Template:Featured picture/June 2022
|
The Western Ocean Yachts were a class of three masted schooners built in Porthmadog from 1890 to 1913. The first built was the Blodwen and the last the Gestiana. Thirty three were built from 1891 to 1913 by different builders in and around Porthmadog but they were not uniform in size or some details. This was the last great flowering of wooden deep sea commercial sailing ship construction in the UK. For the list of their names see Portmadoc Maritime. They were the ultimate development of the small wooden merchant sailing ship in Britain. Porthmadog shipbuilders never built steel hulled ships. The M A James held the record for passage from Porthmadog to the mouth of the River Elbe at 4.5 days. She was owned by the Slade family of Appledore who had bought her from Plymouth in 1930 after a long period when she had been laid up there. She was returned to Appledore after the war, but the cost of repairs was estimated to be more than her value. She ended up at Snuffy on the west bank of the river Torridge between Bideford and Appledore where she remains to this day. Hughes and Eames say she was the last Porthmadog ship - they were probably excluding steamers. Photo credit: User:MarkTemple
Recently featured:
|