LETTER OF THE MONTH SUPPORTED
BY OLD PULTENEY WHISKY2(^17)
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12 CLASSIC BOAT DECEMBER 2015 13
Logbook
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS Port Townsend’s Wooden Boat Festival is the greatest show on JAN HEIN
earth if you like wood, varnish and salt-stained sailors. Held in the second weekend of September, it sees hundreds of vessels voyaging to Washington State’s northwest corner by land and
sea, over oceans, across Puget Sound, many arriving via the freeways cHaving 38 festivals under their belt, the organisers know what onnecting the country from coast to coast.
works and the 39th was near-perfect. The Northwest Maritime Center put on an exhaustive schedule including big-name presentations, exhibits, seminars and live music with refreshment
via the ever-popular Bar Harbor and Wee Nip beer parlours.
selling wood, glue, fastenings and everything else needed to build a timber craft fiDisplays of woodworking tools, small craft stands, vendors lled every foot of the shoreside exhibition
space. While the bigger vessels took charter guests out for trips afl oat, the longboats needed folk to pull ’em and be damned. Elsewhere, remote-controlled model boats, kayaks and SUPs
could be rented for a song. Younger visitors built their own craft and tested them on the high seas of the harbour. Competition is minimal. There’s no Concours d’Elegance. Even
the Under 26ft (8m) and Schooner Races are low-key, a chance to flwas a weekend of wooden magic and everyone wondered, how aunt fresh varnish in front of the thousands of spectators. It
will they top it for the 40th year?
Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival 1 Plenty of inspiration for one artist 2 David Smith’s
ChesukiSchooner Race Project’s craft name 3 Daniel Wilson letters the Community Boat 5 Piper (left) and Ady Ventura on 4 Martha and Prudence in the
‘pirate ship’ from 1927 7 Time for a sea trial Wind Spirit 9 David Smith on 68 Bill Harpster, builder of (^) Committee boatSilva Bans, his replica build El Mistico, Joshua
Commencement^10 The 92ft (28m) of a cutter with topgallant sails 11 OlympusJames McMullen hides from the sun and the fi shing vessel
on his row-and-sail boat Rowan
ABOUTOUT AND
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BILL ROWNTREE/PPL
Letters
Family
research
Researching my family
history, I have come to
realise the extent of
the work carried out
by my mother’s family,
Burt & Sons of
Falmouth. We knew
about the sea punts,
but not the vast
number built, and a
little about the Cutty
Sark refit in the early
1920s (my grandfather,
Charles Burt, worked
on this with his father
at Flushing, Falmouth),
and nothing about the
schooners and
ketches. I want to
gather some
information together
before the family
forgets. Can anyone
help?
Jane Gray, via email
The origin
of top hats
Stevenson Weekender
In search of Anderson’s
What a delight it was to see a really affordable and good
looking classic small boat pictured in the article on the Port
Townsend Wooden Boat Festival (December issue). The boat
in question being the delightful Stevenson Weekender. As the
owner of Sweet Mist, the first of this Stevenson design built in
the UK in 2002, I really do believe that this design deserves
classic status. As far as I know, there are only four of these
Weekenders in the UK, but in the USA this really is a cult boat
with many hundreds afloat. Looking like a diminutive version
of the Friendship sloop, the clipper bow, lovely sheerline and
gaff rig set these home-built miniature ships apart from other
small boats of their size. Launching takes ages, as so many
people want to talk about the boat and ask questions.
Ken DaSilva-Hill, via email
I’m looking for information about Anderson’s Boatyard, in Millom, Cumberland
[now Cumbria], from 1882–1914. William Anderson and his sons Wells and Vince
had a boatyard at Crab Marsh in the Duddon estuary. They built at least 17
wooden boats there including Majestic (1896 Half Decker), 25-ton cutter
Minetta and 12-ton cutter Anna Ellidi (1912), which is still sailing today.
They built three wooden yachts for my great uncle Herbert G Coade:
Endymion, Pirate and Ixia, which was still sailing locally in 1973.
Vince Anderson used to go punt-gunning with my great uncle in the
Duddon estuary before World War I.
If anybody has any information please contact me: [email protected].
Chris Coade, via email
What is the origin of classic boat
sailors wearing top hats?
Sally Meens, Berkshire
Dick Durham, author, replies: To
the best of my knowledge it is a
throwback to the top hat worn by
19th century sailors, who were
usually officers or those with a
higher knowledge of sailing (e.g.
pilots). You see old prints of Deal
boatmen (who acted as pilots)
wearing them, also sometimes of
Master Mariners, Deep Sea (e.g.
Tall Ship masters) wearing them.
Regular sailors wore bandanas or
woollen hats and later cloth caps.
In the East Coast fishing fleets the
bowler was more common, usually
tarred to keep the rain out. With
their narrow brim they did not
blow off when the sailor looked
aloft (presenting the brim to the
wind) and also acted as a ‘crash
helmet’ beneath a swaying spar.
A letter in your last issue called for a race navigated only by sextant,
in order to preserve this excellent method of passage-making. There is,
in fact, such a race. The re-run of the Golden Globe Race, to start in
2018, will not allow electronic navigation. Boats will be fitted with
tracking systems for the purposes of those ashore and skippers will
have an emergency pager for contacting race HQ only, but otherwise
participants must make their way around the world as they would have
done in 1968. It’s a fascinating concept that prompts a lengthy pub
debate on where exactly the period authenticity begins and ends
- apparently they’re not allowed iPads, so presumably no modern dried
food either. Will multiple tins of corned beef fill each lazarette? It’s the
same debate I’ve had many times about supposedly authentic classic
yacht restorations. All wood up top, with a huge fridge down below.
In an attempt to recreate some period authenticity in my living
room, I recently bought a record player and dusted off my record
collection. This lasted about a fortnight. Record players jump and
records are scratchy. Authenticity is great, up to a point.
Martin Bolton, Sheffield
How authentic do
you want it?