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National news
Good news is that both Mary Rose and Cutty Sark have won multi million grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund. and our old friend Shieldhall has received £ 250,000 for repairs.
News of Kathleen & May
“It’s an ill wind”, they say, “that does nobody any good” and the ill winds that brought the devastating floods to parts of Britain last year did, indeed, do some good in the end. The city of Gloucester was among the places that suffered severe disruption and a plan was made later in the year to help the regeneration by organising a maritime festival in the city docks. Visits by Tall Ships were sought and one of these was Kathleen & May.
This invitation, which involved a financial incentive, came at an opportune time in the life of the old schooner which, as readers will know, is currently on the market but efforts are being made to stave off this sale by raising finance to keep the ship in home waters. Thus, this opportunity was a vital part of the campaign.
A small crowd gathered at the Sharpness dock entrance early on 23rd October and the ship appeared through the mist, stood off until high water and then gradually motored into the dock, there to embark media folk who, it was hoped, would provide coverage on press and TV. As the schooner made her way carefully up the canal, some sixteen miles, further audiences lined the banks, many of which had not seen the ship since she lay, almost derelict in Gloucester docks ten years previously.
The ship received a rapturous welcome and lay alongside the quay for three days, during which time 3000 people went aboard, many signing the petition which was to be submitted to the Government seeking national intervention to save the ship from sale abroad. Alas, when the time came to leave for the trip back to the Torridge the old ship had other ideas and it was found that a shaft bearing had run. This was quickly repaired only to find that one of those rogue-mooring warps had become wrapped around the port screw.
This meant a visit to the dry dock, hastily arranged through the kind offices of Tommi Nielsen but the Gods had not finished with Kathleen & May. The opportunity to inspect the shafts showed that both bearings had been destroyed, and there she lay for another few days. Finally all was ready but the weather took a hand with severe south-westerly gales which, when in trade, would not have posed a difficulty but the risk to an old and valuable ship was regarded as too great. It was not until well into November that the ship reached her home port.
Although there are, as yet, no firm offers for the ship and tentative plans are being made for a programme of visits in 2008, which we all hope will take place to provide further publicity. Probably the best news is that Steve Clarke, who has put so much work into Kathleen & May, has recently had this recognized by the award of an OBE “for services to maritime heritage”. This is richly deserved and also recognizes the major contribution made by the many volunteers who have given up their time and skills for so long.
Colin Green - January 2008
Those who signed the e petition will have received the following reply [Ed]: -
It is not Government policy to provide direct financial support for the preservation of historic ships, other than through the provision of grant-in-aid funding to those sponsored museums which hold vessels of historic significance in their collections. However, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Heritage Memorial Fund have offered considerable support to the maritime heritage over the years. If the Kathleen & May were sold by her owner to an overseas buyer, she would be subject to the export control which provides a safeguard for cultural objects of national importance.
News of Irene’s Miracle Cure ….
Most members will know of the disaster that befell the ex Bridgwater ketch Irene when based at the tiny salt island of Saint Maartens in the Caribbean in May 2003. A fire consumed almost the entire ship which burnt to the waterline and sank, this event taking place just before the 96th anniversary of her launch from Carver’s yard, Bridgwater.
It is also well known that owner Leslie Morrish, not a man to be daunted, was not content to accept that she was a total constructive loss and resolved to bring her back to Britain for rebuilding. This operation, alone, was fraught, to say the least, for it was decided to tow the ship across the Atlantic and by the end of 2003 the remains were ensconced in a creek off the River Lynher in Cornwall.
Space here does not permit a blow-by-blow account of the rebuild but I paid a visit to the creek early in October last to see that the vessel was in the final stages of restoration and was able to hear from Leslie Morrish his plans for the ship which has been his passion for almost thirty years. He is a psychiatrist by trade and maybe the whole thing has been a form of therapy?
Anyway, the hull was complete, two new Gardiner engines installed and internal fitting out proceeding, although most of the original workforce have now moved on. I asked Morrish if he planned to return to charter work in warmer climes but he thinks not and proposes to use the ship for his own pleasure and that of his friends, although if somebody should appear with a large sack of money he could be persuaded to change his mind!
Since my visit, there has been a trip to Polruan where Irene was slipped for examination of the hull which had been sitting in a mud berth for four years. Nothing untoward was found, apart from the need for a good clean and the return trip was made to the Lynher at the end of November.
Work continues (the original plan to have the ship afloat for her centenary in May last was unfortunately not achieved) but it will not be long before we are able to see the old ship moving around her accustomed waters; perhaps, even, we shall see her reunited with her old companion Kathleen & May! We can but hope.
Colin Green
….and new build.
The new cutter for the Island Trust is taking shape at St Mary Redcliffe wharf, and was planked to the gunwales when seen recently.
Other Bristol Area News…
Less cheering is the news that the Empire and Commonwealth Museum in Bristol, which has a considerable content of maritime interest, is to move to London by autumn. Bristol’s record of retaining maritime related museums is patchy - the lifeboat museum closed in the 80’s and Square Sail moved after financial problems. Work has, however, finally started on the new Museum of Bristol, on the waterfront. The Matthew, too, has current funding problems, and will reduce its festival attendance this year. Paul Barnett has also had no joy sofar in attempts to secure protection for the Purton wrecks.
Finally, Royston Griffey, Mayor of Bristol, successfully completed the “beating of the (maritime) bounds “ for the first time in a century, and we hope to have his full account when he is released from his civic duties.
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We have news of the last of the Fairmile “B” WW2 launches. Western Lady III has been saved from the scrapyard. She and her sister, Western Lady IV, were a familiar sight as the cross Torbay ferry. She has now been sold to Alistair Oliver and Colin Beach to sail trips from Swanage next year. Western Lady IV will become a houseboat.
