Back online

15/07/2007 / Bill

Finally, I am back online.

A crashed laptop screen and a move to a new laptop – this time installed with Windows Vista rather than Windows XP.Unfortunately not as simple as they would have you believe, as the complexities of both systems do not tie in without, what to me, was considerable frustration. As much as I am interested in computers, it’s what I can do with them rather than what I have to do to them that turns me on. I can’t help feeling that, when it comes to the whole digital thing, more is being promised than can be delivered. Maybe it will be there in the future, but it’s not quite there yet. I wanted to install the RYA/Admiralty chart plotter which worked perfectly on Windows XP. I spent ages trying to get the charts uploaded, and then more time looking for help. In the end, both the Tamsin Vickery at the UKHO help desk and Rob Melotti, the news editor of New gear and Cruising at Practical Boat Owner came up with the answer simultaneously. My thanks to them – if only they could help me one or two other programmes. If you are interested, the answer is on this link to the Practical Boat Owner site – here. It’s fine now.

Ceres – details from the shipping register

18/06/200722/06/2007 / Bill / 10 Comments

The details below are taken from the official records of “Ceres”, found in the shipping registries of Dartmouth and Padstow. However exciting the stories of fast voyages, near disasters and real tragedy (see later), what follows are the details that count, (even though not all the dates tie exactly with those I have found from other sources). These are the bare bones that underly the ownership of a coasting ketch.

Throughout her life, “Ceres” was used for business – to earn her keep and, hopefully, make a profit for her owners. Given the length of her service, this she apparently did in carrying cargo around the coasts of Britain. However, from the records we find that not only were her cargoes a source of income but shares in the ship changed hands and she was mortgaged several times as a way of raising money.

I found these records fascinating, and was particularly delighted to find the wonderfully named Barnabas Stenlake Shazel.

CERES OF BUDE.

Built Salcombe, 1811.

Sloop of one deck and one mast.

Length 49 feet, breadth 17 feet, depth in hold 7 feet 3 inches.

Rigged with a running bowsprit, square sterned, carvel built. No galleries. No figurehead.

Tonnage 57 and 60/94ths

Dartmouth registry.

Port no. 13 of 1812.

Employed in the coastal trade. Master J.Keepell, Crew of 4.

Registered de novo 4th October 1824. Port No.202.
” 5th May 1828. Port No.16.
“ 13th May 1830. Port No.17.

Registry finally cancelled on 11th April 1837 and property transferred to

Padstow registry.

Registered No 9 Padstow. 11th April 1837. James Greenway, Master.

Owned – Richard Beeuleu of Launceston 32 shares. Henry King of Stratton 16 shares and Ann King 16 shares. (Richard Beeuleu sold his shares to a Mr Lewis of Bude, Henry King transferred his shares to Ann who sold all to Lewis, who was thus sole owner.)

Reregistered No 4 Padstow. 12th July 1841.

On 11th July, 1855, William Lewis sold 32 shares to Henry Petherick, Merchant, 16 shares to Samuel Knight, Miller, and 16 to John Wakely , Yeoman. The last two sold their shares to H. Petherick in 1856 and 1860.

It was mortgaged in 1862 for £300 to Edward Barker of Launceston and sold by H. Petherick in 1863 to John Henry Hooker of Bude who in turn sold to William Walter Petherick in October 1868, the mortgage also being discharged in that year.

Wm.W. Petherick mortgaged the vessel for £150 in 1869 to Edward Hockin and John Henry Hooker, then once again it was reregistered as No 26 Padstow , 1st Dec 1869 with Wm Petherick owning 38 shares /Barnabas Stenlake Shazel owning 26 shares.

Wm Petherick purchased B.S.Shazel’s shares in 1374 and the mortgage was discharged in 1889.

She was registered anew in 1913 (material alterations… new engine fitted)
Sold to Donald Murch Petherick in 1921 and to Alfred Petherick in 1924.

The register was closed 2 Dec. 1936 on the advice from the managing owners that she was a total loss on 24th November 1936.

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.

Outside again

14/06/200714/06/2007 / Bill

What do you think?

I took these pictures yesterday, having spent the past two weeks in Greece (more of that another time).

This was my first chance to see Blue Mistress re-rigged in her new look.

So I walk round the corner and this is what I saw.

Imagine how pleased I am – Richard, Andy and Robbie of Dicky B Marine have done a beautiful, professional job on her.

For Folksong owners I will try and fill in the detailed work on the deck later.

In the meantime, just enjoy the lines.

Perhaps the rudder is a little ‘overworked’, and I wonder whether a protective strip extending from the end of the keel might act to prevent a stray warp getting caught in it. I am assured it hasn’t happened yet, but . . . . . .

Have others had experience of this?

Do it myself? You’re joking.

21/05/2007 / Bill / 1 Comment

Back in the winter, when I was thinking about taking off all the deck fittings, stripping and recoating the deck and then reseating the fittings, there were a few wild moments when I thought I ought to do it myself – perhaps with a little help. Thank goodness I saw sense. It would have been an unmitigated disaster.

Forget for a moment the stripping and reseating, the recoating of the deck alone has involved intensive preparation, an initial application of epoxy undercoat, extensive sanding and filling, followed by four further applications of epoxy undercoat, time for each coat to cure, followed by another two coats of the gloss and non-slip surface. My patience would have been exhausted long ago. I don’t doubt most people’s ability to learn on the job, but the amateur effort most of us would have put into the early stages would have made the final finish look very poor indeed by comparison with what is emerging now.

Thanks to Richard, Andy and Robbie, the result is highly professional, and Blue Mistress will be a pleasure to sail.

It will be worth the wait – even though April was the warmest since records began. Boat out of the water – No chance of a sail – How frustrating was that??

Crossing the Bar

15/05/200722/06/2007 / Bill / 1 Comment

My aunt has given me a sheaf of articles, and newspaper clippings about the ketch ‘Ceres’, which, as I have mentioned before, was in our family for 73 of her 125 years active service.

Many of these articles were copied over the years from issues of Sea Breezes, which started life in 1919 as the house magazine of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. The subtitle changed later to “The Ship-Lovers’ Magazine’. It ceased publication in October 1939 only to restart in 1946.

I had thought I would stop posting blogs on ‘Ceres’ but I am finding that publishing them as individual pieces from different sources gives a colourful history and allows the reader a personal insight that is sometimes lost in a formally-presented, official ‘history’. This is partly because the ‘facts’ sometimes differ from article to article.

Talking of ‘colourful’, I hope you enjoy the following. I curled up with embarrassment when I first read it, then laughed out loud for the sheer joy of it.

Crossing the Bar

By C.L.Lilbourn, Newport, Mon.

Editor’s Note:- The June issue gave (on page 90) a wonderful picture of the ketch Ceres crossing the Bar at Bude, Cornwall; more of her history was promised and this is contained in the following article:-

The ketch Ceres, of Bude, Cornwall, has been crossing Bude Bar for over 200 years in practically all weathers. Owing to sunken rocks the channel is very narrow, and the Ceres has been kept close enough to the Chapel Rock, seen in the photo, to knock the shell fish off without damaging the rock or the Ceres. Some steering, I guess, but Captain Walter Petherick is at the helm and nothing is impossible to this 24-carat sailor, who has been master of the Ceres for 46 years. He is now nearly 80 years of age, as upright as a lifeguardsman, with a good head of hair as strong as rope yarns. He is one of the best known and most respected coasting captains living today. He has made thousands of passages up and down the Bristol Channel, and if all the lights in the lighthouses and lightships were extinguished, and their fog signals silenced, he could probably make a passage in the Ceres from Newport to Bude in a dense fog, by the use of the lead and the assistance of the different herds of cattle along the coast bellowing.

Call everything “he” except the tomcat.

For instance, if he heard a cow bellowing in a soprano voice he could say to his mate, “Ben, us be off Minehead; that is Farmer G’s cow a-bellowing: can’t you hear he (Cornish sailors call everything ‘he’ except the Tomcat, and they call ‘he’ ‘she’)? Drop the lead over the side and see what water us have got.” Ben would retort so many fathoms and hard sand. The captain would say, “Yes, I knew us was off Minehead.” Some hours later another cow would bellow in a contralto voice. The Captain would know it was Farmer T’s at the Foreland. Some hours later they would hear a bull roaring in a bass baritone voice, the Captain would know they were off Bull Point. The last cow would be heard at Hartland Point, where they would get their departure. When they arrived in Bude Bay they would have to wait for the fog to clear before they could cross the Bar.

I wonder what my great grandfather – (he of the ‘hair as strong as rope yarns’), thought of this!

This is the Boys Own writing of the time, of course, and maybe a little embellishment for the reader was considered worthy.

I must admit, the more I find out about him, the more fond I grow of Captain Walter Petherick; and I can’t help feeling he had earned the right to a short piece about him without the need for any superlatives.

I will post the remainder of the articles and clippings over the next few months.

A Warm, Dry Boat

13/05/200721/05/2007 / Bill / 9 Comments

Here is a very depressing experience: sitting in a damp boat in mid-winter, with a gale blowing, it’s getting dark, it’s raining hard and the deck-head lining has been removed to see if we can find where the water is coming through.

So, a couple of weeks ago, when I find a book entitled “A Warm, Dry Boat”, you can bet I will leap at it

I found it by Googling ‘heating for yachts’. This was the wrong topic to search on. It should have been ‘ventilation in boats’, but I only know that now because I’ve read the book.

So, is it to be A Cold, Damp Boat or A Warm,Dry Boat?

As you can tell, I highly recommend “A Warm, Dry Boat” by Roger McAfee. It took a little while to cross te Atlantic, but it has been well worth it.

Mr McAfee is Canadian and lives on the Pacific coast where it is colder and damper than the UK. So it’s “put your pride aside, admit you haven’t got all the answers, find out from the people with experience.”

What have I learnt?

The refit was planned because various deck fittings were leaking and needed reseating. It was decided, because of the age of the boat and the distances that we might sail in her, it would be better to do the job properly and not skimp it.

I now know that merely replacing fittings is not enough to solve the problem. Moisture will still build up in the air inside this now water-tight (as far as possible) hull – moisture from body heat, moisture from any water in the bilges, moisture from damp clothing, mositure from the air – moisture that then condenses into droplets on cold surfaces and starts the process all over again.

If all that is done to alleviate this is to add a heater to give warmth, the first thing that will happen is that more moisture will be absorbed into the air, the greater will be the difference in temperature between the outside of the boat and the inside and the more condensation will occur. (How much moisture will depend on the heating system). This problem can be greatly reduced by moving the air that is high in moisture out of the boat and replacing it with fresh air, i.e. it is movement of air we are looking for.

In other words, a boat needs to breathe.

So we have to find ways of moving air, and, initially, because of the size of the boat, we will try to do this passively.

The fore hatch, which previously (as in the image above) hinged with the leading edge opening forward, is being refitted with the hinges forward.

Two reasons: a) It is safer – an unlocked hatch cover facing forward on the foredeck can scoop water into the boat at an alarming rate.

b) On the mooring, with the hatch propped open (the exact opening will depend on wind strength), the flow of wind from forward lifting over the hatch should create a potential vacuum at the opening, dragging air out of the forecabin. This should create a flow of air from the main cabin forward. By controlling the air into the boat from further aft, the movement can be maintained and the air exchanged.

In Blue Mistress, the companionway is fairly small, so we are dividing the drop boards into two so that the air intake through the companionway can be controlled by varying the combination of drop boards and the position of the sliding hatch.

Also, a large fuel tank that occupied the starboard quarter berths has been removed and both quarter berths are now open. There are further plans for these for next year, but, in the meantime, two small hatches in the sides of the cockpit aft can be opened and, with the companionway shut, air can now flow the full length of the boat.

It is also possible to have a spare drop board with a fan fitted to it (perhaps run by a solar panel). During the winter, this could be installed with a hose led to the bilge so that the air is ventilated directly from the dampest part of the boat, rather than allowing this moisture to flow into the cabin first.

That’s the theory. Now we need to get the boat back in the water to see whether the plan works. More of this later.

Winches

07/05/2007 / Bill

He is a little embarrassed to tell this – not sure why, except he thinks he should know better.

Recently the brake on the starboard sheet winch stopped working. The drum turned freely both ways – no comforting click. Now that both winches have been removed from Blue Mistress for her refit, this is the obvious time to repair and service them.

For anyone who hasn’t seen inside, a winch is one of those objects that is fine in itself but, to be honest, is a complete mystery. How does it work? What makes it click? What stops it rotating anti-clockwise? And if the clicking stops does it mean some sort of spring or clip or finely engineered dubris has fractured? Will this be highly expensive? Does it need a specialist to sort it out?

At the very least, it means getting out the ‘how to’ books and reading them very carefully.

‘How to’ books are hot on warnings and the sections on winches particularly so. Instructions like ‘gently’, ‘slowly’, ‘carefully’, ‘remember to record the order the parts come off’, ‘ use a container to put all the bits in’, ‘a coordinated softly-softly approach’, ‘do not lose these springs and makes sure they don’t jump out as they are freed’, ‘always take special care that you don’t lose any of the tiny springs etc’, ‘spread a sheet under the vice to catch them’ and so on.

This is all very sound advice, and now that he knows, he understands why. However, by the time he had finished reading, he was jolly sure it would be an impossible task, especially as the winch in the pictures looked nothing like the winches in front of him.

And he’s left-handed, which means that all the pictures had been taken the wrong way round for him. Eighty per cent of the time, this doesn’t matter – after all, he’s had a lifetime to get used to looking at ‘right-handed instructions’, but when a job needs ‘care’, gentleness’, ‘slowness’ , i.e. has all the hall-marks of a precision job, he needs to be spoon-fed (or he thinks he does).

The reality usually turns out quite differently, of course.

However, it took three days of looking at the winches, absorbing the instructions, downloading the parts manual from the internet, before he plucked up the courage to start.

When he did so, the bomb-squad would have been proud of him. He made absolutely sure no one was anywhere near him. (The area had been cleared!)

Carefully, gently and slowly, he prised off the circlip on the top of the first winch and, placing his thumbs on the drive shaft and his fingers around the drum, he gingerly lifted the drum millimetre by millimetre until it was clear of the base. At any moment he expected a small explosion and a shower of little springs to fly across the room.

And this is what he found?

He could have removed this drum in an open cockpit in an Atlantic storm and not lost a single part!

Now he could see why the clicking has stopped – all four pawls (the comma-shaped objects at either end of the drum) were jammed by grease and salt – as were the rollers. Every other part was dry and covered in salt.

It took two hours of soaking in paraffin, carefully separating parts, brushing, scrubbing, polishing, light greasing and oiling to get it back together again. There was no corrosion or fracture or any engineering defect whatever – four pawl springs were replaced. It works perfectly again – job done.

It took half an hour to strip the first winch and five minutes the second.

Now he knows it’s straightforward he will service them again next year.

He’ll have to be careful, of course, next time the parts really will be freer – and just maybe will explode everywhere.

Just for the love of it

04/05/2007 / Bill

I originally started this blog because I bought a boat – a Folksong – last year. (I had my first sight of her, one year ago tomorrow).

There was plenty of work to do on her but I knew of no other Folksong owners with experience of these boats, so, in the mode of the times, I conducted a search online. I set up a three-month blog. This worked, and although there are only a few owners out there who found me, I am very grateful to them for there assistance. I hope I can repay their kindness as time goes on.

At the end of three months, I had had the good advice I sought, made the necessary decisions about ‘Blue Mistress’ and was ready to close the blog. However, someone, (from Seattle, I think, or was it Vancouver?), suggested I continue, and I got interested in the possibilities of sharing information that is of interest to members of my widespread family – widespread in both age and distance, to friends I know well and also to those people I have never met but are interested in the subject (maritime history as told and recorded by my ancestors). All the while, ‘Blue Mistress’ has been the thread that holds the blog together.

At the end of a further four months, this too has proved a positive exercise. I have found a new respect for my great grandfather, been able to informally share details with my family that would otherwise have laid in a box between the covers of a notebook, and learnt a great deal about writing online.

There have been four main lessons:

Lesson one: Very, very few people are really interested in what you write;

Lesson two: Even then, their interest varies with the subject – (common sense this). They don’t care about everything you write, only some things;

Lesson three: People you know (especially those you are related to) are particularly critical – and often miss the point. (Who was it who said that we think of ourselves as we see us in the future, other people see us as we were in the past? For those who know us well, our past can be very vivid, clear and of mixed interpretation).

Lesson four: It is possible to become bored with the word ‘I’ – perhaps bored is the wrong word but certainly restricted. In the end, who really cares about ‘I’ except ‘me’. On the other hand, the possibilities of writing in the third person are infinite.

So, for the next three months, Bill is going to stand back and join you, the reader, and see if he can retain your interest by reflecting a way of life he loves. Although ‘Blue Mistress’ will continue to be a unifying thread, his intention is to learn what are to him new ways of writing about sailing and the sea. If you care to come along, he hopes you will enjoy it – just for the love of it.

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.

Refit 2007

20/04/2007 / Bill / 1 Comment

First undercoat.

Beyond Steeple Point

"Not all who wander are lost"