History
Mercy Jane is a classic yacht that has been refurbished for over 12 years in West Yorkshire by Rhys Kift and Graham Crawshaw
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 yard in 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 Rhys.
“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. Graham said when he and Rhys 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.
Graham and Rhys 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. Rhys 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.”
