5/6. Tied in one reef as didn't know what seas would be like outside.

At McCormaig Isles wind moderated, day cleared, shook out reef. Had very fast reach and kept tide till past Crinan. On mooring Ardfern 13.20."

In a typical Fair Weekend (i.e. rain and wind) we had sailed about 80 sea miles, allowing for tacking, in just over 20 hours.

Peter sent me this post card to celebrate our trip, he does this sort of thing.

 

My memories of Gigha were of a fairy tale island blessed with exotic plants, incredible white sand and a tide that moved fast but didn't seem to go in or out. It was also an incredibly quiet place with the large old-fashioned hotel the only place to visit and no other facilities.

Since 1979 the island had suffered under various somewhat colourful owners before being taken into community ownership. By 2009 I was keen to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the trip, but the attempt ended when we were becalmed in thick fog and it became dangerous to go on. After an anxious hour or so the weather cleared enough for us to feel our way into Crinan.

Stroma and Peigi

 Just before midsummer 2010 we had better luck. Peter couldn't make the trip, but his son Ken (not born in 1979) came with me and our old friend Ken Campbell, who often sailed with us in the 1970s. The only lesson from the trip was that if you don't want everything done twice don't sail with two men of the same name.

The problem with this trip is that you have much less tide going South, as it turns progressively earlier the further you go, for example Gigha is three and a half hours ahead of Oban. Coming back North the opposite is true, so timing doesn't matter so much.

To avoid an unseemly early start we set off from Kilmelford on the Friday evening, June, and sailed round to  Toberonochy.

Kilchattan Bay is a favourite spot of mine, soaked in history. King Alexander II anchored his fleet there on the  night of 7 July 1249 on his way to meet with Ewen of Argyll, who controlled the inner isles at that time. Ewen had been pursuing a diplomatic balancing act between the Scottish and Norwegian crowns for some years  and had been trying to persuade Alexander that it was possible to owe allegiance to two masters. The King was not buying this and set off with his fleet.

Alexander's trip was not a great success, as he was stood up. Ewen of Argyll had gone to Stornoway, taking with him the ten year old prince of the Isle of Man, for the boy's protection and also no doubt as a bargaining counter. The following day Alexander died at Horsehoe Bay on Kerrera, leaving his kingdom to his own ten year old son, who became Alexander III. I have read a lot about this period and have never come across any suggestion of foul play, so it seems likely that Alexander II was already stricken with some deadly illness and made his trip in an attempt to obtain some control for his successors over this part of what he claimed as his realm. His son was crowned just a week or so later at Perth, which suggests that the Court had the arrangements already in hand. Of course the Western Isles weren't to come under the control of the Scottish kings for many years after that.

The walls of the old kirk at Kilchattan bear graffiti that may have been done by Alexander's marines during their visit. We can tell that the graffiti depicts Scottish ships as they have rudders. The graffiti doesn't photograph well, so here is an image from a tomb slab showing the typical shape of a Scottish vessel.

 

She has short ends and a centrally hung rudder, as opposed to the Viking ships, which had the long ends suited to open water passages, but required a steering oar, slung of course over the starboard side. This difference would have given the Scots an advantage in our narrow inshore passages subject to strong tides and the Vikings an advantage offshore.

Luing is full of haunting reminders of an industrious and sometimes turbulent past, when the islands were the centres of all sorts of activity. Visitors will find everything apart from shops, including prehistoric duns, an old water mill haunted by elves, who demand a hair as a tribute, curious religious messages carved by a madman whose hobby was making his own gravestones, and the scars left behind by the unremitting slog of the slate industry. They will also find a population of more hares (the other type) than humans, a special herd of cattle and a landscape like that of the Outer Hebrides.

We set off from Kilchattan Bay the following morning with about three hours of tide against us, to get the best use out of the South-going ebb later, carrying one reef in the main, destination Ardminish if the wind held and Craighouse if it didn't. We were lucky that a Westerly Force 3 to 4 held all day with bright sun. For hour after hour Stroma reached along, as always light on the helm, at maximum hull speed. Passing Skerryvore we decided to go for Gigha as we still had a few hours of tide with us. We were anchored in Ardminish by late afternoon, about seven and a half hours after setting off.

The following day there was a yachtsman's gale from the North, so we had a day to explore Gigha and for the older Ken to re-discover his childhood haunts from holidays in John McMillan's cottage more than fifty years ago.

The Isle of Gigha today, after several years of community ownership, has to be the finest example of what wonders can be achieved once the iron grip of the traditional Highland landowner is broken.

For a start the visitor moorings were all occupied, mainly by visiting Irish boats, for whom Gigha is an easy destination, but also at least one by a crew from across the Atlantic.

On shore there is a welcoming quayside restaurant, the hotel is jumping (well, not lierally, but we were by 3 am) and there are various craft and other attractions to be added to the famous Achamore gardens.

There is a lot of building activity, in an attractive style that respects our traditions, while maximising solar gain and modern materials. There is an element of uniformity that I found pleasing.

In summary, what was virtually an economic basket case has become a vibrant, self-sustaining community with a great sense of purpose. The Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust website can be viewed here:- www.gigha.org.uk

We left early on the Sunday morning with the wind still a strong Northerly and after a few hours of being flung around in the lumpy seas thrown up by wind against tide we decided not to go on and settled for a fast, bumpy reach across to Craighouse, where it was a relief to hook up to a visitor mooring.

We didn't see much of Craighouse, as we had an early start next day, but there seems to be a big contrast between Gigha and Jura, the latter not having moved on very much in thirty years and still belonging to a few rich owners.

The next morning we got away very early, in very little wind, with the younger Ken towing us out behind the trusty Peigi, which went with us everywhere this Summer. You won't see yachts being towed by their crews very much these days, but it was common a hundred years ago and is much more reliable than having an engine.

Outside the Small Isles we picked up a gentle Westerly, which came and went all day, part sailing, part drifting on the tide, until we just got past Crinan. As the tide started to turn against us we picked up a new wind from the North west, which gave us a fetch to Asknish Point and then a reach home.

We had covered about 90 sea miles in about 28 hours under sail, a slightly slower average speed than I managed in the same boat over thirty years earlier, but then we're both getting older.

Tramp Steamers

SS Harmodious by John Gardner

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,

  Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,

  With a cargo of Tyne coal,

  Road-rails, pig-lead,

  Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays. 

(John Masefield, 1902) 

The tramp steamers are mostly no longer around, at least in British waters, but in their day they encapsulated a type of romance of the sea that led countless youngsters to seek adventure, see the world (or maybe just a wee bit of it) and generally escape from the threatened drudgery of work in an office or factory. The reality was a life of extreme boredom seasoned with occasional terrifying incidents, and an ever-present risk of injury or death. Despite or maybe because of these conditions lifelong friendships were formed among the seamen and many developed loyalties to the company under whose flag they sailed, despite the eccentricities of penny-pinching managements.

An old friend, who did his time in the immediate post-War period, recalls going off duty with the ship steaming into the teeth of a Mediterranean gale and returning on deck eight hours later to find that she was now several miles behind where she had been when he went off.

And, trawling online in the course of my researches I found this quote from a Scottish old-timer,

“joined the Blairspey on Saturday 14th July 1956 as a catering boy at Northfleet Paper Mills, done three trips in her, to Seven Isles in Canada, loading pulp. Most of the deck cargo was washed overboard on the trip home. I can’t be quite sure but I think it was either the Queen Mary, or the Queen Elizabeth, passed us three times on the last outward trip that I made in her with a message, ‘Keep Going Blairspey You Will Make It’. That last trip the outward voyage was rough as the best she could do was two knots backwards…..”

I’m sorry he hid behind an online alias, as I would like to thank him for his contribution.

The late Nineteenth century and the first half of the Twentieth were amazingly profitable times for those adventurous enough to become involved in shipping, provided of course you stayed off the actual ships and confined your efforts to buying them, dealing in them or just managing them. The Blairspey was part of the Blair line founded by George Nisbet, with whom I share an affinity, as he was the first owner of Stroma and I am the ?th.

The story of the Nisbets is very typical of many of the period and illustrates the great social mobility that resulted from the rapid development of Glasgow as a major industrial centre. Around 1843 John Nisbet and his wife Patricia left Ireland and came to Glasgow, where he established himself as a baker in Bridgeton. His son James followed him in the trade and moved into Tradeston, then a mixed area of factories and housing, to a flat in Gloucester Street, where as it happens my ancestors also lived at the same time. James and his wife Ann had about eleven children, of whom George was one of the youngest, born in 1876.


Our next sign of George is in the 1901 Census, where we find that he is now a ship broker, aged 25, the owner of a substantial house in Maxwell Road, Pollokshields, living there with his now widowed mother, four brothers and sisters and some domestic servants.

In 1905 George Nisbet and John Calder went into partnership and bought a second hand tramp steamer, the Greatham, joined in 1907 by the Etona and in 1909 by the Benedick. At the end of April 1913 the partnership dissolved and George continued on his own, operating as an owner and broker under the names Clydesdale Navigation Company Limited and George Nisbet & Co Limited, by which time the ships were being given "Blair" names.

George Nisbet was a fairly active buyer and seller of ships during the First World War, a period when losses were extreme and prices escalated, luckily managing to sell most of his ships before they were torpedoed. At the end of the war he owned only one ship, the first Blairmore, which he sold in 1919. He then took a few years out before going on a massive buying spree from 1922 with Blairadam, Blairbeg, Blairlogie, Blairholm and Blaircree, then commissioning his first new-build, the ill-fated Blairgowrie, followed by many others and an occasional second-hand purchase. 

The loss of the Blairgowrie in February 1935 must have been a shattering blow to the reputation of the company, who were extremely lucky to have the Board of Trade find that "no wrongful act or default" was shown. The report is available online and I warn readers that it is one of the saddest and most distressing things I have read in a long while,

Report of the Board of Trade Inquiry 

By the start of the Second World War the fleet comprised nine ships, which went into war service and to which the government added another eight for the company to manage, eleven of the total being lost. George Nisbet himself died during the war and  the company was run thereafter by Douglas R Nisbet, who eventually sold the fleet and wound up the companies in 1961.

"The best bilge pump of all is a bucket in the hands of a frightened man".

Butch Dalrymple-Smith at the helm

A Guest Post from Theo Rye

I must have quoted this a hundred times; it's a great example of a near perfect aphorism for sailors. It contains enough truth and humour to bear repeating to the novice as well as the experienced, and at worst you'll get a wry smile.

If you Google it, you'll get a lot of similar quotes, usually prefixed by something along the lines of "Someone once said..." and "It's an old sailing tradition that...". I must admit I'd always assumed it was a traditional saying, dating back into the distant past; Nelson had surely heard it as a midshipman. It really should be as old as sailing itself, shouldn't it? Or, at least, as old as bilge pumps and buckets.

Re-reading Adlard Coles' "Heavy Weather Sailing" the other day though, I came across the expression in print. For those of you who don't know Coles' treatise, it is dedicated to a series of studies of yachts in heavy weather, their tactics, the metrology and outcomes. His style is as serious as the subject; it's not totally without humour, but it is decidedly not frivolous. It's rather like reading an Admiralty pilot; it makes you wonder why you ever go sailing at all. The chapter headings give you a good clue; "Pooped for the First Time", "Twice Rolled Over", "Survival Storms"; it's not a light read. The photos are black and white and often rather out of focus, (and these days can easily be eclipsed by two minutes searching You-Tube), but are still fascinating (and occasionally horrifying.)

In the chapter "Heavy Weather Conclusions", Coles discusses tactics in the Southern Ocean, and relates the story of the capsize of Sayula II in the Roaring Forties in November 1973 during the Whitbread Race. One of the crew, Butch Dalrymple-Smith, wrote an article for Yachts & Yachting and Adlard Coles subsequently made contact and got more information from him. In the conclusion to the article, Butch says "the best bilge pump of all is a bucket in the hands of a frightened man". Coles does not appear to be a writer who would bother to repeat a truism, and in quoting this he seems to be passing the comment on in all seriousness.

Sayula II

Butch happens to be a friend of mine and, intrigued by the story, I gave him a call. To the best of his recollection, he was relating the incident to Bob Fisher in Sydney after the leg, and in the course of the interview just came out with the unforgettable phrase. Again, as far as he can recall, he wasn't repeating anything he'd heard previously, but he does allow that it was a long time ago and it is possible that (perhaps subconsciously) he was. It certainly wasn't a well known phrase to him or Bob Fisher, and nor (it seems) Adlard Coles. (Sayula II, you may be interested to know, was a standard Swan 65, and went on to win the race despite her capsize. Butch recently wrote two amusing articles about it all for the Volvo website, accessible here:-  www.volvooceanrace.com

So, there is the question; did Butch Dalrymple-Smith coin this immortal phrase? It wouldn't surprise anyone who knows him if he did, but if you know of an earlier use or reference, I'd be very interested to hear.

Hurricane Bawbag and the Daftie Seagulls

 

Compared with last Spring's storm this one wasn't so appealing visually, but round our way it scored wind strengths of 102 mph in the gusts. There were few boats afloat and they all survived, including the schooner Hippo, to the left in the image above.

At the height of the storm in the early afternoon of 8 December I shot some footage and didn't notice the antics of the seagulls until editing this later.

Unique Boardroom Table by David Ryder-Turner

I am selling my boardroom table designed by well-known yacht designer the late David Ryder-Turner of Helensburgh and built by the professional cabinetmaker Jane Wright of Kilcreggan.

The table is a unique work of art, built to the highest standard of craftsmanship. It was made as a special commission from me and as an entry in a woodworking competition, which it duly won. It is oval in shape and measures 92.5 inches by 45 inches.

The top was made from a single log of Huon pine that David had brought back from Tasmania, to which a mahogany inlay was applied. The base was laminated from mahogany and sycamore.

The table is now surplus to requirements and is offered for sale at £2,000 (no VAT), but I will be happy to negotiate if it goes to one of David's friends. It can be seen in central Glasgow, from where the buyer would collect it.

If you are interested please contact me on ewangkennedy@gmail.com

Another Westra and a little more local history

Gisela Scharbaum recently sent me this image of another Westra, from the Royal Northern & Clyde collection, and asked if I could help to identify her. A quick trawl through the internet showed that she was the second of two raters of that name drawn and built by the genius of skimming-dish design, Charles Sibbick of Cowes.

The Charles Sibbick Interest Association have kindly allowed me to share the following notes, which they sent following my request for information:-

"First of all there is no known official registry of Sibbick Boat Plans/Drawings and not even a list of the building numbers of his boats.

However, we have managed to trace  the names of nearly 300 of his boats with type and building year. We have spent some years on this. We know for a fact that he built over 300 boats until his death in 1912. There are also some enthusiasts, not so many, but are really into Charles Sibbick. We are all sitting with variable information from different sources. There are probably some boat plans in private ownership here and there. We have a lot but unfortunately none of Westra which was originally a 5 Rater measured over to 36ft Linear Rater in 1897. At the time her rig was altered from a Sloop to a Cutter and Jib and Bowsprit were fitted to her. The reason for the change was probably for Westra to fit in with the First Linear Rater. She was, as most of Sibbicks boats, extremely fast and was mentioned in several articles in the New York Times in 1896 and 1897.

In 1902 she was in the Yacht Register listed as a Lugger, with sails from Ratsey & Lapthorne (1897). Her Length was 36 ft (Linear Rater 36.03). A Beam of 9.8 and the Owner in 1902 was Sir R.H.Williams-Bulkeley, Port, Beaumaris.

N.B. There was also another Sibbick Rater called "Westra" but that was originally a one Rater, later converted to a 24ft Linear Rater.

What has happened to Westra, we are not sure about but when the International Rule came in 1906/1907 several Sibbick boats were measured over to fit the new formula for example 8mR.

We know for a fact that Sibbick was still registered as a Naval Architect with the address on Albert Yard , Cowes in 1905 and he continued building and repairing yachts, although not in such a large scale, but he had from time to time financial problems and the International Linear Rating Rule obviously caused him major problems, even if the new rule was not especially popular in the UK at the beginning. It was mostly in Scandinavia where those boats became extremely popular at once.

Sibbick had a lot of influence and was building a huge amount of boats, one designs and restricted classes for Europe and the United States and many other parts of the world. He was still active until his tragic death in 1912. (comment from me - It seems that Charles Sibbick eventually became depressed and drowned himself)

We can also tell you that J C Connell of Glasgow put his boat Westra, who was champion of the season, up for sale in 1897. Westra finished the season with the biggest record of a class and an explanation from Mr Connell was awaited as to why he was selling his boat!"

John C Connell was a member of the famous family of Glasgow shipbuilders of that name. When he owned Westra he was in his early twenties, so she was rather a nice plaything for him. That she had no accomodation would not have troubled him unduly, as the records show that in 1895 the family firm built two steam yachts for their own use, SS Moneira and SS Athene. I haven't found details of the Athene, but the Moneira was eightyfive feet long, of 57 gross tons and her build cost was £2,150, information courtesy of http://www.clydebuiltships.co.uk

Charles Connell & Company was founded by John's father in 1861, when he resigned from his post as head foreman shipwright and latterly yard manager at Alexander Stephen & Sons of Linthouse. The Stephen company history records:- It is amusing to find that although Alexander Stephen, commenting on Connell's resignation, writes: "I do not think he will succeed," a pencilled note on the opposite page, inserted many years later, states that "Connell died in 1898 leaving over £300,000."
 
Actually Connell died on 14th February 1884 at his home in Broomhill Avenue in Partick, leaving an estate in excess of £250,000 and a well-founded shipbuilding concern. His eldest son, Charles B. Connell, succeeded his father and ran the yard with various brothers and half-brothers.

The family were close and built themselves a twenty two-roomed villa, Caol Ruadh, at Colintraive near to the Kyles of Bute Narrows, absolutely in the centre of Clyde yachting. Here is their 1901Census entry:-

You can see that brothers William, John and Arthur are described as shipbuilders, while younger brother Allan is "living on own means" and they have a butler, a valet, a cook and three domestic servants. The family gamekeeper Alexander Gillies lives next door in a one room cottage.

The 1911 Census shows John C Connell aged 42 and his brother William C S Connell aged 47 both living at Carston House, Ayr with their (half?) brother Alfred H Connell, aged 30, Alfred’s Irish wife, a valet, a groom, a cook, two housemaids and a French maid. Alfred was at the time an officer in the Royal Scots Fusiliers. John and William are both shipbuilders and employers. Later on Alfred became a ship owner and broker in Liverpool. He seems mainly to have owned small tramp steamers.

Carston House, Ayr

The development of Scotland’s heavy coal and steel industries and the ship-building industry that followed created astonishing opportunities for people with skills and initiative. It also created conditions of enormous inequality between the workers and the bosses. Tens of thousands of workers lived in crowded tenement flats within walking distance of the yards, where they toiled in the open for slave wages, regardless of weather. From my own childhood in the west end I remember the distant noise of battering as millions of rivets were banged home, throughout the daylight hours. The contrast beween these conditions and the lifestyle of the Connells could not be more stark.

There is a good website with information on the old Clyde yards here:- http://www.clydemaritime.co.uk It reports that:-

The last ship built at the Scotstoun Yard under Connell family management was the 12,011 tons cargo liner BENSTAC for the Ben Line of Leith, which was launched on 20th of November 1967 and completed in the spring of 1968. The Connell family, however, remained in business as Ship-Owners and Ship-Managers.

The Connells were regarded as one of the superior shipbuilding families of the many Clyde based shipbuilders, introducing many new techniques and investing their private wealth back into the business. More than most, Connell saw the benefits of maximising on standard production and prefabrication techniques, and were leaders in pioneering these new methods.

The fast cargo-liners produced by Connell for the Ben Line of Leith were regarded as amongst the finest examples of this Yard’s superiority in designing the best ships to fly the Red Duster of the British Merchant Navy, setting standards of excellence in naval architecture that were emulated throughout the international maritime world.

The 1934 Royal Northern Yacht Club handbook lists three Connells, Charles, a member since 1924 and probably son of Charles B., Arthur, now living at Douglaston, Milngavie, a member since 1895 and John, now living at Craigallian, Milngavie, a member since 1891. Arthur and John are joint owners of Westra, a 1934 12 metre yacht K4 designed by Charles Nicholson.

Arthur died at Dougalston in May 1949 aged 77, having been Connell’s chairman since 1937. He had been a member of the Thistle syndicate 6 metre yacht for the  Seawanhaka Cup but she wasn’t ready in time and didn’t compete. He had owned or part owned six twelve metre yachts.

If we add in Herbert Thom's famous Westra, about which you can read elsewhere on this blog and on http://www.scottishislandsclass.blogspot.com we've now traced four Westras, none of which still exists, the Twelve and the Islander having been destroyed during the War.

Coney Island Life-guard

Paul Kennedy has just started on a series of work inspired by his visit to the States earlier this year. We don't really have chaps like this on the shores around here, he would need a big woolly jumper and a Sou'wester, but it's nice to dream of warmer places.

Paul tells me the lifeguard is off to London to one of the galleries, but there will doubtless be more like him to follow. Although this is a slightly new, more international direction for him the work reflects some of the concepts and colours he has been working through in recent work. I've added a few examples below and more can be seen on http://www.paulkennedyart.com

 

Some Thoughts on Model Boats

8 metre yacht Fulmar, photo Gisela Scharbaum

The models made by Gisela and Helmut Scharbaum are virtually perfect reproductions of the originals, evidence of a search for authenticity which eventually led them to build the 1:1 model of Tringa featured in my last post.

But their models are more than this. Apart from representing the prototype in all respects these incredible creations are also meant to sail. It seems to me that this inevitably leads the Scharbaums into areas of technical difficulty which lesser mortals would do well to avoid.

Firstly there are problems of scale. At anything smaller than full size the exact scale model will inevitably lack sufficient displacement to carry her full canvas. In other words what is a nice Force Three breeze to the full sized ship becomes a terrifying Force Six or Seven for her quarter or sixth scale model sister. It seems a pity to have to limit one's sailing of the model to days of gentle winds (are there any anymore?) or to have to devise a way of reefing down.

Secondly there are problems associated with keeping water out of the lovely open cockpits of these models and keeping the radio control equipment, batteries and servos dry.

For these reasons most conventional model-builders go down one of two distinct routes, building either full or half models for display or working models for sailing. However one also shouldn't lose sight of the original purpose for which ship models were built, to assist with the design process.

The earliest builders of full-sized vessels would start by carving a model out of solid. Once a shape acceptable to builder and client had been produced it would be sawn apart crosswise to produce sections, which would then be scaled up to produce the shape of the building moulds. Even in the computer age models still feature large in the design process, as the dynamics and variables involved when a hull passes through water at various angles of heel are far too complex for predictive modelling. Tank testing was first developed by the English mathematical genius William Froude, who persuaded the Admiralty to build the first one in 1871. Dennys of Dumbarton were impressed and built the first commercial tank in the world on the Clyde in 1883. Today tank testing is in use world-wide and the makers of the finest models in the United Kingdom are probably R F H Pierce & Associates of the Lake District. There is a fascinating insight into their thought processes and working methods here:-
www.jewelofmuscat.tv

Richard Pierce and his son James have occasionally built full-size yachts and sailing dinghies to order. After Richard completed the replica Scottish Islander Shona his client requested a display model for his house and James produced a first, "practice" one and a second, final version. Here is a photograph of the first one, which I took on a visit to Windermere before she was rigged.

Scotland's leading builder of static display models is undoubtedly David Spy, whose efforts are displayed world-wide. Here is his eight metre Anitra:-

David's website can be accessed here:- http://yachtmodels.co.uk/

Alongside these renowned experts I hesitate to portray my own efforts, which have been graced with enthusiasm rather than skill. I recently completed a six metre for radio control and it's been interesting to find that she actually floats. She's a John Lewis "Tern" design if anyone is interested.

The Wee Giff only took about thirteen years to build, off and on, and was completed with fittings from the English guru Graham Bantock, whose website can be found here:- http://www.sailsetc.com/

 

 

 

 

Tringa lives again - in more ways than one

I was totally astonished to receive the guest post which follows, with a digital album of photos. Blogging is a strange, solitary activity, which has to be seen as its own reward, especially one like this which makes no pretensions to be a money-spinner. Sometimes a bonus turns up, an unexpected gem of information or a story from another corner of the World from a kindred spirit.

I leave it to Gisela and Helmut Scharbaum to describe their obsession in their own words.

"Our interest in model making started sometime in the 1990s. I have always been interested in sailing and when we both saw a model of a wooden sailing ship during an exhibition of model makers, we decided to buy a model kit for Christmas. It was a modern plastic yacht, but since then we have been infected and many radio controlled models followed. We developed our interest in the classic wooden ones, which were not available as a kit. So we started to construct them completely according to the drawings, made everything for ourselves and thus we became more and more experienced.

One day in 1999 we saw the film "enchanted by the dragon" on TV,  a film made by Tom Nitsch, a German film maker with special interest in Fife and his yachts. He knows a lot of the history, the yard and the owners. Secondly the book about Fife, written by Franco Pace, an Italian photographer, confirmed  our wish to build a model of a Fife yacht.

We chose Fulmar, an 8mR and soon we found out that research was difficult and the drawings were hard to get. In the end we managed it with the help of the owner and since then things became much easier. Travelling around in Scotland and South England and the Mediterranean followed, and especially with the help of the RNCYC, especially Ian Broadley and May Kohn and all the other people in Scotland we learned so much about the Fife´s , found so many pictures and drawings which allowed us to build these models as close to the original as possible.

The first time we saw Tringa was in the book Fast and Bonnie, it is the  picture which shows her standing on an iron slip trailer at Robertsons Sandbank. It was the design of the hull which is so remarkable, that we fell in love somehow. After finishing the model and having seen her sailing in 1:4, we made another step further and decided to try 1:1.

 

5000 hours later Tringa is sailing at the Baltic. There was a lot of learning by doing and one of the most dificult problems was to get the fittings. In the end we visited Classic Marine in Woodbridge and Ording Blokken in the Netherlands to order the fittings for the deck and the mast. For the rest, for example the roller fairleads we made wood patterns and let them cast in Britain at Haworth Castings. Research, trying to find out what Tringa looked like is one of our most favourite jobs.

The Schlei area is nowadays an area for leisure activities like sailing. But it still exudes its own special charm. Our problem is Tringa´s draft which is about 6 feet, and the shallow waters of the Schlei are tricky. For example our first trial was stopped by a sandbank, but we managed to get  free again.

This year we left the Schlei for two weeks and crossed the Baltic towards Sonderborg and Aero. Tringa is seaworthy, she always lets you feel well and safe, she also forgives mistakes and is easy on the helm even in rough weather. She is always in a hurry, we logged 8 knots in fresh wind with a reef in the mainsail!

Sailing around with Tringa is like walking on a catwalk. Everyone is watching, asking, and taking photographs. We are faster than the Nordic Folkboats, which are especially designed for the Baltic. Addictive .

But the modern sail cloth induces a lot of power to the rig, therefore it was useful to add two more frames to fix the plates for the shrouds securely. This strengthens the forward hull and leads the force directly to the metal floors and keelbolts. Former designs were too weak at this point.

 

The runners are quite important for the same reason. We also have to get used to all the sheets and halyards, but after having made some experiments this summer, everything works better and better. "

Specifications:
Overall length: 24 ft
Length on waterline 19 ft
beam: 7,5 ft
draft : 6 ft
displacement 3 tons
ballast 2 tons  lead
sail area 45 qm (500 square feet)
main 37 qm
foresail 8 qm

frames 5x3 cm
planking 2cm cedar, and larch beyond the waterline, glued with Aerodux and covered with glass fibre (800g Biax)
deck plywood 8mm and 6mm teak/mahogany , the spars are of spruce
bow sprit is of Oregon pine

There's a short film about this talented pair that can be viewed online here:-

www.sailing-films.com

And there's a great deal more information about the old 19/24s here:-

www.clyde19-24.org.uk

The Shieldhall was a Sludgeboat and she sailed upon the Clyde

A month or so ago the Brother and I made a trip to the deep South. There was a boat show on at the time, but we had no interest in visiting that. After all we had no interest whatever in acquiring one of these,

or these,

and we couldn't afford one of these

On the contrary we were down to visit our old Aunty, who had just become a hundred. Being at a loose end after the festivities we went for a wander into town and soon came upon a sight familiar to us in childhood, the old SS Shieldhall.

Glasgow Corporation had two of these ships taking sewage sludge from the population, then of a million or so, down the river. All of our major cities commissioned similar vessels, which operated until such an activity ceased to be permissible. There were two of these ships in Glasgow, the Shieldhall and the Dalmarnock, daily enduring signals from passing ships along the lines of "Where are you bound? What is your cargo?" in the days before the city ceased to be a great port.

The trips were a great boon for the pensioners of the city, who could get a free trip, a cup of tea and dancing to live music. Many a geriatric romance must have started on board, especially for those without a sense of smell.

Shieldhall now tries to earn her living as an excursion boat on the Solent, but in the present recession she is suffering somewhat. Earlier this year I heard of her plight and resolved to do something for her, not sending money of course but providing her with a nice song, the royalties from which could perhaps secure her future.

From this project I have learned about the difficulties faced by the budding songwriter/singer/impressario. You don't just write the thing and sit back to await fame. Writing it was the easiest part, certainly a lot easier than persuading my musical wife to provide a tune. A group of local women were in the habit of singing in a cowshed on Thursday evenings, but by the time I approached them they had disbanded. Months went by without the song being heard, delaying the anticipated revenue stream endlessly.

The world premiere eventually took place at that centre of the universe, Toberonochy. The song was duly preformed by a male voice choir, Charlie, Ken, Bill, John and self, before an invited audience to ecstatic applause. Sadly the event wasn't recorded as Richard, who was supposed to be there with a camera, had fallen asleep. In case someone else in the blogosphere has more luck, I reproduce the music and the lyric below. You can read more about the Shieldhall here:- www.ss-shieldhall.co.uk

The Song of the Shieldhall

The Shieldhall was a sludgeboat and she sailed upon the Clyde

Two hundred sixtyeight feet long and fortythree feet wide

To Ailsa Craig she'd go, in sunshine and in snow

dropping off her cargo in the deep brown tide

Chorus:      To Ailsa Craig she'd go, in sunshine and in snow

dropping off her cargo in the tide, deep brown tide

The Shieldhall was the finest ship that I have ever seen

Her captain wore a jacket of Corporation green

Her hull was painted grey, she chugged along all day

While the sailors scrubbed the decks and kept them clean, kept them clean

Chorus:      Her hull was painted grey, she chugged along all day

While the sailors scrubbed the decks and kept them clean, kept them clean

Now some ships sail to India and some sail to Tiree

Some sailors meet with sharks and whales and some just see the sea

Those sights are pretty rare, but the best thing I declare

On the Shieldhall you were always home for tea, home for tea

Chorus:      Those sights are pretty rare, but the best thing I declare

On the Shieldhall you were always home for tea, home for tea

From Whiteinch and from Partick and from Yoker to this boat

All had in mind a purpose, to get themselves afloat

And if they did incline, to drink a little wine

Making sure they had a bottle in their coat, in their coat

Chorus:      And if they did incline, to drink a little wine

Making sure they had a bottle in their coat, in their coat

For many years the Shieldhall did sail upon the sea

delighting all, who got a cup of tea

but the finest thing to tell, never mind the rain and smell

for pensioners the trip's completely free, all for free

Chorus:      but the finest thing to tell, never mind the rain and smell

for pensioners the trip's completely free, all for free

If you're daft enough to have read this far you may have noticed the subtle difference between the original version of verse one, given under the tune, and the revised one. The ship was of course launched in 1954, not 1953.

John Gardner's Quincy Skiff

The late John Gardner of Mystic Seaport was apparently unable to pursue a teaching career on graduating from Columbia because of his political views, but formal education's loss was a great boon to the wooden boat community. Very few people combine practical ability with good writing skills, but his books on building classic small boats are so clear and inspirational that each chapter seems to cry out "please build me".

So I found myself while building the Swampscott dory in Volume one devouring the other chapters and wondering which would shout the loudest. In the event the modified Quincy skiff won out and became my next project. At the start of the chapter on her the Guru writes that she

“should row well, but build easily and cheaply. This is not a racing shell, obviously, nor is it intended for the open sea. This simple skiff should do well on lakes, large rivers, and sheltered waters along the coast.”

There were aspects of the construction that seemed particularly intriguing. She has an almost flat bottom formed from four softwood planks spliced together, two per side, to form chine logs that will be cross-planked over later.

Once cut to shape, the logs are set upside down on horses positioned at a convenient height, then suitably bevelled, and the transom and stem are added. Next the enormous plywood sides, over eighteen feet long and each needing two scarfs, are tortured into shape.

The book didn't actually say how difficult it would be to do that last bit, nor did it point out that a dry fit usually goes rather better than the real thing. I did this build single-handed and could have done with a helper to control the plywood sides, sticky and slimy with glue, as they slithered around on the temporary building moulds. Bringing the sides together was a real struggle, as I had decided to add both at once, in order to balance out the inevitable stresses on the jig. For a while this caused me a real panic, until I decided to screw battens to the plywood sides to get a proper grip on them. The battens could then be subjected to a lot of force with Spanish windlasses.

Fortunately I wasn't using a fast-hardening glue, and I eventually managed to close the gaping spaces at the bow at the expense of a lot of cursing and badly blistered and glued hands. After this planking the bottom and adding the seats was pretty simple.

The result was a stylish and very unusual rowing boat. The only problem was that we don't live on a lake or large river, nor is our coast all that sheltered. Perhaps I had skipped over that first paragraph in my eagerness to get building. With her flat bottom and long slab sides this skiff is no boat for a cross wind of any strength, or a seaway. In a calm she's a delight to row and my wife still recalls the trip we had one very crisp and sunny New Year's day, travelling effortlessly over four miles down our loch and back.

Because calm days don't happen often in our part of the world the skiff passed fairly soon into the hands of friends who did live beside a sheltered loch, whose sons got great use out of her. They are now grown men and the family have moved on, but the skiff is still on the lochside, more than twenty years later and reasonably serviceable, although some of her bottom cross-planks have been replaced from time to time.

Update on 2 November 2011

Dave Gentry has kindly allowed me to share some photos he took of this Quincy skiff doing good service in the catering trade. He has a fascinating collection of designs on his own website, here:- http://www.GentryCustomBoats.com