Projects

Maritime Historian

WYN DAVIES

Small Vessel Restoration

Barnabas, Lydia Eva, Calshot Tug Tender, Mary Gordon, HDML, Robin, Barnabas, HSL, 102, Portwey, Pilgrim and Lydia Eva.

I have been entrusted by the heritage lottery fund with the responsibility of monitoring several small vessel restorations. These span the scales from the Barnabas, a 40ft Cornish Herring (or Pilchard) Driver, to the Lydia Eva, the last surviving steam drifter.

All these projects were brought to a successful conclusion, but all of them provided ample opportunity to learn fresh lessons. Perhaps the paramount lesson for clients or contractors is to be sure of your work scope before getting quotes, especially if you are looking for a fixed price! Almost as important is to know your subject and to be able to decide which features define the vessel type and which were just matters of the skipper’s fancy.

These projects covered a similarly wide range of vessel types, from the last surviving electric river launch (The Mary Gordon) to the last “Dirty British coaster” the SS Robin.

Many lessons have been learnt and passed on. In the case of the Mary Gordon, having a fixed place of abode withdrawn at the last minute proved fatal to the Trust's application for lottery funding, a problem potentially shared by quite a few owners.

Most of the work involved full or partial survey, the compilation of various plans for lottery applications and standing by restoration work. In a few cases the owners also needed a valuation which we can also supply..

Fishing Boats

Work for Grimsby and Hull, added to the Lydia Eva project and others has involved understanding the whole range of our fishing boat heritage, from Cornish sailing drifters to the deep water sidewinder trawler of the 1950’s.

Large
Vessels

Maritime Historian

WYN DAVIES

Large Vessel Restoration

In addition to such vessels as the Warrior and Shieldhall (see separate section) I have been involved in providing support to a number of our more iconic preserved vessels. Foremost amongst these are HMS Trincomalee in Hartlepool, Scott’s Discovery in Dundee, HMS Cavalier now in Chatham, the Cutty Sark and most recently the RMS Queen Mary (see also overseas)

In each case the work involved surveying the vessel or part thereof, leading to a restoration specification, Conservation Management and various other plans required by the HLF.

Specialists were called in for various aspects of the work, and in the case of the Cavalier, to oversee her restoration in a Tyneside shipyard prior to her being towed to Chatham.

Cutty Sark

In the early 1980s the owners of the Cutty Sark, the then Cutty Sark Trust, realised that the fabric of the vessel was in some distress. Having recently been employed to oversee the restoration of the Mizzen Mast it was logical to be invited to manage the full condition survey of the rest of the ship.

As a result it was to be my signature on the report that stated that the vessel would become unsafe for public access unless remedial work was set in hand. This led to an initial, unsuccessful bid to the HLF, but was followed by a successful one leading to the restored and re-displayed ship open once again to the public.

My personal involvement ended with the successful HLF bid, but it is pleasing to see her once again open to her public.

Restoration Report for the Cutty Sark

HMS Warrior

Whilst working on the Cutty Sark I was also employed by the HLF to monitor two high value projects. One of these was a refit for the sole surviving passenger steamship, the SS Shieldhall, whilst the other was the re-decking of the restored HMS Warrior, Britain’s first successful iron warship.

One of the lessons learnt early in my career was that good timber doesn’t come cheap and the requirements for Warrior was for a long life, low maintenance deck to replace the historically accurate, but vulnerable, Pitch Pine. The decision had been already made that teak would be used and this was sourced directly from Burma, something that has only now become possible again, the very best shipbuilding timber possible. The decking was laid by the Maritime Workshop, Gosport and the result is the fine deck to be seen today.

Queen Mary

As part of a combined UK/US team we were contracted to carry out an in-depth survey of this iconic vessel. The final report contained a considerable number of recommendations for restoration or refurbishment throughout the vessel reflecting some years of maintenance backlog.  It is believed that

work has started under the auspices of the new lease holder, the vessel  belonging to the city of Long Beach.

Modern
Vessels

Maritime Historian

WYN DAVIES

Modern Vessel Design

During my time with the Ministry of Defence (Royal Corps of Naval Constructors) I was lucky enough to work under the late D K Brown whilst designing the RN’s Castle Class offshore patrol vessels (I believe this was the last ship type to be designed by hand for the RN and now happily in service with Bangladeshi Navy) and then on to lead the team designing the Batch II and III versions of the Type 22 Frigate (Probably the last frigate to be designed in house).

This experience has subsequently been put to good use leading teams working with Vosper Thorneycroft (now BAE Systems) on the whole ship design of the River Class OPV, and with VSEL (now also BAE Systems) on the structural design of HMS Albion and Bulwark, the Wave class RFA’s and the Astute class submarines.

Specialists were called in for various aspects of the work, and in the case of the Cavalier, to oversee her restoration in a Tyneside shipyard prior to her being towed to Chatham.

Ones
that got away

Maritime Historian

WYN DAVIES

Ones that got away

During my time with the Ministry of Defence (Royal Corps of Naval Constructors) I was lucky enough to work under the late D K Brown whilst designing the RN’s Castle Class offshore patrol vessels (I believe this was the last ship type to be designed by hand for the RN and now happily in service with Bangladeshi Navy) and then on to lead the team designing the Batch II and III versions of the Type 22 Frigate (Probably the last frigate to be designed in house).

This experience has subsequently been put to good use leading teams working with Vosper Thorneycroft (now BAE Systems) on the whole ship design of the River Class OPV, and with VSEL (now also BAE Systems) on the structural design of HMS Albion and Bulwark, the Wave class RFA’s and the Astute class submarines.

Specialists were called in for various aspects of the work, and in the case of the Cavalier, to oversee her restoration in a Tyneside shipyard prior to her being towed to Chatham.

Overseas

Maritime Historian

WYN DAVIES

Overseas Projects

The latest overseas work has come from the West Coast of America where the original RMS Queen Mary now resides. After many years alongside in the port of Long Beach, her operators decided that it was hightime that the ship‘s structure was surveyed.

The survey was successfully carried out in conjunction with teams from UK and US partners andthe formal report on the state of the ship and with a costed way ahead will bepublished shortly.

Alongside the Queen Mary is a Foxtrot class Soviet era submarine, the Skorpion, and a surveyof this vessel was also carried out with a resulting report including an options study and recommendations for the future disposition of the vessel.

One of the more interesting journeys I have been asked to undertake was to Khartoum, in the Sudan, where one of General Kitchener’s gunboats survives intact.

As the club house of the Blue Nile Sailing Club, the Melik has been high and dry for a number of years and is structurally very much intact. Our survey showed that the local climate was very good for preventing corrosion, although it’s affect on timber was not so good, leading to desiccation and loss of structural integrity. It also revealed that the vessel was indeed complete except for her armament and machinery.

Work continues to ensure her continued preservation. Meanwhile the Sudanese authorities have themselves started to restore an even older river boat, the Bordein of General Gordon fame.

It should also be recorded that we were treated with extreme kindness by our Sudanese hosts during our stay, although it was a little warm, even apparently by local standards!

Other projects have resulted in replica sailing ships for countries as diverse as China and Eire.

Museum
Vessels

Maritime Historian

WYN DAVIES

Museum Vessels

Work on behalf of museums has involved me in the survey, options studies and conservation, management plans of several museum vessels including those at the Grimsby Fisheries Museum, Hull Maritime Museum and Hartlepool. Work involved a complete survey of the vessels, including arranging dive surveys of those afloat or underwater and then carrying out costed option studies to enable the museums to map their way forward.

Link to Small Vessels Link to Large VesselsLink to Modern VesselsLink to the ones that got awayLink to overseas projectsLink to Museum ProjectsLink to Small Vessels