Our featured boat for November is owned by our most southerly members, Edward & Charlotte, based in Dover. Edward pens a few words about the Manx Nobby ‘Harbinger’ and asks if anyone can shed light on some of her earlier history.
Caring for Ruby the Border Collie made finding time for sailing rather difficult, so after 15 years custodianship of the gaff-rigged, J Francis Jones designed, Sole Bay motorsailer ketch ‘Vega of Garth’, it seemed a good idea to hang up the seaboots. Tom Colville bought ‘Vega’ immediately, and valiantly sailed her single-handed from Dover to her new home in beautiful west Scotland. It wasn’t long for me before seller’s remorse set in. It wouldn’t hurt to have a look around I thought, and soon became interested in the gaff cutter rig, which offered a very pleasing appearance and better sailing performance. On auto pilot, I’d soon test-sailed ‘Harbinger’ and agreed to buy her from Mike Sullivan in Southampton. He had sailed her in many OGA events, including to Brest and Holland. I liked her character, lines, motion and ability to sail in very little wind compared to my previous motorsailer. I must have viewed this excellent video of her hundreds of times.
In October 2021 we sailed ‘Harbinger’ to her new home in Dover with an overnight stop at Eastbourne. On trying to leave the lock the engine wouldn’t re-start, but we eventually traced that to a loose wire. I later discovered that getting the sails down can be quite dramatic if mishandled. There was quite a lot of mainly cosmetic work to be done, which has satisfyingly filled my retirement ever since.
‘Harbinger’ is a Manx Nobby fishing boat. She has their typical carvel construction of larch on oak, rounded stern and markedly angled stern post, and originally had a two-masted lug rig. She’s 38 ft on the deck by 11ft 6in beam, 5ft 6 in draught and displaces 13 tons with a lot of internal ballast. She was probably built before WW1, but the details of exactly when and where are unknown: if you know anything, please pass it on. She had a major refit on the south coast in the 1980s.
She was converted at some stage to gaff rig and an engine was fitted with the prop shaft offset a little to stbd. The stern kicks to port when going astern, so marina manoeuvring is best done with stbd turns. This worried me at first, but has turned out to be manageable, as she can turn all right in her own length. The fish hold has been replaced by a fwd cabin and saloon with quarter berth. It’s topped with a low coach roof that allows standing room for me in the saloon.
In January, Ruby the dog passed on at the same time as the project reached readiness to participate in the OGA East Coast cruise. Admiral Charlotte and previous owner Mike, who retains a strong attachment to the ship, came along. We had a wonderful time on a cruise that I probably wouldn’t have attempted without the OGA organisation and encouragement. I still want another Border Collie though. Would it perhaps be possible to train one as a sea dog?
Edward Ferris
You must be logged in to post a comment.