Classic Boat – July 2019

A yacht that reaches the age of 121 without need of a rebuild is

something we hardly ever see; Witch, built in 1898 as Belem, is

one of a select few. She was built for James William Scarlett,

Baron Abinger, Laird of Gigha, to ferry passengers and goods

between the Isle of Gigha and the mainland. Dickies of Tarbert

would have built her as an open boat for that purpose. Records

show that the ferryman at the time, John Wotherspoon, charged

two shillings for a passenger, four for a horse, two for a cow or

pig and just three pence for a sheep. Two decades of service

later, she was sold and converted to a 38ft 8in (11.8m) gaff

cutter-rigged yacht. She was bought in 2006 by her current

owner, Alistair Randall, now OGA president.

Eric Tabarly’s yachts Pen Duick and Pen Duick II will both be

taking part in this year’s Classic Channel Regatta which starts

on 29 June in Dartmouth, Devon.

The original Pen Duick, a 1898 gaff cutter designed by William

Fife III, is the Tabarly family boat that Eric learned to sail in – and

from which he tragically fell overboard and drowned in the Irish

Sea in 1998. She has just undergone an extensive refit, and the

Classic Channel Regatta will be one of the first post-refit events.

Pen Duick II is the 44ft (13.4m) ketch in which Eric Tabarly won

the 1964 OSTAR Observer Single-handed Transatlantic Race.

Never rebuilt in 121 years

CLASSIC CHANNEL REGATTA

Pen Duicks confirmed

The Brixham-built replica of the Pilgrims' Mayflower II is nearing the end of her extensive

Mystic Seaport museum refit. The historic vessel was lifted out of the water in 2014 for the

refit to begin, and Mayflower II has been a fascinating work in progress for visitors to Mystic in

the intervening years. Skilled shipwrights from the Plimoth Plantation museum and Mystic have

been working to systematically replace timbers, planking, structural frames, knees and beams

that, despite the attention of Plimoth Plantation maritime staff, had succumbed to the elements.

The works are scheduled to finish in time for the quadricentennial celebrations of the Pilgrim

Fathers’ 1620 Massachusetts landing next year, when Mayflower II (pictured above sailing

in 2007) will return to her home berth at Plimoth Plantation, and be the focus of a series of

events scheduled to celebrate the founding of modern America.

MYSTIC SEAPORT

Mayflower II refit update

Witch

1898

Mayflower II at Upham Shipyard in

Brixham, where she was built in 1957

and given to the people of the USA in

gratitude for their sacrifices in WWII

TELL TALES

EM

ILY

HA

RR

IS

JA

NE

PE

RR

IN

PICTURES: PLIMOTH PLANTATION