Volunteering on Britannia

The following blog was written by one of "Britannia's Friends"  Andrew, who volunteered to work with us for four days in October.  

"In October 2018 I met Sam, Vicki and Britannia for the first time in 25 years. Sam and Vicki had withstood the passage of time remarkably well, barring the odd dodgy knee, but sadly Britannia wasn’t quite the elegant, if elderly, lady I had last seen at the quayside in Portree in 1993. The intervening years have of course seen her reluctantly sold by Sam and Vicki and subsequently enduring a period of neglect compounded by misguided and insensitive alterations resulting in the loss of most of the painstaking fitting out of her interior undertaken by Sam in the 1970's, and her sad decline from a graceful sailing vessel to little more than a hulk used as a floating dormitory in an obscure backwater.

Enter Sam & Vicki once more, fuelled by a determination not to let her slip into terminal decline but to rescue her and give her a new lease of life and a new purpose in her second century, once restored to her formal glory. A thoroughly praiseworthy goal, but a huge challenge nonetheless despite the growing army of supporters and volunteers Sam and Vicki have enlisted to the cause. Having decided that the practical problems of working on her in a boatyard a considerable distance from their home in mid-Devon compounded the difficulty of the project they decided on the bold step of transporting her lock, stock and barrel to Winkleigh, about 30 miles from the sea, where the local community now seem to be taking her to their heart.

 Of course a Devon field may be a picturesque setting for her, but serious restoration work on a boat of this size and complexity requires a wealth of facilities and a suitably protected working environment, which Sam and a growing team of volunteers, drawn from the local population and the many friends and admirers of Britannia they have accumulated over the years, have set about constructing over the last few months, so that I renewed my acquaintance with her in a magnificent purpose-built shed which has grown over and around her. 

Given the sad state of Britannia herself if was really heartening to see how much has already been achieved in constructing her temporary home, creating a setting in which similar magic can be worked on the old lady herself. Seeing the shed immediately impressed upon me that these people know what they’re doing and are seriously determined to meet this challenge, had I ever doubted this. In the light of what has already been accomplished it is much easier to believe that the damage and neglect of the past 15 years ago can and will be fully reversed.

Despite the lack of superstructure and interior fittings she is still recognisably the same boat that first bewitched me in 1988. She literally has a heart of oak and although much of Sam’s painstaking craftsmanship has been stripped from her, her keel, frame, hull and deck are mostly intact and what is there now is largely sound and secure, much irredeemably rotten and damaged timber having been removed before she was moved inland.

Faced with such a task it was great to get stuck in for a few days and do my small bit to move things forward a little. We removed large amounts of accumulated detritus, redundant wiring and pipework from within the old saloon area and remaining cabins, leaving a clearer field of operations for work on actual restoration to begin. 

We also took delivery of some heavy-duty woodworking machinery from storage elsewhere, ready for its installation in the shed so that serious woodworking activities can commence. Best of all we manhandled a stack of huge pieces of sawn mahogany into safe storage in the shed to provide the wherewithal for eventual refitting of Britannia’s interior to the standard that old friends of her will remember from her heyday providing unforgettable sailing holidays amid some of Britain’s most beautiful land- and seascapes.

None of this is going to be quick or easy, and a lot more financial and practical help will be needed in the next few years before the dream of returning her to the sea in A1 condition can be realised. I left with the firm conviction that Sam & Vicki’s new vision for their old friend is realistic and achievable and I cannot wait to have the opportunity to give another helping hand to the work and to admire the further progress I expect to see when I’m next able to visit. Meanwhile if it’s crossed your mind to lend a hand, do it! I could not have been made more welcome and it’s hard to think of a more satisfying and rewarding way of spending a few days than by rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck in!"

Britannia 1988 Loch Carron

Days 3 and 4 of the Restoration

Today saw the removal of the  rail, pin rails and bulwarks from the starboard side.  



Sam and Gareth managed  to remove the Lumsden  strake in one piece - rare these days to have a 60 foot plank of Scottish larch!  Doesn't sound much when written down, but Britannia is a large vessel and as said before she was constructed to last, so removing this timber took much sweat and a little ripe language.  She is the largest boat in Gweek boatyard.  How Sam managed the construction on his own in the Eighties is remarkable..but he was a lot younger then!!!

                                                                                          

 Completed removal of the transit rail - sadly only a  third can be saved but it looks like we may have sourced some oak to replace it. 

Need to visit the woodyard and see for ourselves.  Sam is always very particular about choosing the timber very carefully.

Part of the oak transit rail

Day 4

Today was spent patiently removing the covering board along the starboard side.  The covering board which surrounds the stanchions will be completely removed and renewed, the design of which will allow the hood ends of a new deck to be fitted into it.   This is reference to a very old ship-building formula to be found in notes relating to the building of HMS Victory, and it is 

“ When the snape of the plank is more than twice the width of the plank, it should be joggled into the spirketing.”!! 

So there you have it.  Who can argue with that? 

So far the stanchions are looking good..

Next time

Next stage to be done in the next few weeks will be to scaffold the port side and do exactly the same thing – remove rail, pinrail, chain plates, and covering board.

more work...

Day Two

Today work started in earnest on removing the rail, pin rail and starboard bulwarks.  With Sam having made a really good job of constructing this in the eighties, the work is hard as well as heart-breaking - the feeling being that it shouldn't have been necessary.  The good news is that some of the wood can be salvaged, and most of the rail can be refurbished.  Just need to be sure that all the rotten pieces of wood are removed.

Starboard chain-plates have now been removed and stored on deck.  There is a possibility that they can be reused, but they are in poor shape.  Some of the stainless steel screws have been saved and can be used again.

plateful of screws

The spars that had been suspended in the roof of the tent were taken down by block and tackle and are now safely stored on deck.  Some dead eyes which we had made in the seventies are still around and can be reused.  Sadly, the standing rigging which we renewed in '93 and had expected that it should have been good for fifty years because it had been greased, wormed, parcelled and served properly, was all gone -  most likely when her mast was cut down by ten feet. The current standing rigging which is bare wire, will need work if it is to be reused.  Her running rigging and blocks were gone which will all have to replaced in the future.

The day ended with the rail and palings being completely  removed from the stern.  The centre piece of the rail was removed in one piece, and most of the rail can be saved with some love and care!   Work began on removing the beautiful oak transit rail at the stern - not an easy task! One section can probably be used again, but the port side is rotten.

The photos may look rather shocking, but we are confident that the situation is mostly cosmetic - fundamentally, her hull and frames are still sound, due to her extraordinary builders, the Worfolk Brothers, and the quality of the timber used 100 years ago.  She still has 100% of her original grown oak frames, and 70% of her planking.  

Showing off her very fine lines!

Happy in their work!

1976 - setting sail from Highbridge in Somerset to Cornwall

1975 Bristol docks, cabin just completed. Before going to Highbridge

Have just found an old diary from 1976 - the only time in my life that I have kept a daily record and that was for just four months.  It makes interesting reading, for me anyhow, as I have forgotten so much over the years!  The summer of 1976 was very, very hot and there were water shortages, droughts and households were being asked to use standpipes.  For us, the boat was moored against a very long wooden jetty, - the rise and fall in the Bristol Channel is 40 feet - which was at least a half mile trek from the tap by the bridge, down the towpath beside the river Brue at Highbridge in Somerset. We had to carry our water in 5 gallon containers and when you have to do this, it becomes very precious, and we did not waste a drop!  Surprisingly, we managed extremely well on 5 gallons a day, so when others went on standpipes, I am afraid to say that we became rather smug..   

Haydn adding his opinion!

I finished work on 5 August - still very hot - and we started to make preparations to sail Britannia to Salcombe in South Devon.  All through the excruciatingly hot summer whilst I had been at work, Sam was busy installing an engine and gearbox in Britannia - very hot difficult work, particularly when you are not anywhere near any facilities such as a quay wall or a workshop.  We fired the engine up for the first time but it was surging and emitting much smoke from the exhaust.  It then ran backwards, burning Sam and I broke my big toe in my haste to escape!  It took a week to sort out the engine, having checked everything that he could, including injectors, pump, tuning etc etc.  Turned out to be simply two pipes between the governor and the venturi that were on the wrong way round.  Hurrah no surging, knocking, running backwards or black smoke.... what a relief.  

This took Sam a week's work, sun still shining and whilst that was happening I was busy stowing gear and clearing up, buying binoculars and hand-bearing compass.  Bought 20 galls of diesel for £6.00, new calor gas cylinder and filled as many 5 gallon water containers as we could.  By the end of August, all gear was stowed, jobs all completed and we were ready to go, but the weather had changed and the forecast was bad.  We warped the boat around and frightened Haydn, who was two and a half, and playing on the bank with Bonnie, our lovely German Shepherd.  Poor boy thought we were off without him and had a little panic!  

Two days of bad weather and then the sun came out again and we set off at 10.30 am on 31 August to navigate down the river on a rising tide out to the muddy Bristol Channel.  Next setback - a very hot gearbox whilst motoring out to Burnham.  Couldn't trace the fault, so decided to have a sail for the day and then return to Highbridge again to fix it.  Big disappointment, but we enjoyed a good sail, anchoring off Watchet at 7 pm.  The wind was fairly strong and I did an anchor watch between 2am and 4 and enjoyed it.  Clear sky, westerly wind, quite a choppy sea, but we made sail at 6.30am and had a great sail back, making 9 knots at times. Wind became fluky off Hinckley point and died away altogether off Burnham.  Motored back up the River Brue with the gearbox still getting very hot, but thankfully it kept running!

Our jetty between '75 and '76 in the Brue

Next day, Sam stripped the gearbox and took it to a workshop where we discovered it was left-handed, which meant that when in forward gear it was geared up for going astern.  Luckily nothing wrong with the gearbox, just needed to transfer gears - starting with  scrapyards.  New jib arrived today. - Sam very pleased with it and we are much less concerned now about leaving and sailing the boat, now we have this new sail.  Having tried several scrapyards for a transfer gear box and failed, we decide to go with the one we have and get a friend to assemble one for us this winter.

South westerly gale blows for 3 days and more rain!  Sam is off to the scrapyard (again!) to find another gearbox to fit into our old A35 van. Old one just died. Seems to be the week of the gearbox.  In the evening I had a problem with the mooring lines as a southerly gale was blowing us off the jetty and I was worried about the condition of the jetty where our bowline was attached.  Had to get it sorted before the tide went out as we would have been lying in the mud with no way of getting on and off the boat!  Drenched, but gale and rain stopped about 11pm.  Very glad to see Sam come home having successfully put the new gearbox in the car.  

It's now mid-September and cold and blustery.  Haydn and I pick lots of blackberries whilst Sam is making a roof fitting for the flue to go through the cabin roof. we have a wonderful cast iron pot bellied stove that we bought for a fiver from a scrappie in Bristol.  Weather getting much chillier and ready for the first of our winter fires.  We are waiting to get a crew together to set off again for Salcombe when our friend comes to tell us the bad news that the mooring that had been arranged in Salcombe had fallen through.  Decided to continue with our plans for going south anyway.  Whilst waiting for the weather to improve and our crew to arrive, Sam re runs the exhaust system through the hull to make a "proper job".  Also bought a copper indirect cylinder for £10 which will give us hot water when we have the fire lighted.  Sam fits a lighting system on deck and below as we had previously been managing with oil lamps.  Another cold, showery day and I go shopping for food for the voyage.  This takes all day, walking a mile with a two year old who will NOT travel in a pushchair!


Our 3 crew members sleep on board on Friday night as weather forecast for the weekend is poor - rain and little wind.  Set sail again at 7am on Saturday 25 September, heavy rain and no wind - lovely!  Only made as far as Lynton on the good tide so anchored for an hour as we were being driven backwards up the channel by a bad tide - Bristol Channel has the second largest rise and fall of tide in the world - makes interesting sailing.....We sailed all night, still raining and wind fluky.  At 2.30am we decided to shelter in Ilfracombe harbour to wait for a good tide.  Sam and I stood the 2-4am watch and he supervised me helming Britannia into Ilfracombe harbour where we anchored for a couple of hours.  Set sail again at 7am, this time in a good stiff breeze and a clear sunny day - super sailing weather.  Left the Bristol Channel at about 9.30am and entered Bideford Bay where we sailed across to Clovelly to wait for a good tide to take us into Bideford.  Tied up at the Quay at 7.30pm on Sunday evening.

Haydn about to swing round the mast! (Now at 42 he works at a height using rope access..)