Book Review: Bonnie Brave Boat Rowers

Two years ago, Christopher Dodd, rowing writer and historian at the River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, published his Pieces of Eight: Bob Janousek and his Olympians about the coach from Prague who ‘saved’ British rowing, which had hit rock bottom at the end of the 1960s. While Pieces of Eight is a 224-page book about amateur oarsmen going to the World Championships and the Olympic Games, Dodd’s most recently published book, Bonnie Brave Boat Rowers, is a thin 97-page book about, as the sub-title reads, ‘The Heroes, Seers and Songsters of the Tyne’. So not only has the author swapped rivers, so to say, instead of amateur rowers, in his new book, he is telling stories about England’s professional oarsmen and the boat builders of the Tyne during the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s – indeed, a far cry from any Olympic Games in modern time.

By now, there is a fairly good amount of published books about the most famous professionals who started to ply their oars and sculls on the Tyne before they travelled the world for world titles and high wages, especially the latter. Of course, Harry Clasper and James Renforth are mentioned in the book, but in the first chapter Dodd writes about Jack Hopper of Hexham, a nowadays forgotten professional sculler (unless you remember Dodd’s article about him in the Regatta magazine of December 1987; which, as a matter of fact, I do).

Hopper, alias Smith of Scotswood, entered as a 20-year-old in the 1922 Newcastle Christmas Handicap with his eyes on the £100 prize money, quite a nice sum for a working lad at this time. He entered under both his real and false names to confuse the organisers and the other contenders. Though, this would be his first Christmas Handicap, Hopper was the fastest mover in any of the bookmakers’ books. He reached the semi-final, but there he was found guilty of a foul. He was also unlucky in the other Christmas Handicap races he entered, in 1923, 1924, 1927 and 1933. He never won any of these races, though he did reach the final in 1933 when he raced against Bert Barry of Putney, who, earlier in December that year, had beaten the Australian Major Goodsell for the world title. Hopper got a 15 second handicap, which would be impossible even for Barry to catch up. However, Hopper ran into the Redheugh Bridge – it seems his ‘flagger’ had lost him in the fog – so the world champion finished the race alone and claimed the prize money. Soon thereafter the handicap ‘fizzled out’.

Jack Hopper left an epitaph in 1983, Dodd writes. Hopper said: ‘As regards professional racing, there’s nothing honest about it, nothing at all.’

In the second chapter, before Christopher Dodd (on the right) embarks on telling the story of the famous boat builders on the Tyne, most of whom had been, or still were, professional rowers when they were crafting their boats and shells, he beautifully writes about the Tyne, Newcastle, its industries and the bridges in the city in a short account. When he gets to the boat builders, it is Matthew Taylor who starts the list. Taylor, a ship carpenter, who was hired by Royal Chester Rowing Club for £2:5s a week as a trainer in 1854, built an outrigger fixed-seat four, the Victoria, which had a smooth bottom, a boat with which the club took Stewards’ Challenge Cup at Henley in 1855. Taylor is credited for introducing the keel-less boat (that is with the keel inboard).

However, it is not certain that Taylor was the first one to build a keel-less boat, Dodd writes. J. B. Littledale, Royal Chester’s captain, stroke and benefactor, has also been claimed for the design, and so has Harry Clasper, whose son, Jake Clasper (a boat builder in his on right), once wrote that he coxed his father and his crew in a smooth-bottom boat at the Thames Regatta in 1849. Boat builder Robert Jewitt had a dispute with Clasper in a newspaper saying that he was the one, who in 1843, built a boat with the keel inboard. It is clear that we will never know who the first keel-less boat builder was. The Victoria – now at the River & Rowing Museum – is not the only boat mentioned in this chapter. Other famous ones, St Agne’s, The Five Brothers and Lord Ravensworth, to mention a few, are also to be found in this chapter. Another boat building company that is brought up is Swaddle and Winship, which built some famous eights for Oxford and Cambridge in the 1870s.

In “Pulling clivor on the coaly river”, the third and last chapter in Bonnie Brave Boat Rowers, we meet songwriters and singers whose songs were sung in pubs and music halls to celebrate the local professional sports heroes who by the 1860s were almost all oarsmen. As much as the writers praised the Tynesiders, they ridiculed the oarsmen from the Thames. Dodd writes: ‘They sold their latest works as pamphlets, and they did for Tynesiders what newspaper columnists, bloggers and chat shows do today.’

James Renforth

As the songwriters rejoiced in the local oarsmen’s victories, they dismayed in their defeat. When James Renforth, a former iron worker, who became world champion in the single sculler by beating the ‘southerner’ Harry Kelley on the Thames in November 1868, died at the oar during a world championship race in the four in Canada in 1871, the cable that reached the people by the Tyne was first not understood. The songwriter Joe Wilson, a friend of Renforth’s, wrote:

Ye cruel Atlantic cable,
Whay’s myed ye bring such fearful news?
When Tynesdie’s hardly yeble
Such sudden grief to bide.
Hoo me heart it beats iv’rybody greets,
As the whisper run throo dowley streets
We’ve lost poor Jimmy Renforth,
The Champein O’Tyneside!

It is always such a delight to pick up a book by Christopher Dodd, who is a master of telling stories. No one can spin a yarn of a rowing tale as well as he can. Not only is this little book incredibly well-written, some passages are even beautifully written. Congratulations and well done, Chris!

Do yourself a favour now, drop what you have in your hands, and order a copy of this book immediately – unless, you can wait till you are in Henley-on-Thames next time, which better be soon.

Bonnie Brave Boat Rowers is published by AuthorHouse: eBook: ISBN 9781491895535. Softback: ISBN 9781491895528.

eBook or Softback available from www.bonnierowers.com ; www.bookstore-authorhouse.com and all good book stores on the web.

Softback copies are also available from these shops in Henley: River & Rowing Museum, Richard Way Book Shop, Bell Bookshop, Leander Club, and Henley Royal Regatta, and all other good book shops.

Signed copies can be ordered direct from the author – send mail address and cheque for £9.95 plus postage (UK £1.17; EUR £3.70; Rest of World £4.75) to:

Christopher Dodd, River & Rowing Museum, Mill Meadows, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 1BF, UK

For more about Dodd’s books please visit www.doddsworld.org

This review was updated on 21 May, at 4:30 p.m., as I, in the first version, wrongly made Major Goodsell an American. He was an Australian, of course, which was kindly pointed out by Tom Weil ~ thanks.

Sharing History about Swaddle and Winship

During January and February, we have had two articles posted on HTBS about the boatbuilding company Swaddle and Winship (see 13 January and 24 February). The writing actually began when HTBS received an e-mail with some questions from a lady, Mrs. Paula, who lives in the north of England. She is the great-great-granddaughter of boatbuilder George Swaddle and great-great-great-granddaughter of boatbuilder Thomas Swaddle.

Swaddle & Co.

She wrote that she has always known that her Swaddle ancestors were boatbuilders on the River Tyne in Newcastle, but it was first recently she discovered that the boats they built were racing shells. Paula writes, ‘I was amazed to find their boats were used in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races, and also exported all over the world! I had no idea. Now I am fascinated to find out more.’

While both Tim Koch and I could fill in some holes and help Paula with information about her famous ancestors, she already had gathered some interesting information about Swaddle and Winship. With her blessing, HTBS can here give you access to some of her finds. Slightly edited, Paula writes:

‘I do now know who Mr. Swaddle and Mr. Winship were in ‘Swaddle and Winship’. It was Thomas Swaddle (approx. 1831 to 1895) and William Winship. As far as I can ascertain, Thomas Swaddle progressed from carpentry to boatbuilding in the 1860s. I don’t know exactly when he teamed up with William Winship, but by 1876 they were a team. William Winship appears to have been a younger man and I think was a sportsman himself (the Thomas Winship Mr. Koch mentions must surely be a relative of William though I don’t know the relationship).

One in the Winship family, Edward Winship was a professional oarsman who rowed in the beginning of the1860s in the Harry Clasper's crew. (Picture from David Clasper's book Rowing: A Way of Life - The Claspers of Tyneside; 2003.) 

‘As Mr. Koch says, the Swaddle and Winship company heyday was from approx. 1876 to 1882. In Decmber 1882 the company went bankrupt. However, boatbuilding continued on the Tyne under the Swaddle name. It appears (evidence somewhat circumstantial) that Thomas Swaddle stayed on the Tyne building boats until his death in 1895, but, due to the bankruptcy, the business would probably have been in his eldest son’s hands (?). His eldest son was George Swaddle (1851 to 1924). By the 1890s, George Swaddle and William Winship were building boats on the Thames (again I presume under the Swaddle name as William Winship was bankrupt). When Thomas Swaddle died in 1895, it appears his youngest son William Swaddle took over the Swaddle boatbuilding business on the Tyne (as his eldest son George was building boats on the Thames at that point). Unfortunately, William Swaddle died relatively young in 1903. What happened to the Swaddle boatbuilding business on the Tyne after that I don’t yet know. George Swaddle did return to Tyneside sometime after 1911. The Swaddle boatyard, with its name on, was apparently still visible at Scotswood in the 1930s, but I guess no longer as a going concern.’

Many warm thanks to Paula for sharing this information about her ancestors.

The photograph of the wooden single scull was taken by the HTBS editor in the summer of 2002 at the WoodenBoat Show in Rockland, Maine (USA). The plaque in the shell said that it was built by ‘Swaddle & Co.’, probably in the 1860s.

About Swaddle & Winship

A Text-Book of Oarsmanship by Gilbert C. Bourne has information about Swaddle & Winship, but in which other books will you find information about this boat building company?

The other day, HTBS received an e-mail from a lady in England who was looking for information about her boat building ancestors, the Swaddles from the north of England. While I was able to help her a little by giving her some information about the boat building firm Swaddle & Winship of Newcastle-on-Tyne, which built racing shells for both Oxford and Cambridge in the 1870s, I would like to reach out to the readers of HTBS to ask if any of you might know where she might find more information.

I gave here a couple of book titles where the company Swaddle & Winship are mentioned, A Text-Book of Oarsmanship (1925) by Gilbert C. Bourne and The Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race (1983) by Chris Dodd. She has also contacted the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, but I am sure that you readers have come across Swaddle & Winship in your research and readings.

Please send your information to HTBS via e-mail: gbuckhorn - at - gmal.com

Thank you
~ Göran R Buckhorn

From Pine To Plastic

The (real) Cambridge Boat of 2013.

HTBS’s Tim Koch writes from London,

In the 2013 University Boat Race, Oxford rowed in a German ‘Empacher’ while Cambridge used a Canadian ‘Hudson’. ‘Hear The Boat Sing’ has previously noted that once the boats for the ‘Battle of the Blues’ were not only made in Britain, they were produced from wood just a few feet from the Boat Race course. However, one hour before the start of the 159th Oxford - Cambridge clash, there was a race from Hammersmith to Putney (‘The Watermen’s Challenge’) which involved traditional British made craft. It included replicas of the two boats used in the first Oxford - Cambridge race in 1829.

The (replica) Cambridge Boat of 1829.

The ‘Oxbridge Cutters’ (as the pair are known) were commissioned by The Boat Race Company Ltd to celebrate the 150th Boat Race in 2004. Like the original boats, the design was strongly influenced by Cornish Pilot Gigs, though the Oxbridge boats are made of pine, not elm, and are eight-oared, not six. Originally the replicas were painted in the original colours, green for Oxford and pink for Cambridge. Today, they have been repainted in the accepted dark blue and light blue. Last February they were given on long term loan to the charity, London Youth Rowing. It is good to know that the cutters will now be in regular use and will help to bring young people into the sport of rowing – truly ‘living history’.

P.S. The original Oxford boat of 1829 is on now on display at the River and Rowing Museum in Henley. A famous picture of this boat and its 1929 successor is here.

The replica Oxford Boat of 1829. As there are no outriggers and because the boat is wider in the middle than at the bow and stern, the oars are of different lengths to produce a uniform span.

The sleeve is made of leather and the button is of rope. The oars are rowed ‘square blade’ and are not feathered.

The seating is staggered, not in line, with starboard side rowers sitting on port and visa-versa.

The Passing of a Gentleman

On New Year’s Eve my family and I received some sad news. Our dear friend Fred Roffe had passed away on 29 December at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan after a brave battle with cancer.

I first met Fred in the summer of 2002 at Mystic Seaport. He happened to ask me if I knew any books still in print at that time about Harry Clasper, the English boatbuilder and professional oarsman. Instead of just giving him the title of David Clasper’s book Harry Clasper: Hero of North, which was published in 1990, I gave him an hour-long vocal essay on the professionals. Maybe it was to finally shut me up that he invited me and my wife and our 1-year-old daughter to his boat True Love which he had docked at the Museum. That same evening we showed up at True Love, we were invited aboard where Fred and his lovely wife, Fran, provided us with snacks and cocktails. And so started a beautiful friendship.

As a professional, Fred had been an engineer for Grumman Aerospace in Bethpage and he was the lieutenant commander and education officer for the Peconic Bay Chapter of the U.S. Power Squadron. Fred had not rowed at school, although he had done his share of messing about in boats ever since he was a kid, and he was a great friend of rowing history virtually by being a descendent of the famous Clasper family in England.

Each time the Roffes visited Mystic Seaport with True Love, which they motor-powered across Long Island Sound from Hampton Bays on Long Island (which happened once, twice or three times a year), we were invited on board their beautiful 40-foot boat. Barely had we step aboard, and I had a rum drink in my hand and with that, and Fred’s family background – I mean here you had in front of you a descendent of the famous boatbuilder who invented the outrigger – my family’s visits on board True Love always became a long happy affair. Our two children have cheerfully tumbled around on the deck of True Love ever since they were babies, sometimes with a playful Fred by their side.

But not only did Fred and Fran welcome you with open arms, they were tremendously generous in so many other ways.

Fred had in his home an incredible collection of rowing memorabilia which had belonged to Harry Clasper and his son, John Hawks Clasper, also a famous boatbuilder. After some drinks one night, Fred told me that he did not know what to do with his collection of rowing ‘stuff’. I suggested that he should donate it to the National Rowing Foundation, which Fred did a couple of weeks later. His unselfish and noble gesture meant that these historic artifacts could be shared with the public and available for rowing historians and scholars to study. Knowing Fred, I see this act as a true mark of a gentleman.

“The Fred Roffe Collection of Trophies, Medals and Memorabilia of Harry & John H. Clasper” can now be viewed in the exhibit of the Rowing Hall of Fame at Mystic Seaport. Take a look here.

Fred will be sadly missed by my family and me, but also by a large number of staff and volunteers of Mystic Seaport, whom he and Fran befriended during their many visits to the Museum. Our warm thoughts go to Fran, who has been Fred's wife for 51 happy years, and to their children and grandchildren.

Plying The Oars On The Mystic River

Trying out the new boat. Not a perfect stroke, but a happy rower with a boating 'belle' in the bow.

In my former job at Mystic Seaport – The Museum of America and the Sea, I moved around a lot, but since I was appointed editor of Mystic Seaport Magazine in January 2011, I have mostly been sitting still in front of my computer. The only exercise I get is hammering away at some articles and lifting the receiver of the phone trying to get a writer to understand that the dead-line date that I gave him or her was not at all just a suggested date to send in the article, it was actually the date when I needed the piece.

I still remember vividly my glory days as a person who frequently, almost daily, got good exercise using an old wooden single scull rowing around the canal in my home town of Malmö in the south of Sweden. The rowing club, Malmö Roddklubb, was a block away from my little flat, so I rowed in the mornings before I went to the publishing company where I worked as an editor. I would usually also scull for an hour or so after work. That was now 14 years and quite a few kilos ago. Frankly, it now shows around my waist that I am not getting my daily dose of exercise plying the sculls.

Yes, I have tried the erg, and a month ago I had a good run of exercise, but then the ergs at the YMCA, where I was rowing, all broke down, and the manager did not seem to be in a hurry fixing them as very few people were using the machines.

Enough is enough I said, what I need is a rowing boat! But then, when I gave it some serious thought, I realised that what I need was not really a racing shell, a single scull, but a wider rowing dinghy, something that was safe enough to take the children in without capsizing. I mean, after all, we have been living close to the Mystic River for twelve years now, it is high time that the children learn how to scull, especially as their father is claiming to be, never a former rowing star, but at least interested in rowing history.

Anders viewing Mystic Seaport from the river side.

It was the WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport some weeks ago, and there I happened to meet my friend Bill, who is a rower, too. When he heard that I was looking for an old wooden boat, he said he had just the one for me in his backyard. Now, not only is Bill a nice person and a rower, but also a boat builder. He has built kayaks, sailboats, and rowing boats. Bill said he would happily have me take over the first boat he ever built, thirty years ago, a 10-foot pram designed by the famous American boat builder John Gardner. I immediately agreed to take a look and to try out the boat.

While I tried it out a week ago, certain things were not working out well. I misjudged the tide, it was low tide and the boat got stuck in the mud at the launching area, which gave me a hard, good work-out just to get the boat in the water. It was a hot, humid day with the sun blazing down on the river. A light breeze fouled me so I ended up with a really bad ‘farmer’s tan’ after a one and a half hours row. The oars that I had borrowed were too short and did not really give me the right stroke in the water.

A happy, young rower, starting early to pratise for her rowing scholarship to an elite school. Look at her perfect grip, both thumbs were they should be.

Yesterday, however, was a perfect day for an outing on the Mystic River with the family. It was not too hot, we launched the boat when it was high tide, and I had borrowed half a foot longer oars, which did the trick. We got a nice voyage on the river, although our son, Anders, after a while complained that he was bored. Just the other day, he had learned how to ride his bicycle without the ‘training wheels’, so he was more eager to ride his bike than being out on the river. Our daughter Ingrid was, however, more than willing to have a go at the oars. She did very well; I see a rowing scholarship at an Ivy League school coming her way…

I guess, there will be more stories to tell about plying the oars on the Mystic River in the near future.

 How do I look, dear? Am I too late out of the water?

Let's see, was it left over right, or the other way around? And where is the slide?

A happy man, he who has a boat!

The Putney Embankment – London’s ‘Boathouse Row’, Part 3

Westminster School Boat Club. Seen in this photograph is OUBC coach Sean Bowden.

Here continues Tim Koch’s third and final part of his story about The Putney Embankment – London’s Boathouse Row.

Vesta RC had been formed in 1871 and was initially based at the Feathers Boathouse on the River Wandle in south London. By 1875 it had moved to the Unity Boat House on the Putney Embankment (run by the famous rowing and boatbuilding Phelps family for many years). The Unity is now Ranelagh Sailing Club, situated between Westminster School BC and the building that Vesta erected as its boathouse in 1890 and which still serves it today.

Westminster School BC

The only Victorian boathouse not yet mentioned that still stands on the Embankment started life slightly differently. What is now Westminster School Boat Club was erected by the boat builder, J.H. Clasper, I think in the 1880s. John Hawks Clasper (1835-1908) was the son of the famous and innovative Newcastle boat builder, oarsman and coach, Harry Clasper (1812-1870). John moved south in the late 1860s and by the 1870s was building boats in Wandsworth (just upriver from Putney) and in Oxford. Many of the boats used in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race in this period were made by him. The first reference that I have of him as ‘Clasper of Putney’ is 1882 when he ‘steered’ Payne in the Wingfield Sculls from a following boat. Between 1887 and 1897, ‘Clasper of Putney’ again built many of the craft used in the University Boat Race. The original building has been thoughtfully and ‘lightly’ adapted for modern use by WSBC and the name ‘JH Clasper’ is still nicely picked out in red brick on the gable end (see above and on top).

Imperial College BC

The next surviving boathouse at Putney dates from much later. It is the very pleasing building put up for Imperial College (London) BC in 1937. The PECA Report again:

‘Its sleek moderne lines make for an attractive contrast to the dominant Victoriana, varying the styles of the group of boathouses but keeping to their overall character. It is a highly individual and positive building, featuring a wave motif on the rendered panel beneath its cluster of Crittall windows. It is also one of the only quintessentially 1930s buildings in this part of Putney. A contemporary extension to the boat house […] was added in 1997.’

The modern extension is not unattractive and it allows the original and better part of the boathouse to dominate. Sadly, a small terrace of Victorian houses had to be demolished to make way for it.

The remaining architectural ‘style’ on the Embankment is, unfortunately, that of the post 1939-1945 War period. The PECA is generous:

‘[…] relatively recent additions reflect the architecture style of the 50s and 60s and should be regarded as positive in terms of their function and group value even though their overall design lacks the finesse of their neighbours.’

While accepting that a rowing club must be a functional place and not (in the words of the late Peter Coni) ‘a sporting slum’, I find it hard to be positive about the architecture of Kings College School (built for Barclays Bank RC), HSBC (since 1992 the name for the Midland Bank, the full name of the ‘Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation’ is never used) and Dulwich College (built for the NatWest Bank RC). The only building with some character in this group is that of Crabtree BC (built for Lensbury RC, a club for Shell Oil and British Petroleum employees). I find it difficult to date but its nice external spiral staircase suggests that it may be older than its three neighbours to the west.

The architecturally not so attractive Kings College Boathouse.

In its conclusions, the Putney Embankment Conservation Area Report says:

‘Many of the boathouses on the Embankment are fine or indeed excellent buildings, but it is their use that gives them their group character.’

That ‘use’ is rowing. Long may it continue!

The Putney Embankment – London’s ‘Boathouse Row’, Part 1.
The Putney Embankment – London’s ‘Boathouse Row’, Part 2.

Fascinating Article!

The current issue of the WoodenBoat Magazine, May/June 2011 (No. 220), has a very interesting article by Abner Kingman, "Viking and Her Descendants: Carrying forward a San Francisco rowing tradition". The article is about the 'pulling boat' Viking which is owned by the Dolphin Club in Aquatic Park on San Francisco's northern waterfront. She was build around 1900, and donated to the club in the 1930s. The article covers the story about Jeremy Fisher-Smith building some replicas of Viking in the late 1970s and the 1980s, and then in 2010.

Fascinating article! Now, run out and buy your copy!

George Sims Was The Winner In 1947

Regarding last Thursday's entry about Cambridge dropping its Empacher for a Hudson, HTBS's Tim Koch in London makes some reflections about 'the good old days'. Tim writes,

The recent news about Cambridge choosing a Canadian boat (in preference to a German one!) for the 157th race against Oxford on the 26th March prompts me to write about a time when, not only were the boats used, British, they were both made in the same place, the Rutland Boathouse, Hammersmith, very near to the mid point of the four and a half mile course. The Auriol Kensington Rowing Club archive holds the following cutting from the Daily Mail of 24th March 1947:

"THE MAN WHO'LL WIN THE BOAT RACE.

Light or Dark Blues first, come Saturday, George Sims of Hammersmith is the winner. He built both boats.

Sims' family connection with the race goes back to 1899, when George's grandfather built the Cambridge boat which stopped the Dark Blue sequence of nine wins.

Light Blue stroke then was Brigadier J.H. Gibbon, Cambridge coach this year.

George Sims started his own boat building business in 1937 by building the Oxford craft which broke the run of 13 wins by the Light Blues.

Boats are built entirely without blueprints or drawings, to plans carried in George's head. They are made of Empire woods, Honduras cedar for the skin, English sycamore for the ribs, Canadian silver spruce for the keel. Orders come from all over the world - Canada, the U.S, Holland, Norway and Sweden."

The Rutland Boathouse backs onto Auriol Kensington clubhouse. As my picture above shows it is now, sadly, derelict. It is owned by the brewery that runs the adjacent 'Rutland' pub but they have no use for it. AK wanted to buy it and 'knock through' but the cost was prohibitive.

Some wonderful images of George and his men at work are here:

The always interesting British Pathe site shows wooden boat building at Eton in 1950.

BOAT BUILDING

Plastic boats must be 'better' I suppose but wooden boats made a few yards from the Thames from 'Empire woods' by third generation craftsmen wearing collar and tie has a certain appeal.

Tim, I can only agree. Thank you for an interesting report. It is going to be exacting to see how Cambridge is doing on Boat Race Day in their new boat.

Pocock Newsletter

Pocock Racing Shells Newsletter for this autumn is now available on-line. There are a lot of interesting things to read about. Go to it by clicking here.

In The Spirit Of The Pococks

Earlier today, I received a very nice e-mail from Jim Buckley, who is working in Washington, on the American west coast. Among other things, he writes: "We are building Classic Cedar Singles in Port Townsend, WA in the Pocock tradition, Stan Pocock having given us his machines and stock after the Pocock Co. stopped building cedar singles in 2002."

I had a look at their website, which gives you the complete story of the Pococks and how Classic Cedar Singles now is continuing the Pococks' legacy. A lot of great stuff and some very interesting rowing history links. Go and have a look immediately!

On Practice Wherries

A friend of mine, Bill, sent me an e-mail regarding yesterday’s entry. Bill also visited the WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport Museum and he mentions how much he enjoyed the show again this year. Bill writes “As usual, I got sidetracked talking with all sorts of vendors, including Steve Ferlauto and now I’m toying with the idea of building a practice wherry to add to my fleet of small boats.” Bill continues “Steve Ferlauto had a practice wherry on display that looked to me like a much more attractive alternative to the Aldens for beginners as well as a boat that would enjoy being out in open water. He said that it was a prototype […]. I’m thinking that the Seaport must have some practice wherries in its collection that have been measured and documented. Do you know?”

I agree with Bill about Steve’s beautiful wherry (see above), it is a much more appealing boat than the Aldens. To be really honest, I have always felt that sculling in an Alden was like sculling in a tub.

Regarding Bill’s question if the Seaport has any practice wherries in its collection, I am aware of a couple. To be on the safe side I had a look in Mystic Seaport Watercraft Catalogue by Maynard Bray, Benjamin Fuller, and Peter Vermilya. On pages 260-263 you will find the following wherries:

Union Boat Club Practice Wherry (ca. 1920) 19’ 6” x 2’ 1”
Accession No. 1985.17.1

Pocock Practice Wherry (1960s?) 21’ 5” x 2’ 2”
Accession No. 1999.19.1

2 Union Boat Club Cruising Sculls (ca. 1920) 23’ 0” x 2’ 7”
Accession No. 1985.17.2 & No. 1985.17.3

Practice Wherry (?) 22’ 2” x 2’ 3”
Accession No. 1972.1112

Practice Wherry by Williams (ca. 1934) 20’ 0” x 2’ 0”
Accession No. 1975.313

Williams Wherry (1932) 17’ 0” x 2’ 0”
Accession No. 2000.136.3

More information on these wherries may be obtained by calling the museum’s Collection & Research Center, 860-572-5367 (Thursdays & Fridays only), or by sending an e-mail to: collections@mysticseaport.

Bill, good luck building your own practice wherry!

Among Traditionalists And Inventors

Although The WoodenBoat Show, for the fourth year running at Mystic Seaport Museum, maybe was not really as big as the three previous years, it was a great show. I was working there for the two first out of the three days and as I was terribly busy, I did not manage to take a good look at what the vendors had to offer. Well today, on my day off, I went back to take some photographs that I would like to share with you.

I met Steve Ferlauto, whom I talked to at last year’s show. Steve is running the River School Boats and this year he had his latest built boat on display, a mix of old and new – old as it is built out of wood, and new that it has ‘wingriggers’ (see above). He is eager to know how this recreational shell is going to be received. Will the wooden ‘traditionalists‘ whine about the wingriggers, and will the carbon fiber scullers complain about the wood?

Steve also had a beautiful old single on display by boatbuilder Vincent Radley & Sons (see above) who built boats on the river Lea in east London starting during the 19th century. It has probably been restored on a couple of occasions, with a sliding seat, ‘new’ clogs, etc. – a beautiful craftsman work, indeed.

Another exhibitor’s watercraft also caught my eye, Andrew Meigs’s Dancing Dragon, which was launched earlier this month! Andrew, who is an old oarsman, became tired always facing backwards, he said, so he came up with this propeller-driven, scull-less, faceforward ‘cycle-boat’. Being conservative when it comes to my sculling and rowing, I truly thought this was a fun-looking boat, which I would not mind at all to go for an outing in!

10 Top Events For Rowers At WBS

As I have mentioned before, The 19th Annual WoodenBoat Show will start tomorrow, Friday 25 June and run for three days, 25-27 June, at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. The museum and the show will be open between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. More information can be found by clicking here.

Allow me to pick out ten events, vendors, and places that you rowers should go to if you are visiting the WoodenBoat Show this weekend:

#1 National Rowing Hall of Fame & rowing exhibit ‘Let Her Run’ – a thrilling place.

Time 9:00-5:00, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Location: G.W. Blunt White Building (No. 54)

#2 Mystic Seaport’s Boat and Engine Collection – see the National Rowing Foundation’s wonderful collection of racing shells.

Time 2:30-4:30, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Location: Rossi Mill Loading Dock

#3 Paddle and Oar Making.

Time: 2:30, Sunday.

Location: Paint Shed, Shipyard

#4 Mystic Seaport Museum Bookstore – great selection on rowing books.

Time: 9:00-6:00, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Location: Opposite the Museum’s Main Gate

#5 Rowboat Rentals – get out on the Mystic River.

Time: 10-4:30, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Location: Boathouse (No. 13)

#6 Adirondack Guide Boat – vendor.

Time: 9:00-5:00, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Location: Tent A.

#7 Connecticut River Books – vendor, good selection of old, used books on rowing.

Time: 9:00-5:00, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Location: Tent B.

#8 Norseboat Sailing & Rowing Cruises – vendor.

Time: 9:00-5:00, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Location: Village Green Exhibits.

#9 WoodenBoat Store – vendor, has published some books on rowing.

Time: 9:00-5:00, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Location: Tent A.

#10 From ‘Whale Ho’ To ‘Find Out’ Whaleboat Demonstration.

Time: 11:00 a.m., Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Location: Middle Wharf (No. 27), if rain, Whaleboat Shed (No. 34)

The 19th Annual Wooden Boat Show

A week from today, Friday 25 June, the 19th annual WoodenBoat Show will begin at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. It will be the third year in a row this three-day show is being held at the Mystic Seaport, and it is a must-go-to-event if you are interested in new or old wooden boats. It is as it says on the museum’s web site: “In addition to beautiful boats in the water, visitors can enjoy browsing through tents and extensive land exhibits which include boat builders, sail makers, marine adhesive and coatings companies, boat schools and associations, maritime art and antiques, tools, wooden boat hardware, nautical gear, books and innovative items.”

For more information about this great event, go to:

http://www.thewoodenboatshow.com/

or the Mystic Seaport's web site.

John Gardner's Legacy

This past weekend Mystic Seaport Museum held the John Gardner Small Craft Workshop. From across the Mystic River I could see all kinds of different rowing boats, small sailboats, kayaks, and canoes on the water for this nice get-together. Unfortunately, I was not able to participate, and when I finally arrived to the museum, late Saturday afternoon, all the boating activities had ended. However, I still managed to take a couple of photographs.

The John Gardner Small Craft Workshop is always held the first weekend in June at Mystic Seaport Museum. Participants are encouraged to bring their watercraft, and share it with the other partakers in the workshop, which more or less means that you can be out on the water rowing, paddling, sailing all day long for two days, for the very low registration fee of $20/adult, or museum member $15/adult (fees for 2010).

The Small Craft Workshop is named after the famous American boat builder and writer John Gardner, who came to Mystic Seaport Museum to start a small watercraft programme in 1969. He stayed at the museum till he died in 1995, 90 years old. He published several books on boat design and his books are still in print, and boat plans of his crafts can be bought from the museum's Collection & Research Center.

Boat Auction

Earlier today Chris Partridge of the eminent blog “Rowing for Pleasure” posted a very interesting entry (and one yesterday) about an upcoming boat auction. It is an online action on 14 April 2010 held by Turk Film Services. Up for sale is up to 200 watercraft, which of many have been in film productions like Hornblower, Harry Potter, Swallows and Amazons, and Three Men in a Boat. There are plenty of punts and rowing skiffs in this unique collection. One skiff you can see up on the left - a Thames Pleasure Skiff built by Salters of Oxford in 1887. But she is not the only beauty…

This Old Boat?

The small publication Barking & Dagenham Post reported on 1 March that an antique single scull had been found in Barking Park's boating shed in East London. The park is getting a £3.2 million refurbishment, and the wooden boat, which could have been in the boat shed since the opening of the park in 1898, has been examined by staff from the Henley River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames. Read more about the mystery shell by clicking here.

Maine Built Whitehall

One blog I enjoy reading is Chris Partridge’s Rowing for Pleasure. On 5 November, Chris had a great entry about a new Whitehall boat built by Maine based company Shaw and Tenney, who has crafted wooden oars and paddles since 1858. The extravagant version of the Whitehall is $19,000, while there is a cheaper version, too. Read Chris’s entry about Shaw and Tenney by clicking here.

The Life-Boat

When I was working in the publishing business in Sweden, I regularly had to travel to Stockholm for meetings. At that time (this was in the 1990s), Stockholm had a lot of good antiquarian booksellers, so I always made certain that I had the time to browse around in some of them. Of course, I looked for rowing books, but it was rare to find something I did not already have.

But then one time, I saw in the window of a bookseller on Drottninggatan a copy of Sir John Cameron Lamb’s book The Life-Boat And Its Work, published in 1911 by William Clowes and Sons Ltd in London. I went inside to take a closer look. The book condition was very good +. It was a nice clean tight copy, with no inscriptions, and it still had both the appeal and bequest forms in the back. It was not cheap, but I decided to buy it anyway.

It is really a very nice little book, which gives the story of lifeboats and how it all began – that special boats were built to rescue passengers and crews from shipwrecked vessels. There are several inventors and boat builders that claim to be the ones to have built the first lifeboat. Already in 1765, a Monsieur Bernières of France invented an unsinkable boat for nine people, but according to Lamb’s book, Bernières’s invention was never set to practical use.

Gentlemen from Tyneside and the Thames created models to suit the newly founded “Tyne Life-Boat Society” and the Royal National Life-Boat Institution. The most famous names were Lionel Lukin, William Wouldhave, and Henry Greathead. The illustration above shows a drawing made from a model presented by Greathead to the Admiralty around the year 1800.

Lamb’s book has a lot of black & white photographs and drawings, and around ten different copies are now available to buy on AbeBooks.com.