Mercy Jane - a classic restored yacht

I last went to this festival about 5yrs ago on Sceptre and was keen to go again in Mercy Jane as I felt it was a good event and had enjoyed it very much and also it was an opportunity to show her off at a relatively local venue, if you can call the Isle of Man local.

 After speaking to Graham about it we decided to go regardless of  weather conditions or anything else, we just needed some crew to assist, me and Graham can sail her between us but its hard work as one of us has to remain on the helm whilst the other does all the sail handling and the sails are extremely large and very heavy. I managed to persuade both John Hindle and Steve Capstick to come along and felt we had a good bunch of lads to take Mercy Jane across the Irish Sea, which can and usually is a very uncomfortable trip.  We looked at the tide tables and agreed that the best time to go would be around 3pm on Thursday to arrive in Peel in the early hours of Friday, a crossing of around 14hrs going directly to Peel through the Calf Sound. We got away at about 3.30pm on Thursday in bright sunshine and headed out into the channel in light winds then headed generally for the wind farm off Barrow and could see that the turbines were not moving indicating that there was no wind to speak of.  We passed quite close to the turbines and were amazed at the size of them, they towered over us like huge trees unmoving in the light airs. Passing the wind farm we set a course for the south end of the Isle of Man, it was very clear with brilliant visibility and could clearly see the clouds over the island.  The next few hours were spent under engine with regular cups of tea making the trip very pleasant but still no wind. 

We soon could see a gas platform in the distance which gave a good target to aim for as it was bang on our course, then the Isle of Man became visible quite clearly with the setting sun highlighting the mountains and giving a spectacular sunset. Graham had brought a home made casserole which we ate just before sunset, all sat in the cockpit, accompanied by a glass of red wine……….very civilised.

It was agreed that we would take watches through the night starting at 10pm with Graham and Steve together and me and John taking the first watch from 10pm to 12 midnight.  It was a very calm night, a flat sea and quite warm so keeping watch was quite enjoyable, so much so that we didn’t hand over till nearly 1am by which time we were ready for some sleep.  We were woken from our deep sleep just as we had emerged through the Calf Sound,it was daylight and the wind had increased to about 12 knots so we were sailing. Unfortunately the wind was not quite right to lay a course for Peel, as usual, so after 15mins or so of sailing away from the land we dropped sail and motored towards Peel which we reached about an hour later. 

 On reaching the breakwater we decided to tie to it for a few hours until we could enter the inner harbour, so we bedded down again and caught up on some well earned sleep.  We must have needed it, I awoke at one point to the sound of the other three all snoring their heads off with great gusto. We finally got into Peel inner harbour at midday on Friday and rafted up alongside another traditional boat and feeling more relaxed we had a couple of beers and generally entered into the spirit of the festival, mainly by visiting most of the local hostelries and sampling the local brews.  One of the features of the Peel Festival is that most of the food is provided in that the organisers arrange for an evening meal at the sailing club on both days and for a bag of kippers, bread, cheese and milk to be left in the cockpit each morning, enough for a hearty breakfast, and very welcome too. Saturday afternoons activities consisted of a race around the bay, really a display of all the traditional boats, which we entered at the last minute in bright sunshine and just a breath of wind.  We timed our crossing of the start line just about right and proceded to catch and overtake most of the other boats much to our delight till we eventually caught up with the leading pack in very light winds, making around 1-2 knots. 

The race culminated in an incident at the final buoy as we held our ground and managed to fend off the other competing boats, with a few coarse comments and a little pushing and shoving, crossing the line in front of these other boats by the finest margin.  We were jubilant as we made our way back to the harbour and decided to partake in a few more beers to celebrate. The revelry continued on into the evening,  several beers being consumed at the Sailing Club along with trays of Queenies which were handed out by the festival organisers accompanied by some excellent traditional music from a band called King Chiaullee. 

We were very pleased to find that during the trophy presentations we had been awarded the best Bermudan rigged boat in the festival and duly collected the trophy along with several more beers. The evening continued in the same vein until around 1am we found ourselves in the cockpit entertaining ourselves with a bit of banjo music from yours truly. Sunday arrived with the kippers as usual and a very sunny day, unfortunately we had to leave to make our way back to Fleetwood and left as soon as the gates opened, around 3pm.  W

e enjoyed a leisurely sail down to Calf Sound then turning into the wind we had to rely on the engine once more.  Despite our best efforts to get back to Fleetwood in time to catch the gates open we missed it by 30 mins or so had to anchor in a small pool just outside the marina which allowed us to remain for the day waiting for the gates to open again at the next tide.

We did eventually tie up in our usual berth and made our way home after a very memorable weekend.    

WINTER MAINTENANCE
 

Although we expected the hull planking to move a bit after her first season in the water for 25 yrs or so we didn’t anticipate the amount of work it would entail.
  The topsides had already been stripped back to bare wood earlier in the year and the joints splined, and  after painting had provided a first class finish.  David Moss carried out this work which involved an activity called ‘flogging off’ which is planing the hull planking by hand to a fair finish, no filler is used and any movement of the planking is reduced to a minimum.
 Following the lifting out at the end of the season we could see that the bottomsides were not looking very healthy.  The planking had swollen, moved and cracked off the paint and filler we had used to fair the hull.  We were advised by David Moss that the only way to get the bottomsides looking good again was to strip off all the paint back to bare wood and repaint using a paint system that he recommended.  We decided to carry out the work ourselves to save costs and David agreed that we could do the work in the boatshed and he would repaint the topsides at the same time.
 

 (click to enlarge).

  The only way to get the paint off is to burn it off,  we commenced this enormous task not fully realizing how long it would all take.  Layers and layers of paint came off using gas guns and special scrapers, this took about 4 weekends with both of us at it.  Standing under the boat with burning strips of old paint landing on your hands and clothing is not fun.  Once the paint was stripped off we started the even bigger task of ‘flogging off’   This involves planing the hull planking by hand to get a fair finish, usually working uphill,  very difficult and very tiring work,  fortunately Graham offered to carry out this bit while I followed on with the random orbital sander taking out the smaller bumps and ridges left by the plane.  This job has taken a long time but has resulted in a very good looking fair hull.   Hopefully now the hull has been faired by this method it should be ok for several years.
  Repainting of the hull bottomsides is due to start  with a view to launching around 25^th May, 06.
    

FOR many years Mercy Jane was in a sorry state, washed-up and neglected. Gutted and stripped of fittings, her larch on oak hull and pine deck were bone dry - worn and weathered as she stood among scrap in a boat yard in Milford Haven, South Wales.

The boat yard had started a restoration by stripping it to an empty shell but went bankrupt before any further work could be done. When another firm moved in, it was taken out of storage and its bare wood exposed to the elements for five years before it was put up for sale as a potential restoration project for £5,000.

Sailing buddies Graham Crawshaw and Rhys Kift, who first met while taking navigation classes at the former Percival Whitley College, Halifax, spotted the vessel advertised in a boating magazine in 1993, along with an engine and various fittings. Having heard of the boat’s distinguished designer Robert Clark, they decided to take a look and put in a successful bid of £2,000.

They then hauled it up to Graham’s work yard at O & W Crawshaw Ltd building and joinery contractors at Castle Quarry, Nursery Lane, Ripponden, and built a shed around the 39ft long boat. As the restoration project began they conducted research into its history and to try to put it back, piece by piece to its former glory.

They were faced with having to work out the levels, spaces and construction of the boat from the positions of the screw holes. “We only had the hull to go on, an empty shell to restore the boat to what it was originally,” said Mr Kift, 57, of Lytham St Anne’s, who is contracts manager at Mr Crawshaw’s firm. “We did not have any information, experience or photos of what it looked like. “Then when we wanted to start building the interior of the boat but we had no idea of the lines and levels so we looked where the holes for the screws and bolts were to try to work it out.”

During their research they found out that the Greenwich Maritime Museum kept boat designs, and to their delight they were told they had the original designs of Mercy Jane. Museum officials handed over copies of the designs, and the two men suddenly had a real chance of making their dream come to life. They also managed to unearth the original logs of the boat’s first owner, the distinguished yachtsman John Morris, who named the boat after his wife Jane. And they found copies of the Royal Cruising Club Journal in which he gave accounts of his trips. Research revealed that the vessel was built in 1939 in the boat yard of Carl Andersson in Sundsandvik, Sweden.

During the outbreak of war Mr Morris and his wife took it on its maiden voyage from Sweden to the Aland Isles in the centre of the Baltic Sea. And on September 1 that year, they were stopped by a German ship. He gave a description of the encounter in the Royal Cruising Club Journal. “At noon we had a mild scare: a German Government vessel, possibly a mine-layer, came out of her way to look at us,” he said. “She circled slowly round, and her officers regarded us fixedly through glasses, while all her crew lined the rail. “Jane saved the situation by giving a cheerful wave, which was somewhat coldly reciprocated, and she steamed away.”

Because of the war, the boat was then stored away in a shed in Lowestoft. The next account of Mercy Jane in the Royal Cruising Club Journal was in 1946 and his last entry was in 1952. Later two sets of owners are known to have kept the boat and sailed it around Scotland, including the Bathgate brothers in the 1960s and 1970s. But it later went into decline and eventually found itself in a Welsh boat yard for restoration. Mr Crawshaw, 52, of Nursery Lane, Ripponden, said when he and Mr Kift bought Mercy Jane in 1993 they worked on it two nights a week, plus Saturday and Sunday afternoons, solidly for about five or six years. More recently, as it neared completion, they have just been working for two nights a week.

Throughout the restoration they have also had to study the science behind the reaction of materials when they are immersed in sea water, and traditional boat building techniques. Recently they contacted a traditional boat builder, David Moss, who owns a boat yard in Skippool, near Fleetwood, to ask him to make a mast and boom and fit the electronics, to complete the boat.

Last Saturday, the four-berth boat was finally taken out of the shed by removing one of the walls. On Thursday, it will be lifted on to a transporter before it sets off to Skippool on the following day. They then plan to launch it into the River Wyre and, after its sea trials, sail up to Scotland. Ultimately they want to retrace its maiden voyage from Sweden into the Baltic Sea. Mercy Jane has two sister ships, Kalistra and Tenara.

Mr Crawshaw and Mr Kift managed to track down Kalistra in a harbour in Salcombe five years ago and were given a trip on the boat. They have never managed to find Tenara. Mr Kift said because Mercy Jane had taken up so much of their time over the years it had become a big part of their lives. They have even had visits from local clubs and organisations who are interested in the history of the boat and the progress of the restoration. He said his family had been beginning to wonder if they would ever complete it but they were now extremely excited.

“It is going to be quite a moment. We have never sailed it in the water,” he said. “We have built it from this empty shell. It will just be unbelievable to see it in the water and sail away. “It has been a labour of love. And at the end of the day, we have got something that is a one off. It is unique. “It will attract a lot of attention when we get it sailing. It will be quite an experience when we get it to the ports and harbours in Scotland because it used to be a regular sight up there.”

An account of her inaugural sail following 11yrs of restoration. We’d had a couple of short shakedown sails in the channel just outside Fleetwood to see that everything was working alright and that the new engine behaved itself, which it did, perfectly.

Graham and myself work together and the prospect of a day off, known locally as ‘September Break’ with a good weather forecast persuaded us to take Mercy Jane on her first sailing trip following an extensive restoration which had taken us 11yrs. The plan was to leave on the tide at about 2.30pm on Sunday, 11th September,05 which would give us plenty of time to get to Piel Island, stay overnight then sail back the next day.

We’d never been to Piel Island before but had been informed by local sailors that it was an ideal first trip being about 11 miles. Piel Island is located off Barrow, A . small island with a castle and a pub and sounded good. The boat was provisioned up, with lots of beer, the sun was shining and we were off. The lock gates to Fleetwood marina opened up at 3.45pm so we cast off, Graham at the helm and headed out into the river.

It was decided to motor till we were out of the channel where we would hoist the sails and make for Piel Island. We got to the Cardinal Buoy at the seaward end of the channel in no time, the engine easily pushing us along at 5 knots, to find that the wind was directly on the nose, which in my experience it always is. Anyway, undeterred, the sails were hoisted, we would tack, we were going to sail there regardless of the wind direction.

Once Mercy Jane gets into the groove she sails very well, making about 5 knots under main and jib sail, the original sails, the main being very baggy and the jib being too small, nevertheless it was good going. After a couple of tacks, Blackpool Tower was clearly visible keeping us company as we headed generally for a new wind farm installation under construction just off Barrow. We were having a really good sail, Graham suggested making a cup of tea and went below. This type of distraction nearly always invites trouble and lo and behold as soon as he had gone below the wind increased and with it so did the sea.

Mercy Jane was now well over on her ear, Graham was still trying to make the tea and we had full sail up and definitely overcanvassed. The sea by this time had risen to a nasty short steep chop that was bouncing Mercy Jane all over the place. We drank the tea quick, it was time to reduce sail, in fact we decided to get all the sail down so I made my way to the foredeck. Mercy Jane’s bow was now dipping into the oncoming waves and then rising dramatically, so hanging on with one hand the jib sail was dropped and tied onto the rail.

Next the mainsail was dropped, roughly flaked onto the boom and tied in place, I was glad to get back into the safety of the cockpit. By this time we had reached the Shoal Buoy marking the channel into Barrow which we followed until we reached an area full of mooring buoys between Piel Island and the Isle of Roa, which in fact is part of the mainland connected by a narrow causeway, where we picked up a good sized mooring. It was a very quiet and peaceful place with very few other boats, the anchorage being split in half by the deep channel leading into Barrow docks and the pub on Piel Island looking a long way away.

Once we had checked out our surroundings, the sea had died down to a flat calm so we pumped up the dinghy and motored across to the island towards the inviting lights of the Ship Inn. The landlord informed us that we were the first customers he’d had for about 3 days, most people had gone back to work,the holiday season being over and it was a bit quiet, anyway the beer was very welcome. Back on board later in the evening we lit the oil lamps, warmed up the chilli and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine from a bottle that Graham had given me some 10 yrs earlier called ‘Cabin Boy Kift’ which I had saved for this occasion.

Surprisingly it was very good,so was the chilli. The atmosphere in the boat was very cosy, we both looked around not believing that we were here, actually sailing in Mercy Jane after all this time. Next day we awoke to a lovely bright, sunny day. It had been a quiet night, the weather that is, not so inside the boat, sleeping in the same cabin as Graham is like sleeping next to a Rhinocerous! Taking advantage of the sunny weather we went across to the island again and explored the castle which has been there since 1450 or so. After mooching around for a couple of hours we returned to the boat, had some lunch and got ready to leave.

It was still a lovely sunny day with no wind so we resigned ourselves to motoring back to Fleetwood in time for the lock gates to open at around 4.30pm. We had a fairly uneventful trip back, except that the chartplotter lost all the GPS data which was puzzling to us, the same had happened on our outward trip, apart from that it was a very pleasant sail back. We entered Fleetwood Marina with a little excitement caused by the Lockmaster asking us to go to a visitors berth not recognising our name.

We are a little nervous entering the marina normally not quite having got the hang of how she handles at close quarters so we entered in some trepidation to find with some relief that our berth was still free. After a couple of waltzes around the pontoon we were finally tied up and with some relief sat down with a couple of beers. All in all it was a successful trip, we had got to Piel Island and back, Mercy Jane sails very well and she is very comfortable. There are a couple of minor teething problems which can be expected from what is essentially a new boat, the biggest problem being the Chartplotter losing the data, this is a brand new bit of kit so is still under guarantee and hopefully can be put right.

Mercy Jane is a very lovely boat and attracts attention wherever she goes, she is also a very technical boat and requires quite a lot of skill to sail her, John Morris was obviously a very skilled sailor having sailed Mercy Jane all over Europe without an engine and very little in the way of navigational aids. We are looking forward to our next trip, The Isle of Man perhaps…

Although we expected the hull planking to move a bit after her first season in the water for 25 yrs or so we didn’t anticipate the amount of work it would entail. The topsides had already been stripped back to bare wood earlier in the year and the joints splined, and after painting had provided a first class finish.

David Moss carried out this work which involved an activity called ‘flogging off’ which is planing the hull planking by hand to a fair finish, no filler is used and any movement of the planking is reduced to a minimum. Following the lifting out at the end of the season we could see that the bottomsides were not looking very healthy.

The planking had swollen, moved and cracked off the paint and filler we had used to fair the hull. We were advised by David Moss that the only way to get the bottomsides looking good again was to strip off all the paint back to bare wood and repaint using a paint system that he recommended. We decided to carry out the work ourselves to save costs and David agreed that we could do the work in the boatshed and he would repaint the topsides at the same time.

The only way to get the paint off is to burn it off, we commenced this enormous task not fully realizing how long it would all take. Layers and layers of paint came off using gas guns and special scrapers, this took about 4 weekends with both of us at it. Standing under the boat with burning strips of old paint landing on your hands and clothing is not fun.

Once the paint was stripped off we started the even bigger task of ‘flogging off’ This involves planing the hull planking by hand to get a fair finish, usually working uphill, very difficult and very tiring work, fortunately Graham offered to carry out this bit while I followed on with the random orbital sander taking out the smaller bumps and ridges left by the plane.

This job has taken a long time but has resulted in a very good looking fair hull. Hopefully now the hull has been faired by this method it should be ok for several years. Repainting of the hull bottomsides is due to start with a view to launching around 25th May, 06.