Does anyone recognise this boat?

[Sam.knott1992]

I am currently restoring a 26ft gaff rigged boat with a topsail which has very little history and is proving to be quite a mystery. She is pitch pine planks on oak ribs. Her age has been determined as somewhere around 1896. All i know for sure is that she came down from felixtowe after the first world war and was left in the mud at tollesbury (Essex). Any ideas?

Sam

 

[Sam.knott1992]

Another photo

 

[Sam.knott1992]

Another photo.

 

[Sam.knott1992]

And another

 

[gonzo]

Nicely done

 

[SukiSolo]

Definitely a local design type for the East Coast, Suffolk, Essex, or Norfolk and likely build. The draft alone gives that away, sailing through the Thames swatchways and maybe into and around the Broads. Best places to ask would be Burnham, maybe any boatbuiders left on the Broads or Yarmouth. Maybe even check with current designers like Keith Callaghan who is based that way. Not sure if the guy who built Dragons at Aldeburgh is still around?

I'll have a look through one or two references I have, to see if I can find anything close.

Nice job to restore her. Hopefully she has a nice rig?. If she has a dipping (balanced mast in tabernacle) she was meant for the Broads mainly, but a more permanent stepping would imply more a sea boat, ideal for those rather nice river mouths of the Essex and Suffolk Coast.

 

[waikikin]

Definitely a local design type for the East Coast, Suffolk, Essex, or Norfolk and likely build. The draft alone gives that away, sailing through the Thames swatchways and maybe into and around the Broads. Best places to ask would be Burnham, maybe any boatbuiders left on the Broads or Yarmouth. Maybe even check with current designers like Keith Callaghan who is based that way. Not sure if the guy who built Dragons at Aldeburgh is still around?

I'll have a look through one or two references I have, to see if I can find anything close.

Nice job to restore her. Hopefully she has a nice rig?. If she has a dipping (balanced mast in tabernacle) she was meant for the Broads mainly, but a more permanent stepping would imply more a sea boat, ideal for those rather nice river mouths of the Essex and Suffolk Coast.

http://www.herbertwoods.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/COOT-CLUB-198x300.jpg Like in Coot Club with Mrs Barrable... ?

 

[SukiSolo]

http://www.herbertwoods.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/COOT-CLUB-198x300.jpg Like in Coot Club with Mrs Barrable... ?

Well I could look there too....

But of course, Ransome had Selina King built on the East Coast and there is a good reference to his boats on this link.

http://www.arthur-ransome.org.uk/?page_id=372

However the better references I do have, do not have anything quite like the OP's craft. She is quite intereting as she would have been quite new at the time with a 'short' for the time, keel. More like a Hope or Nicholson might have done and doubtless a few others with a wide outlook.

Have to say, the UK east coast (ie Thames to Wash) is a unique place in these Isles and you still see old craft rotting away up the creeks and some have been saved. Even the odd concrete barge from WW2 etc. Those familiar with shallow water sailing and lowland sea walls would feel at home!.

 

[gggGuest]

She does have something of the look of a Norfolk Broads racer

 

[rcnesneg]

I want one. It's beautiful!

 

[philSweet]

I'm curious what led to the date. By any chance is that a "No earlier than" date. I would have guessed a decade later. There wouldn't have been too many people who could have built that boat in 1896. Ten years later, pretty much anyone still in business could have.

The cove stripe appears to have a trade dress detail at the bow. Search for photos of that detail among the top race winners of the time and figure out the builder. It may be a generic detail, but I'm guessing it isn't. If you can photograph the hardware in detail, particularly threaded parts or any patent parts, you can track that stuff down through old catalogs on line.

And send a PM to Peter Radclyffe, He's probably sailed on the thing.