After thought

22/04/2007 / Bill / 1 Comment

I’ve been thinking about the “Ceres” and the last entry in my grandfather’s notes on her.

“Foundered midnight Nov 24 1936. Bideford Bay, Crew saved by lifeboat.” This after 125 years of active service.

It’s not the crew I’ve been thinking of. I met them when I was young – they survived.

It’s what happened to the ship that fascinates me. How did she settle?

Did she go down bow first, stern first?

Did she settle upright? (She was carrying approximately 80 tons of slag as cargo).

What happened to the mast, the rigging and the sails?

I guess the captain’s cabin filled pretty quickly. I saw a picture of it once. My grandfather’s office was lined with wood paneling that matched that cabin.

More relevantly, how does she look now – on the floor of Bideford Bay – sixty years or so later?

I thought of her the day I delivered Blue Mistress for her haul out.

While waiting for the hoist, I walked from Turnchapel back to Oreston to fetch the car.

The walk skirts Hooe Lake which is a tidal inlet on the south bank of the River Plym.

At the east end of the Lake, I took these pictures.

This is a sight you can see on any of the major rivers, estuaries and inlets of the Westcountry, (the Fal, the Fowey, the Dart, the Tamar, the Plym, the Exe and on). Indeed throughout the UK and Europe too, and, I guess, around the globe – in the mud, beneath tree-lined banks, wooden vessels of a certain age gently decay, slowly fading into their surroundings. Biodegradable, most of the materials they were made of allow that to happen. A slow end to a hard, romantic life.

Well, that was then. What about now.

Wrecks still happen.

This one (MSC “Napoli” ) within the last few months – a greater spectacle, with more visual impact, and a great deal more environmental consequences than “Ceres” – or the three wrecks above. This is not a wooden vessel – no biodegration here.

OK, the wreck was a result of heavy weather and a judicious (?) decision on where best to beach her – (as it happens, off a World Heritage coastline).

You might say, “These things happen. However skilled and careful mankind is, major disasters will occur. It’s how we deal with them that marks us out.”

That may be so, but some “disasters” can be anticipated and maybe we should be ready for them. Try this for example:

In years to come, we will have to deal with another environmental concern. This one will creep up on us: Where are all those yachts and boats that fill our marinas, harbours and rivers going to go after we’ve finished with them? Will they slowly fade into their surroundings? I hope we will enjoy them for many more years. And when we’ve finished, pass them on to new owners for their turn. But will they last 125 years? The boats themselves might not, but the materials they’re made of will. For certain, tree-lined banks of tidal inlets will not be an option.

I am not wishing to make a huge issue about this, nor am I despondent about man’s ability to cope. But I am interested, (and I hope you are too), because it is one small aspect of a much greater concern that is beginning to concentrate our minds and will continue to do so over the next decades – What are we going to do with all these indestructible materials?

I won’t be here to find out the answers, probably neither will my children, but my yet-to-be-born grandchildren will . . . and I care about them and their generation.

“Ceres”

15/04/200722/06/2007 / Bill / 2 Comments

The “Ceres”: A Wonderful Record.

(An extract from an article in the journal ‘Sea Breezes’ – published in 1928)

“The following information concerning the 117 year old Ketch “Ceres” has been kindly given to us by Capt W.W.Petherick, her owner, and he has consented to our using this in writing her history in ‘Sea Breezes’.

There seems to be no doubt that the “Ceres” is the oldest sailing vessel still in active service and that, after 117 years of strenuous work, she is still in perfect condition, and good for many more years, speaks equally well for her builder and owner.

“Ceres” was built in Salcombe in 1811, where she belonged until 1830, and while owned there several times crossed the Bay of Biscay to Spain for cargoes of fruit, nuts etc, and in these days was considered to be the fastest vessel in the three Channels. She was then Smack-rigged and registered 34 tons, burthen 54 tons.

She first came to Bude where she is now owned in 1826 with a cargo of timber from Plymouth and was first owned in Bude by Captain Knowles, who, in 1830, brought in and discharged at Bude 20 cargoes of coal from Wales. In 1842, Captain W.Lewis purchased her and still traded to Bude.

In 1852, she was purchased by Captain Petherick’s father and has been owned by the family ever since. In 1866, Captain W.W.Petherick took over the command of the little vessel and found that she wanted dry docking for repairs. While in dry dock, Capt Petherick was persuaded to have her lengthened, which he did. Fifteen feet was put in her amidships. When completed she was Ketch-rigged, registered 52 tons and carried 85 tons.

Captain Petherick then took her in the General Coasting Trade. She carried many cargoes of barley for the whisky distilleries from Cornwall to the Western Islands of Scotland, Campbeltown, Ardrossan, Troon, Ayr and visited near every port in Ireland from Londonderry in the north to “south about” to Limerick in the west. From there it was generally oats to the English Channel ports, the Channel Islands, London, Maldon, Ipswich etc.

As to the seaworthiness on the latter vessel, I can do no better than quote Capt Petherick’s own words. He says “I have weathered out many storms and hurricanes in her and she was always all there. Everyone who went in her considered her to be one of the best sea boats afloat.”

In 1884, Capt Petherick left sea to take over his father’s business and he was succeeded in command of the “Ceres” by his brother, Capt R.W.Petherick, who is her skipper today, having been in her over 50 years.

On the 7th November 1900, she was caught in Bude Bay in a heavy north west gale. A larger Italian barque, the “Congiziona”, who was miles to windward of the “Ceres” in the evening, came ashore close to Bude in the night. “Ceres” worked out of the Bay and ran for Padstow. She entered the harbour safely but with an ebb tide and an eddy wind, she had to let go both anchors when under the dangerous Steppe Point. She struck the rocks but the crew managed to get ashore at low water. They were able to get onboard again, and that night she was towed to Padstow Harbour where she was repaired.

In 1912, a bold step was taken by her owner who had the vessel fitted with a semi-diesel engine of 30hp, and this has turned out a complete success.

During the war, when Bude Bay was a hotbed of German submarines. most of the coasters were penned in harbour. “Ceres” with the aid of the engine was able to make regular trips to Bristol and South Wales ports and bring back cargoes of grain, flour, groceries etc. Her shallow draft allowed her to keep near the rocks and sands where the submarines could not submerge and she was then able to successfully evade them.

That “Ceres” is standing the test of time is evident from the fact that, in the last five years, she has carried forty cargoes of basic slag and thirty of flour in all weather without damaging a plank.

She made the record number of passages for any ship between Bude, Cardiff, Port Talbot etc. during October 1927 as follows:

Saturday, October 8th, arrived Bude, discharged and sailed for Port Talbot;

Sunday, October 9th, arrived Port Talbot;

Monday, 10th October, loaded slag and sailed for Bude;

Tuesday 11th, arrived Bude, discharged and sailed for Port Talbot;

Wednesday 12th, arrived Port Talbot, loaded and sailed;

Thursday 13th arrived Bude, discharged and sailed for Cardiff;

Friday 14th, arrived Cardiff, loaded and sailed on Saturday;

Sunday October 16th, arrived at Bude from Cardiff in one tide.

Bude harbour is 14 miles south west of Hartland Point. There is water in Bude for three hours on spring tides and those who know the difficulty of a small coaster rounding Hartland Point with its strong race of tides on springs will appreciate the last mentioned passage from Cardiff dock to Bude in one passage.

I am sure all readers of Sea Breezes will join me in wishing “Ceres” a further long lease of active service.”

and it is signed: R.P.Hirst,Liverpool.

The above article was taken from my grandfather’s (Captain Alfred Petherick) notebook. His notes then go on to list passages made by “Ceres” over many years, although it does not cover every year of her active service.

As examples, the entries for 1870 note the following ports visited in order:

Bude, Newport, Plymouth, Penryn, Porthcawl, Truro, Newport, Truro, Newport, Bude, Newport, Waterford, Newport, Malpas, Newport, New Ross, Newport, Bude, Newport, New Ross, Wexford, Newport, Falmouth, Newport, The Yealm, Newport, Bude, Truro, Newport, Bude, Newport, Bude.

And in 1878:

Bude, Wexford, Dublin, Fishguard, Porthgain, Gloucester, Looe, Plymouth, Maldon, Ipswich, Bideford, Port Talbot, Bude, Saundersfoot, Waterford, Saundersfoot, The Yealm, Saundersfoot, Portland, London, Newry, Newport, Bude, Boscastle, Plymouth, Bude, Newport, Bude.

A random selection of cargoes include:

80 tons manure, 85 tons slate, 70 tons salt, 80 tons granite, 82 tons cement, 85 tons limestone, 377 barrels of resin, 84 tons china clay, 80 tons iron ore, 2000 fire bricks, general cargo, scrap iron, 83 tons potash, 40 tons pine wood, 82 tons pipe clay, 82 tons blue clay; 673 barrels oats, 404 quarters barley, 10 tons potatoes.

In 1868, there is a note:

“Ceres” lengthened by fifteen feet from Dec 7th 1868 to July 20th 1869.

At the end of these lists is a record of the skippers who sailed her:

1826: Captain G.Barrett

1842: Captain Lewis

1852: Captain W.W.Petherick

1884: Captain R.W.Petherick

1929: Captain Ben Stainton

1933: Captain A.Petherick

1935: Captain O.G.Jeffery

And the final entry reads:

“Foundered midnight Nov 24 1936. Bideford Bay, Crew saved by lifeboat.”

“Ceres” was 125 years old when she went down.

This is one of a number of posts on the Ketch “Ceres”. They have been presented in a random order as and when I have found, or been given, new material. They represent steps in a personal quest to find out more about one branch of my family.

If you are interested in maritime history or would like to read more, please use the Search facility at the top right hand side of this page (‘Ceres’). If this is not available on your current screen, then click on ‘Bill’s Boat Blog’ – (or the title of this entry, then ‘Bill’s Boat Blog’), to be taken to the correct page.

The Brigantine “Forest Prince”

01/04/200722/06/2007 / Bill / 2 Comments

Thinking about the past being inhabited by the same people as us. Times and technology were different, but our reactions to them would have been similar.

Below is a brief account of a voyage made in 1865 by one of my great-grandfathers, W.W.Petherick.

As far as I can tell, these are his own words. In fact, I have taken it from his son’s notebook. I assume he copied it direct from the original. His text has very few punctuation marks and no paragraphs. Because that makes dense reading on a screen, I have added both. This will annoy the history purists, but, hey, it’s a good short story, hiding a lot between the lines – enjoy it.

Brigantine “Forest Prince” of Newport, Monmouthshire.

I shipped on the Brigantine “Forest Prince” of Newport, Mon. as Able Seaman at £2.17.6 per month, in the beginning of March 1868 on a voyage from Newport to Lisbon with a cargo of 325 tons of Coals, then Ballast for Villa Real in Spain near Gibraltar, then take a cargo of Copper Ore to Liverpool.

We sailed from Newport on March 7th with an easterly gale and very heavy snow. We ran down to Morte under a close reefed topsail and foresail. When passing that, we set the double reefed mainsail and, after passing Hartland Point about 10 pm the same night, the wind being just abeam, blowing heavy, we found what we was up against.

She was a new vessel, the first voyage, the owners having six vessels just the same size all running against each other, trying which should make the quickest and most passages. Our vessel appeared to be over-masted and over-sparred, top heavy. She got hove down on her broad side with the lee bulwarks all under, and full of water on deck from end to end. She looked very ugly. We got her away before it and took the foresail off.

The next morning it moderated a bit when we soon got and entered the Bay of Biscay, when the wind shifted around to the South West and blew very heavy and we had to heave to. We found her a miserable sea boat. She would not come up and take the seas end on, but merely fall off and allow the seas to roll over her in the trough of the sea. We smashed away a good deal of the lee bulwarks to try and relieve her. After two or three days the wind veered to the North West, still blowing very heavy, when we had to get her on the other tack and smash away more bulwarks.

After about a week the wind moderated, came from the East and we eventually got to Lisbon, a beautiful harbour and beautiful town, with plenty of fruit. And while there I went to a bull fight one Sunday afternoon, but never wish to go to another. After discharging we took in ballast and proceeded to Villa Real where we duly arrived having had a fine passage.

We then loaded a cargo of Copper Ore and sailed, having a fine passage as far as the Scilly Islands when the wind came from the North East and blew very heavy all the way to Liverpool, where we arrived in the middle of May, when we all left but the Captain, not wishing to go another voyage in such a wet Packet as that. WWP.

This is one of a number of posts on the Ketch “Ceres” – in this case her onwer’s early years. They have been presented in a random order as and when I have found, or been given, new material. They represent steps in a personal quest to find out more about one branch of my family.

If you are interested in maritime history or would like to read more, please use the Search facility at the top right hand side of this page (‘Ceres’). If this is not available on your current screen, then click on ‘Bill’s Boat Blog’ – (or the title of this entry, then ‘Bill’s Boat Blog’), to be taken to the correct page.

The story so far

30/03/2007 / Bill

Some of the deck fittings on Blue Mistress have been found to leak. Also, there are fittings that are no longer needed, as well as points where fittings have been removed and repair of the grp would be beneficial. The deck also needs stripping and recoating.

She is now under cover – to allow her to dry out completely before applying new materials.

Many of the fittings have been removed, including some damaged woodwork.

Now is the time to decide what fittings should be replaced and also where improvements can be made.

We can also see the difference removing the existing windows makes to the appearance. We are going to place alloy-framed windows, with an internal ring that can be removed when the new cabin lining is placed next year.

One point that has nothing to do with the deck-work but a lot to do with appearance is the position of the yellow strip on the waterline.

The growth indicates it is probably too low and it would be better to scrap this line and place a strip higher on the hull, bringing the antifouling up to it.

A boat out of water

18/03/2007 / Bill

A short story in pictures.

Blue mistress is now tucked away – under cover – drying out .

Ready to haul out

11/03/200712/03/2007 / Bill / 1 Comment

Blue Mistress has moved out of the marina onto a trot mooring and will be hauled out next week.

The image is a good study in comparative yacht design. (Blue Mistress is the boat in the middle if this is the first time you’ve seen this blog).

Everything has been taken out of her, except flares, warps and fenders and an anchor on the foredeck.

It’s interesting to see she is a little down at the stern. This is the inboard engine which was added later.

She originally had a large outboard on the stern which must have weighed her down further.

She sails better with weight forward.

This is a major refit, which is planned to take six weeks or so. Among other things, all the deck fittings are coming off and being refitted and the deck recoated. There are some annoying leaks on some of the fittings and, rather than only seal those and wait for others to open up, we are “starting again”

Fittings missing from the coach roof are grab rails.

When I stripped the lining from the cabin deckhead, I discovered the original holes for the grab-rail fittings which have been filled in. My natural inclination is to replace them – safety being the most obvious reason, but I don’t know what the best design would be. Elegant carved teak is not the Blue Mistress style. What are the alternatives?

The Cockpit Sole

03/03/200704/03/2007 / Bill / 3 Comments

One of the problems with the Folksong is cockpit drainage.

There are two drains set into the aft end of the cockpit that, in Blue Mistress’ case, lead out below the waterline.
Because the cockpit sole is at water level, there is always water visible in these drains.
At no time, in the six months I have sailed her, have I got wet feet, or found there to be any other than a minimal amount of water around these drains.
I am assured by the previous owner that he found this to be so too.

However, I know of at least one other boat that has ‘wet foot’ problems.

Well, I have found that the cockpit sole of Blue Mistress is a false one. It is 4-5 inches above the original.
There is a space between with, I presume, a supporting framework.
I guess this was a problem picked up when she was originally launched.

The real problem, of course, is how to placing sea valves on the outboard end of the drains to stop inflow in the unfortunate event of the drain becoming detached.

One solution is to place a sealed box containing an automatic pump below the cockpit, and direct the drains into this with an outlet above the waterline.
It sounds plausible, but a) expensive, and b) likely to be a drain on the batteries.

The jury is still out.

Inshore Craft 1

19/02/200720/02/2007 / Bill / 5 Comments

“We treat the past as a foreign country, when, in reality, it was occupied by the same people as us.”

I’ve forgotten who said that but I was reminded of it when I saw that Edgar March’s “Inshore Craft of Britain: In the Days of Sail and Oar” has just been republished.

It was first published in 1970, and covers small working boats of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. Reading it, I was fascinated that an island as small Britain should have developed so many different shaped boats to perform more or less the same thing. Each locality had grown a different tradition. These working boats were, in effect, visual versions of regional accents. Thirty five years later, I am still fascinated.

Three reasons for liking this book:

1. For the boats themselves – as complex objects, with lines and detail, some more elegant than others, but all with a functional beauty that fitted their surroundings.

2. They were true examples of the the concept of ‘form following function’, made more substantial in that they were the livelihood of their owners and crew. Here were small boats constructed in local yards round the coastline of a small island. They varied in shape, in design and in size, not just from region to region but often from harbour to harbour, the only limitation being in the wood and materials used in their construction.

On the face of it, looking back from our mass-produced, communication-efficient world, it can be difficult to understand why this Falmouth Workboat, photographed off Polruan in Cornwall

should differ so much from this Coble, photographed at Seahouses in Northumberland.

After all, they were built for more or less the same purpose.

In fact, the answer isn’t so difficult. Take one island, facing north, south, east and west; take tides, currents, prevailing winds; take a long, varied coastline, some stretches steep and rugged, some shallow with sand and mud, some exposed to the weather, some with large safe deep harbours, some with just a rock or two for shelter. Add a function – fishing, trade, piloting, transport.

Even today, these factors would make a difference to shape and form, but think what centuries of experience of local conditions would do. Think about the materials that would be available in one part of the country that weren’t in another. Think about the traditions that would have grown up around a particular coastline. And to really understand what it was like, you need to take one other factor into account:

3. The owners and crew who sailed in them. They represented the way of life of countless small communities. This was a world where experience counted, where fathers passed their skills onto their sons and, less so in those days, their daughters. Here were local communities, not necessarily isolated from one another but certainly separated, who developed their own craft specifically for the coastal conditions in their area.

No different from us today – they faced the problems of the time and had to solve them. They laughed like us, they cried like us, they succeeded, they failed, they loved, they hated – just like us. They knew what hard work meant. Some did it well, some badly, a few brilliantly. Some were successful financially and went on to do more, some were less so. But their knowledge, skills and attitudes came from doing, from experiencing first-hand. It took longer to gain them, but the best results lasted as long, if not longer, than ours will today. Those hard-won abilities created individuals in a world that needed individuals.

There is one major difference between are ancestors and us today. We have access to more knowledge and more skills, and at a far younger age, than those who came before us could possibly imagine in their wildest dreams – (think Google, endless courses, books, journals and DVDs). But, despite this, our basic ability to absorb and use our new-found knowledge has not grown in line with our sources. In the end, we learn best by doing too – and it still takes time. All the rest of the stuff that comes our way is ‘on approval’ – and we are becoming increasingly swamped by it, struggling to be individuals in a sea of often irrelevant information.

So what’s your point, Bill?

I don’t have a romantic view of the past but I do have a respect for those who learn from experience – and I don’t care whether they were born in 2007 or 1007. (At this point, it would be easy to bang on about our not learning the lessons of the past, but that’s for others to do).

What I would like to do is to stay with boats and to use the concepts above – a) boats themselves, b) the fact of their form following their function, and c) the crews who sail in them, and, as I travel around the coasts not just of the UK but further afield, record, if I can, examples of craft that are being used today that represent this long line of experience. No doubt, some will exhibit a high quality of craftsmanship, some less so. But it isn’t the quality I want to pick out here. What interests me are the solutions to maritime problems that work in particular circumstances. Like this small fishing boat moored in Trikeri on the Pelion Peninsular, on the Aegean shores of Greece.

I do not pretend to be an expert. Inevitably, my efforts will be random observations and certainly not comprehensive. But, this is not an academic study, it is a record of small pleasures, pleasures I believe I share with many other people.

It is also a record of concern, a concern I also share with many others. Times are changing so fast that much hard-won, long-term experience is being sacrificed in the name of easily-found, short-term expediency. We badly need to hang on to some of that experience.

So, my entries to this blog over the next year or so will include an ‘Inshore Craft’ series of images. I hope they will be of interest to you. Please feel free to add your own if you wish.

Where to move the socket

19/02/200720/02/2007 / Bill

So here’s a problem to solve?

This is where the Tiller Pilot plugs in – (Raytheon ST1000 plus)

It’s in the corner – (currently, dirty corner following heavy rain), of the cockpit, out of the way, or, at least whoever placed it there thought so.

It’s not the socket, of course, that’s the problem, it’s the cable that plugs into it.

I knock it far too often – usually during manouvering, sometimes just feeling expansive and leaning back, occasionally I have put something on it without thinking. Mostly I don’t notice myself doing it – too busy concentrating.

The result is a disconnected self-steering which becomes evident sooner rather than later, depending on which direction we are pointing.

So I need to do something apart from scrubbing the deck. The socket either needs to be protected, or moved – but where? especially as there is no nearby vertical surface to attach it to.

I’m sure there’s a good solution out there somewhere.

Boom Outhauls – a query

06/02/2007 / Bill / 2 Comments

I went down to the boat last week to run the engine for a while and check out the jobs we are going to do when she comes out of the water in March. A quiet couple of hours messing about in a boat – is there anything better?

The engine started first go and settled into a friendly rhythm. The no.1 battery was low again but charged up ok.

We are going to tackle a whole range of jobs from reseating deck fittings to replacing the hatches on the stern lockers.

There’s a design problem with the stern lockers – water gets in far too easily. Having played with ideas of rubber seals on the hatches themselves and also around the opening, I’ve gone for the more expensive, but more robust and long-lasting grp option, on the lines of the ones in the image below.

I’m not over keen on the wooden embellishment, but the hatch lids are tight fitting, and, at the same time, can be accessed easily. They can be removed completely so I’m not banging my head or having to hold them open. They are permanently attached to the boat by a length of rope long enough to allow temporary stowage in the cockpit, or on the adjacent lid, or made fast to the pushpit. They can also be tied down in a sea.

The rigging needs some attention too. Contemplating the setup, and how she sailed during the summer, it struck me that there were one or two points I’d failed on. I am sure I can get her sailing better.

One of these is/are the boom outhaul/s, below, not currently rigged.

I would be interested to hear how other people set them up and manage them under sail. There seems to be plenty of room for adjustment – but in which direction?