WITCH
Above l-r: the
new teak fore
hatch, to the
original design;
Witch following
the change to
bermudan rig in
1938; the last
photograph,
taken the day
before the fire,
showing the
splined starboard
topsides.
Below: Witch as
Martin bought
her in 2006 with
1970s mahogany
coachroofwork was done by Petticrows of Burnham-on-Crouch
and included a new taller slender mast, the bowsprit was
cut off at the stem and the sail plan reduced to a single
headsail with sails by Sadler. I found a 1937 coin in the
mast step for good luck. She sailed as a sloop with a
small bumpkin at the stern and even did some races such
as Burnham Week, she was allocated sail number 122 by
RORC. I have a number of photographs from this time
kindly sent to my by the Burroughs family.
Again more owners followed and in 1964 she
was bought by Richard Mordaunt, a film director
who later moved to Australia and may still be
making films to this day.
In 1971 Witch was saved from being cut up by
Colin and Carey Marsh. Colin did a huge amount of
work including adding a stylish mahogany coachroof
and a new Volvo engine.
With her bright-green topsides she was a familiar
sight moored on the piles in Yarmouth Harbour on the
Isle of Wight for the next 35 years. To be honest I don’t
think she sailed far, rather serving as a party boat for
generations of the Marsh family and their friends.
RESTORATION
I bought Witch in August 2006 more or less on a whim.
We had a Fairline Targa 33, one of those white plastic
fast speedboat type things, but we were using it less and
the price of diesel was about to go through the roof, so
we sold that and I was looking for a project to keep me
busy. Witch was advertised in CB, the name resonated
with me so I bought her. I very quickly realised I had no
idea how she was made or how to fix her, which
eventually led to my becoming a boatbuilder.
Witch was moved to Birdham Pool and I set about
stripping the interior, keeping anything original and
stabilising the topsides. When I got as far as I could in
the water she was moved to Emsworth Yacht Harbour,
partly because the deep draft restricted where she
could be craned out. I continued to strip the inside,
removing the iron floors and re-galvanising them, they
were replaced with nylon ‘top hat’ washers between
the iron and the bronze bolts. Lots of scraping old
paint and repainting with new followed. I knew
from the survey what needed to be done, and although
there were more broken frames than I thought
there were no real surprises.
I decided early on to go back to as close to the
original design as possible. The 1970s coach roof was
fine, well made and looked good, but had to go. So
that came off and new oak deck beams went in to the
original layout. The broken frames on the starboard
side were replaced with new laminated oak ones, in
fact more damage was done by the old iron plate
repairs and bolts than by the damage. At the same time
that the 1970s coachroof was added the original deck
was covered in glassfibre, this is undoubtedly the
reason she survived so well.
Witch was untouched outside in Emsworth covered in
tarpaulins for almost two years while I was at the Boat
Building Academy in Lyme Regis but in May 2012 she
was moved to Cowes where I was now living and found
a new home in Moreton Marine’s workshop. I had a
new cradle made so she was safe to work on and pressed
on, working on Witch between paid jobs. A lot of this
was cleaning, fixing-up and painting. Much of the
planking had twisted as it dried, looking more like a‘
I decided early
on to go back to
as close to the
original design
as possible. The
1970s coach roof
was fine, well
made and looked
good, but had
to go’