Wooden Boats and Chelsea Ship's Bell from 1903

[Bill Sohne]

Hello Everyone
Here is another 4 1/2 inch Ship’s Bell this one was sold in June 1903 …..
The name on the dial “MATKAH” I came across the yacht it Lloyds registry… is photo below …. Designed by E. A. Boardman for C. W. Whittier of Boston … this info is also confirmed in a “ The Rudder magazine 1904 except the name of the ship is misspelled dropping of the “h”.

As i have said in the past... these classic boats from 100 years ago are long gone, and if we are lucky we can maybe find a photo, a bell , an award or if we are really lucky it's ships clock !

Good hunting
Bill

 

[sheepdoll]

There was a time when I could have easily gone into boatbuilding. This is a maritime community. Sailing class was an optional summer course. El Torro and Laser class boats. Some of the teachers built examples of the former using the shop classroom in their spare time. Computers came along and changed everything. I also had to draw a line somewhere. Still I keep a folder of interesting boats and ships.

One does not have to build full sized craft. There is something about ship models that also fascinates. Especially when the drawings survive. That is a gorgeous set of drawings. When I would get bored online I would visit the Titanic Modelers Research Association. What were called the rivet counters. A few years ago I got fascinated with Shacketon's Endurance. Then they found it. What is amazing is the ship contained a darkroom. There is actually a film of it's being crushed and sinking.

Every now and then someone re-creates these old boats. They may be gone, never forgotten.

 

[pdxleaf]

sheepdoll

There was a time when I could have easily gone into boatbuilding. This is a maritime community. Sailing class was an optional summer course. El Torro and Laser class boats. Some of the teachers built examples of the former using the shop classroom in their spare time. Computers came along and changed everything. I also had to draw a line somewhere. Still I keep a folder of interesting boats and ships.

One does not have to build full sized craft. There is something about ship models that also fascinates. Especially when the drawings survive. That is a gorgeous set of drawings. When I would get bored online I would visit the Titanic Modelers Research Association. What were called the rivet counters. A few years ago I got fascinated with Shacketon's Endurance. Then they found it. What is amazing is the ship contained a darkroom. There is actually a film of it's being crushed and sinking.

Every now and then someone re-creates these old boats. They may be gone, never forgotten.

You might enjoy this thread

https://omegaforums.net/threads/any-scale-ship-modelers-about.61580/

 

[Pastorbottle]

I had an old wooden boat with a bit of a history, it was built in 1870, as a rowing ferry used to cross the Mersey river in Tasmania, it had a clinker hull @ 26’ of Huon Pine, (for the benefit of the foreign johnnies amongst you, Huon Pine is the best wood for boat building, bar none, almost impossible to get now)
It had a very low freeboard, a very shallow draught and was quite narrow, and some stage some one had installed an inboard motor and fitted a particularly stupid and useless cabin.
A mate of mine brought it over to the mainland, without the engine and it sat on the farm for a few years, after my mate died unexpectedly, his father gave it to me.
I demolished most of the ugly cabin only leaving enough to mount a windscreen, a installed a 40 hp 4cyl diesel that I had laying about.
It was freshly rebuilt and was the spare auxiliary engine from a commercial fishing boat we’d sold. (Another wooden boat which I’ll describe in another post)

Now all you’d need to push such a boat the hull speed would probably be @ 6hp….so 40 hp is well over the top!
I used it as a workboat, in the Gippsland lakes, it was very useful as a tug pulling grounded cruisers off sand banks etc.
Where it’s shoal draft was particularly useful, and it’s low freeboard made it easy to work on outboard motors.

It was a good sea boat it would punch through a wave rather than over it so it was bloody wet.
With all that power it would push well beyond hull speed, ans make a huge wake pushing all that water outta it’s way!

Just to prove it could be done we pulled a water skier up with it to win a bet.
Eventually I sold it to a mate who also used it as a workboat and when the diesel died he fitted a Holden 6 cylinder petrol engine, bloody thing was even mover overpowered!

He in-turn sold it onto a retired school teacher who never gets it above idle speed.

I dunno if I have any pix, I’ll have to go on a search mission.