AEOLUS
century peak of sailing merchant ships. When she was
launched to ply the tea trade in 1869, steam-driven
ships were already making sail redundant, and by
1895 she had been sold off.
Across the river, in what used to be the West India
Docks on the Isle of Dogs, rise the slab-sided towers of
Canary Wharf, where bankers from the world’s biggest
financial institutions look down on quaysides which
from 1802 to the Second World War formed the heart of
the busiest docks in the world. We followed a sharp bend
in the river to the southwest and tacked five more times
in less than a mile. We rounded the next bend and there,
half a mile ahead, stood Tower Bridge.
Tower Bridge is not just a national icon carrying a
major road through central London; it’s a very large
piece of equipment – each of the two lifting bascules is
100ft (30m) long and weighs 1,000 tonnes. However,
if you want the bridge to open to sail through, all
that’s needed is a polite email 24 hours in advance.
You say what time you’d like to sail through, and they
send a confirmation on headed stationery. It’s
completely free, a service provided by the Corporation
of the City of London for any vessel with a mast or
superstructure of 30ft (9m) or more.
We had booked for 3pm and worried all morning that
we would arrive late. Now, we worried that the bridge
wouldn’t open at all. Two minutes to go, and traffic still
jammed the roadway. A minute to go, and still nothing.
Then we heard a faint klaxon and the traffic
stopped. The two sides of the roadway lifted, and
Anthony steered Aeolus, all sails up but engine running
for safety, straight at the centre of what looked like a
dangerously narrow gap. Looking straight up the mast,
the tip of the topmast looked within scraping distance
of the metal girders on either side. We shouted detailed
guidance: “Port a bit, Anthony! Starboard now!” and
held our breath. Moments later we were through into
the Pool of London and Anthony doffed his bowler to
the bridge master. When we looked later at
photographs taken from the shore, we could see Aeolus
was so small that she had several metres of clearance on
both sides. It didn’t feel like that at the time, but as
Anthony’s friend Chris remarked at the time:
“We just made 10,000 tourists’ day!”Aeolus is a 42ft (12.8m) gaff topsail cutter: slim,
deep with a long keel, all-internal lead ballast of six
tonnes and a huge sailplan. She was built in
California in 1904, designer unknown, but possibly
influenced by Charles Kunhardt’s popular book of
the time – Small Yachts; their Design & Construction.
She was raced locally (with some success) and later
chartered. She was rebuilt in 1982/3 as an exact
replica with the keelson the only original timber.
She is double-planked in cedar up to the waterline
with fir planks above, light oak frames, mahogany
beams and triple-layered cedar decking. The
sailplan was replicated; in the prevailing style at the
turn of the last century, it was overcanvassed with a
10ft (3.1m) boom overhang and light spars. This may
have been suitable for inshore racing but produced
excessive weather helm and an unseaworthy boat.
In 2003, Aeolus was imported to Britain but not
sailed until Anthony bought her in 2008. The lead
ingots were moved, revealing a sound hull, but
could she be made to sail well and so be worth
restoring? Anthony did some experimental sailing
with Tom Richardson (Elephant Boatyard) and took
the lines of the hull for Ed Burnett to produce a
new sailplan. The new mainsail has a much
shorter foot and bigger headsails have achieved
balance, helped by the new sails from SKB
cut very flat to reduce heeling.
Aeolus now sails beautifully! In Homer’s Odyssey,
Aeolus was the Keeper of the Winds who gave
Odysseus a bag trapping all the unfavourable winds
which would stop him sailing home. His crew
opened the bag and unleashed a hurricane, the start
of a long journey (replicated in the restoration). The
large symbol on Aeolus’s mainsail represents the
winds escaping. Anthony Wheaton, owner.LOD 42ft (12.8m) LW L 38ft 3in (11.7m)
LOA 60ft (18m) DRAUGHT 8ft (2.4m)
BEAM 9ft (2.7m) SAIL AREA 1,450sq ft (135m^2 )
FB facebook.com/Aeolus1904En route past
flat estuarial
marshlands
for LondonAEOLUS
GAFF TOPSAIL CUTTER