Back to Case StudiesHistoric boat takes
Vastern oak
Neilson’s Historic Boatyard at Gloucester Docks has been using Vastern’s English oak in the reconstruction of ‘Cornubia’, a one-time Bristol Channel pilot cutter that is nearly 100 years old. The hold is likely to be rebuilt by the autumn of 2005, and the aim is to have the interior fitted out by the summer of 2006, when she will again take to the water. John McCarthy and Sandy Toksvig sailed around Britain in this boat, then named ‘Hirta’, in the late 1980s, and wrote a book about their experiences. Neilson & Company was established at Gloucester Docks in 1987 by Sarah White and Tommi Neilson, who had previously sailed there on board the tall ships.
‘Cornubia’ was built at Polruan, near Fowey, in 1907. She worked for less than fifteen years, then became a pleasure craft, and continued to sail as such until the late 1990s. Then she went into rapid decline. For her renaissance, Vastern Timber has supplied a range of curved and shaped oak to suit the specific requirements of the hull. The timbers were cut from trees that were especially selected for their natural bow. This reduces cross grain and, in turn, reduces the chance of breakage. According to Dave Madgwick, round timber buyer for Vastern Timber, the most difficult pieces to find were the wishbone-shaped sections used along the base of the hull.
The rebuild has been entrusted to a company that is dedicated to building new life into historic boats: craft that require large amounts of timber in their reconstruction. Under restoration at the moment is an authentic Viking longboat, which has been a museum piece since it was rowed across the North Sea to Ramsgate half a century ago. It is now being reconstructed for Thanet District Council – exactly as it would originally have been made. In one of the firm’s two dry docks is ‘Mascot’, another historic Bristol Channel pilot cutter. Neilson’s boatyard also famously worked on HMS Gannet, a 200-foot-long, three-masted navy sloop, built in 1876.
Neilson & Co. can be found at The Repair Yard, Gloucester Docks, Gloucester GL1 2EH. Tel: 01452 301117