There were seven boats called Speedwell over the years, this particular boat was built at Arnside in 1919 for, and registered with Morecambe Fisherman's Mutual Assurance from 1919 until 1932 by Percy Baxter of 2 Morecambe Street.
She was in the Morecambe Regatta 23/09/1921, the next we know of her was July 1938 when she was owned by John Martin Junior of Fleetwood, she was sold on 20 October 1943 to William Stevenson of 231 Clifton Drive South, St Anne's, then bought on 25 July 1944 by Odafoam Limited of 46 Greenland Street, Liverpool when she was skippered by Alfred Pilkington.
She was purchased on 23 March 1946 by Robert Moss Woodhouse of 26 Sun Street, Morecambe. Sold on 29th December 1965 to Charles George Overett of 20 Burlington Avenue.
On the 3rd May 1973 she was purchased by Mr D Towne of Fleetwood. We have copies of receipts from her sale twice in 1988, one, dated 23/6/88 is signed by a JB Nolan and records "received from KG Wilson" £800.00 cash, the other, 4 months later on 22/10/88 records the sale to Chris Tulloch by what looks like G Wilson. Chris owned her from then until 1st of May 2006 when she was bought by myself, Derek Bayley with the intention of restoring her and using her as a cruising boat.
She carried several numbers over the years:
LR31 13.08.1920 until 22.11.1933
WO74 06.12.1933 until 25.03.1938
FD97 09.05.1938 until 23.03.1946
LR29 18.04.1946 until 03.05.1973
WA42 papers not yet found.
With grateful thanks to Nick and Martin from the Old Gaffers Association who between them supplied most of this history.
If you can help with filling in any of the blanks in her history please drop us a line using the contact page.
| Showing Entries 26 - 50 of 72 | « Previous Page 1 2 3 Next Page » | Page 2 of 3 |
| 7th July 2007 Posted at 4:11 pm on Friday, July 6th 2007 |
  Intended to spend an hour cleaning out the forefoot ready to fit the stem next week, instead of which I spent the whole day playing, ended up with the stem and knee, fitted. made and fitted the apron and the first floor, (and a little fillet to fill up an unused area on the top of the stem knee). Everything is glued and screwed so I don't think it'll move before the next millenium, I took out the samson post to make access easier, the deck is definitely soft now, I put my foot through while moving around today, |
| 2nd July 2007 Posted at 10:17 am on Tuesday, July 3rd 2007 |
 strange how big she looks with the roof over her, hope it survives the weather. |
| 2nd July 2007 Posted at 10:12 am on Tuesday, July 3rd 2007 |
 We finally got around to putting the cover on today, used the time while waiting for our boat builder friend to arrive,(must be something to do with the word 'builder', you wait in all day...) I'd made a start on this last week but work and other stuff meant it got left again so it was good to have an excuse to stay here and finish it. |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 5:09 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
 Just a note, if you want to print off any pics of your boat, please feel free, just click on the picture, which will open in a new link, right click the picture and click 'save page as', you can rename it and save, after that you can print to a hard copy. Almost forgot, Rose and Spray, wish I'd had a telephoto lens for this one, not a good resolution but you get the idea. |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 5:04 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
| Well, that's them sorted, I took about 100 or so pic's, some of which I resized for this, a lot of them were for my own reference in rebuilding Speedwell but if there's anything I might have that's useful to anyone, just ask via the contact us link and I'll see what I can find, Thank you all once again for a memorable day. |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 4:57 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
   Allan checking out our short cut (we did go round that yacht), Laura, in our sights (maybe next year), The Liver building |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 4:52 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
 oops wrong pic, this is the one I meant for Eleanora and Juanita |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 4:50 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
   Spray, and Eleanora assisting Juanita out of the basin, oh, and a crew that was barking, (poor joke but the best I can do at the moment!) |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 4:39 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
   Nanette, Quest and Rose |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 4:35 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
   I don't recall seeing this green boat in the dock on the Saturday night, I can't make out the name on the picture, looks like it ends in S or 8, if you can help please contact me on the 'contact us' page at the top left of this site, Hannah Hambleton, and Laura (2nd June 08 had an e mail from Casey who says the green Nobby is the Jean owned by Tony Wright) |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 4:30 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
   Moving out of the Albert Dock, Ann E, Anna Ellidi, and Polly |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 4:27 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
   Getting ready for the off |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 4:25 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
   and more |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 4:21 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
   more pics |
| 17th June 2007 Posted at 4:16 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
   The day of the Nobby race, weather was ok, sun appeared intermittently, but came out when the boats moved out of the dock, think someone must have booked it! wind forecast Force 2-3 SSW by the start falling to 2 later |
| 16th June 2007 Posted at 4:08 pm on Monday, June 18th 2007 |
| The day before the annual Nobby race, I travelled down to Liverpool on the afternoon, checked into a hotel and wandered down to the Albert Dock to introduce myself to Roger Bucknall, owner and Skipper of the Pilkington, had a wander around and talked to various owners about their boats, everyone was very willing to help and show off their boat |
| 7th June 2007 Posted at 6:58 pm on Thursday, June 7th 2007 |
| Its been a long time since I updated this, apologies to the 2000 or so of you that check it out each month, with work, study, oh and family life there hasn't been much time for me to do much more than supervise, all the caulking is finally out, a job that, on reflection might have been a bit of overkill as most of what came out was clean and fairly white, after a bit of advice and discussion on various forums I settled on marine grade stainless steel screws to re fasten all the planks that are staying, it was an expensive option as it cost almost £300 for 1000 14 x 80 mm, when i first started out on this a visitor to the boatyard asked how much I thought I would spend on the rebuild, 'about £15000' I said confidently, he smiled and walked away, I'm beginning to see why. Still, we have made progress in the time since the last update, I'll sort some pics out in the next couple of days, one thing I hadn't considered was our proximity to the local industry and the possible effects of the rain on the remaining fabric of the hull, I had put off fitting the plastic cover due to the high winds we had earlier in the year, looking at her the other day she seems to be deteriorating again, this is in wood that is going to be changed anyway but it makes be a bit nervous, see you soon. |
| 6th February 2007 Posted at 11:42 am on Tuesday, February 6th 2007 |
| been a while since I updated this, not a lot happened since we pulled the rudder off and examined the stern post, we now have some heavy lengths of steel to make a new keel strake, the oak for the covering boards should be on its way soon, last week I picked up the grown fork to cut the stem reinforcement from which should also give me the material to cut the first one or two deck beams from, looking forward to priming and fitting the first new wood to her this weekend, just bought a new camera after my iffy Canon finally gave up the ghost so should have some pic's again! |
| 4th Jan 2007 Posted at 6:54 pm on Thursday, January 4th 2007 |
| Colin burning off paint again, needed to make a decision about this sternpost so ground off the heads of the bolts holding the rudder brackets and punched them out, badly wasted inside (suppose I would be after 88 years!). taking the brackets away revealed the fixings for the stern knee, a rather large bolt which would get in the way of a stern tube, this and the comments from the Classic Boat forum have made me reconsider a centre prop installation, apparently a few east coast smacks have a twin screw hydraulic drive and folding props which sounds like a canny idea, if anyone knows of any details please feel free to contact on the page above. |
| 18/12/06 Posted at 2:11 pm on Wednesday, December 27th 2006 |
| I've cut some templates for covering boards and am going to drop them off to John's this morning, just needed to call into the butcher's to get a proper marrow bone for his dog, Oliver. one of the changes I'll be making to speedwell is the edge of the deck, at present all the deck planks present their end grain to the weather, I intend to fit oak covering boards all round, 1 To keep the weather off the edge of the deck planks, 2 It will look more workmanlike, 3 to give me something substantial to fasten stanchion brackets to if and when I decide to fit handrails, (At some point we will have children on board), I think I've found a source of iron ballast to replace what's been stolen over the years, bit by bit things are sorting out, don't expect to get much done now with Christmas on the way, Colin has been burning off the paint and digging out the loose putty etc. so we can see where the rot is, it's looking as though the sternpost might be up for changing, if so then I'm thinking we could fit a wider sternpost and have room for a sterntube, I've come across one workboat that was built with a centre prop, Mona I think she was called, in 1906. also a 'nobby'yacht called Janet built in 1896 both had this arrangement, this with a hydraulic drive and a modern engine should keep the intrusion into the cabin to a minimum (and the noise down!) |
| 9 - 10 - 11/12/06 Posted at 1:44 pm on Wednesday, December 27th 2006 |
   On with Speedwell, pulled out all the projecting nails and in the process lifted the stem deadwood which came off very easily, the top of the forefoot was sound so I used the old piece as a template and cut the new piece on the new bandsaw, couldn’t believe how quick it was, ½ an hour and the new piece was sorted, trimmed and test fitted, wish it could all go at this pace. Started on the new stem, marked out the line of the rabbets and started to chisel them out, had a go with the carving disc I bought but it's so powerful I chickened out, I didn't want to rive big chunks out and ruin the job so settled for hand work instead,by Monday lunchtime it was all shaped, sanded, test fitted and photographed, I did have a go with the carving disc on the second rabbet, gloves and goggles are absolutely essential as chippings fly all over! holding the grinderette steady is the key, if you can brace it against something then what an excellent little tool that is, otherwise forget it. |
| Sailing In The Mersey Posted at 12:15 pm on Wednesday, December 27th 2006 |
 As she was before she moved to Hartlepool, the guy with the 'tash fighting the staysail is Chris. |
| Speedwell In 1988 Posted at 12:07 pm on Wednesday, December 27th 2006 |
 As she was when Chris Tulloch bought her, hardly recognisable for what she is. |
Posted at 12:06 pm on Wednesday, December 27th 2006 |
 |
| Speedwell In The 60's Posted at 12:04 pm on Wednesday, December 27th 2006 |
 Lent by Chris Tulloch |
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