Wherries
What wonderful pictures - looks like a really great day. Well done the Organisers!
Anorak time: I'm sorry to say that wherries are an enthusiasm of mine, so skip this unless you want to be bored. The two definitive books are "Black Sailed Traders" by Roy Clark (who was involved with saving the Albion in the 1950s) and "Wherries and Waterways" by Robert Maltster.
Lots of old wherries were used to strengthen banks of rivers and dikes - they were sunk in place and then filled with mud dredged from the bottom. They weren't - as far as I know - sunk in the Broads to prevent German Seaplanes landing; getting them up again would have been almost impossible after however many years. Instead the Authorities (useful term) commandeered a lot of the pleasure boats in the region and moored them strategically all over the Broads to prevent floatplanes coming in. Many of them were in a pretty sorry state by 1945.
There never was a real wherry called the Sir Garnet - that was Ransome's invention based on the name of a local hero, Sir Garnet Wolsley (see the pub in Norwich Market named after him). There was a wherry called the Garnet, but I think this was after the semi-precious stone and pre-dated Sir Garnet himself. But in all respects the accounts in Coot Club and The Big Six of sailing a wherry are spot on, especially the stuff about working the tides.
Wherries didn't have topsails - there was no need to catch the wind high up in those days when there weren't many trees along the rivers, and the wherry mainsail was huge - quite big enough to drive the shallow hull even in light airs. Instead they had a "bonnet" - a rectangular sail that laced to the bottom of the mainsail closing the gap between the foot of the main and the deck for use in the lightest winds - a lot easier for a two man crew to manage than a topsail. I suspect the writer who talked about topsails was getting confused with Thames Spritsail Barges.
One strange thing about the Albion - as far as is known it was the only trading wherry which wasn't built of overlapping clinker planks; instead it was carvel-built with planks which butted against each other on very stout wooden frames. So it really was the odd one out of all the hundreds which were built.
Am I boring you?
posted by John McCartney @ 8:36 pm
6 Comments:
Let's do it. Committee meeting required.
Agreed! It would be geat fun with all the chums! My Mum and Dad are down this weekend, but we might still be able to get together to plan.
Don't know when Max and Anthea return from foreign parts; who else? How many can you take?
12 maximum, plus crew of two who have to be fed and watered.
This last not at all onerous if they are all like Pete and Dave last time!
So...Paul/Naomi, John/Linda, Max/ Anthea, Sue/Richard, Dinah/Maurice, Chris/Jim would be my initial thoughts, although this omits all our offspring, so we might want to establish if we think this is ok.
'Sgood by me. Offspring can sort themselves out for once! If all invited parties contribute it should only cost about £35 per couple I reckon.
We've all got stuck with wherries! I'm going to get the camera out and take some garden- updating pictures this week, so there should be something new to see before long.
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