Bros studios; gimballed deck on a against blue screens at Warner Clockwise from left: filming
model of Cillian Murphy; Ron Howard directs below decks; a mast The Phoenix; actor
section; Chris Hemsworth (centre)48 CLASSIC BOAT FEBRUARY 2016 CLASSIC BOAT FEBRUARY 201649We go behind the scenes at the filming of the new Warner Bros
movie In the Heart of the Sea W
e all know people, today at least, know that Herman Melville’s classic novel was Moby Dick, but not so many
rammed by a massive sperm whale in the Pacific in 1820, The demise of the New England whaling ship based on a real incident. Essex,
and the subsequent grisly fate of its crew, was well known in the years following the sinking.Now the story is about to become so again, with the
UK release last week of a major Warner Bros film directed by Ron Howard. In the Heart of the Sea is based on the gripping book
by Nathaniel Philbrick of the same name, published in 2000, and the screenplay brings in Melville himself as a new facet to the story.
boats and survived for months, sailing and drifting for hundreds of miles around the Pacific, until they began to After the whale attack, Essex’s crew took to open
die from hunger or dehydration. A handful survived by eating their dead colleagues and were eventually rescued. Boatbuilder Jason Virok, of Exeter, Devon, was
marine co-ordinator on the film, which was shot atON SET WITH
MOBY DICK
Warner Bros’ studios at Leavesden in northwest London, as well as on location in the Canary Islands. A former boatyard owner in San Francisco, Virok rigged
the real and mock Tall Ships, taught lead actor Chris Hemsworth to sail and doubled for him in key scenes, during which he wore a muscle-suit to match
Hemsworth’s impressive physique.built in 1929, was used as the three-masted Charleston-based, two-masted Tall Ship The PhoenixEssex for the ,
on-location filming out of the Canaries, but work started long before that, by recreating sections of rig and planting them into a field at Leavesden. This The Phoenix’s
allowed filming to take place in the loftier parts of the topmasts, while only a few feet above the ground. Virok worked for years as professional crew on square-riggers
and is a stickler for authenticity.worked in the rig, even how we laid out the belaying “Every lashing, every knot, the buntlines, how people
pins, is how you’d find it on a ship of that period. The guys in the rig were professional Tall Ship crew. We were screaming for authenticity all the time and I think that
really makes a difference in the film.”enders, based on 1820s Nantucket whalers, created for Warner Bros by Square Sail, which owns The open boats in the film were clinker-built double-The Phoenix.
Virok says: “They had spritsail rigs. We had a sail which had a grommet at the peak. We used one of the oars upside down and shoved it through the grommet with a
hitch on the mast. That’s how they sailed the boats and that’s how we did it in the film.”The open boats took some knocks in filming and at
times new rudders were being built daily. Virok and Callahan handled the main sailing scenes in the open boats, including one particularly tricky scene with an
underwater cameraman filming from below as they circled within a small area, miles out at sea.Warner Bros also brought in shipwreck survivor Steve
Callahan, whose book of his survival in a drifting liferaft. Callahan advised the actors on his own deteriorating mental and physical Adrift, 76 Days Lost at Sea told
condition during his ordeal. The actors endured a lean diet, overseen by a nutritionist, to ensure they appeared suitably gaunt in the film’s final stages.
In the Heart of the Sea was released on 26 December.In the Heart of the Seareissued this is
month by HarperCollins, priced £8.99MICHAEL KRUGERALISON LANGLEY95LETTERS
CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016Send your letters (and also any replies, please) to:
Classic Boat, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place,
London SW3 3TQ
email: [email protected]Modern whaler design
Atlantic bailing
I was interested to read the article in your February issue
on the new film In the Heart of the Sea. I was contacted by
the film’s art director with the design brief for the whaling
boats used on screen. The boat they were going to use as
Essex (the whaling ship) was a bit shorter than the original,
which meant that using ‘proper’ length whaling boats was
going to look ridiculous. But they did not want stubby
looking boats either. I was commissioned to design whaling
boats based on the original 30ft New Bedford type,
brought down to just 24ft long, which looked the part, but
which could still take a reasonable number of crew and be
big enough to do the job without being swamped. The
drawings and details were sent to Square Sail, who then
made the wood versions in double quick time. I drew up
further details of similar boats but with a different length,
to be made in GRP, for other camera shots.
Plans for a similar clinker ply whaling boat are now
available in the Selway Fisher Design catalogue.
Paul Fisher
selway-fisher.comThe Atlantic class (issue CB330) was
created by a combination of good design
and good salesmanship by the designer
Starling Burgess, and luck. One hundred
boats had been paid for by October 1929
and were being built by Abeking &
Rasmussen. After the November 1929 stock
market crash, you could not sell a dinghy,
much less a 32ft dayracing sloop.
They were an excellent design, but
infamous for the fact that when it blew,
they needed constant bailing, a
combination of light construction, leaking
through the bottom and spray thrown into
the big cockpit. This allowed me, despite
being small, probably less than six stone
aged 14, to be a regular crew. I was in the
lee bilge pumping, informing the crew on
the weather rail what was happening to
leeward and throwing off the jib sheet
when we tacked.
I was too small to trim it in if we had
heavy weather, with no winches.
Burgess was a little off on his scantlings
as the Atlantics were infamous for breaking
frames, except for a few, whose owners
after one season’s racing had their yard
pull out every third frame and replace it
with an oversized frame.
They were well balanced going to
windward, but with their big main and small
jib, if the skipper had to do a hard port tack
duck, it was essential that the main was
given a big ease.
During World War I, when they were
raced with no spinnakers, on a reach and
downwind in a blow, since they had no
boom vangs, they were a bit squirrly to
say the least.
Don Street, via email
POW
exchangeBack
issue: see
the doctorI’ve just seen the
September 2015
article by Nic
Compton about
Nausikaa. As a young
boy I sailed on her
with my uncle Alec
Ingle, who owned her
after the war. I believe
he had exchanged a
Black Label Bentley
for her, sight unseen,
whilst in Stalag III. He
had an eye for boats.
After selling Nausikaa
he bought Whooper.
Mike Ingle, via emailI mislaid my November
2015 Classic Boat.
What is worse, I had
not had the chance to
read it. Furthermore
our vet, no less, was
also desperate to get
hold of a copy, and
had tried everywhere
as he had a nice little
Delta motorboat for
sale in it. Newsagent,
back issue dept,
sailing club, fellow
subscriber? All to no
avail. Until I went for
my five-yearly MOT
(you don’t want to
know). Doctor’s
surgery, waiting room,
November Classic
Boat. ‘Please Do Not
Remove’. Too bad...
needs must.
Adrian MorganCan anyone help me find information on my ship that I
bought about a year ago? It was built in 1951 or 1952 by
Harry Feltham, Portsmouth, Spice Island, Broad Street.
The official number shown in the Certificate of British
Registry is 184.795, sail number 1102. It’s a wonderful boat
and I would appreciate any information on the shipyard, the
boat itself and the whereabouts of the other two similar
boats that have been built.
Michael Krüger, via emailWhat’s my boat?
sethCT H E W O R L D’ S M O S T B E A U T I F U L B O A T S
CLASSICS RACE IN SUFFOLK East Coast’s fiHow Jolie Brise won nest^ Conway One DesignBLUFF BOWS IN THE MENAIHis greatest boatsED BURNETT RETROSPECTIVEA classic design revisited sethSEPTEMBER 2015 £4.75 US$13.75