Ship History

Case 11 (2011-12): A three-masted topsail schooner, Kathleen and May Expert adviser’s statement Reviewing Committee Secretary’s note: Please note that any illustrations referred to have not been reproduced on the Arts Council England Website EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Kathleen & May is a three-masted topsail schooner built largely in wood with a variety of metal fastenings and fixtures, and is fully rigged with textile sails set from wooden spars. She was built by Ferguson & Baird at Connah’s Quay, Nr Chester, North Wales and launched in 1900 measuring 98’ 4” in length by 23’ 2” in the beam and a tonnage of 136 gross. The Kathleen & May is currently in full sailing condition. 2. Context  Provenance 1900: Built for Captain Coppack and originally named Lizzie May 1908: Bought by M J Fleming of Youghal, County Cork, and renamed Kathleen and May. 1931: Bought by Captain T Jewell of Appledore, Devon. Rig reduced and converted to a motor schooner. 1961: Sold out of trade. 1970: Acquired by the Maritime Trust from Captain Davis 1998: Purchased by the current owner.  Key literary and exhibition references The Merchant Schooners by Basil Greenhill, pub Marshall 1957 Public Exhibition Sutton Harbour, Plymouth from 1971-78 Public exhibition: St Katherine’s Dock, London as part of the Maritime Trust Historic Ship Collection, and then moved in 1985 to St Mary Ovary’s Dock, London. 3. Waverley criteria The Kathleen & May meets all three of the Waverley criteria in that; 1. It represents a ship type of which many were built from the midnineteenth century onwards, playing a pivotal part to both the regional and national economy of the British Isles. As a wholly British owned vessel throughout her life, the Kathleen & May is both the last surviving wooden example afloat in full sailing condition and the last Welsh built merchant sailing vessel. 2. Aesthetically, many consider the graceful hull lines of the sailing ships together with their traditional rigs very pleasing to the eye and evoke a strong interest in maritime history. As a result of this these ships are depicted in many forms of fine art as well as use by the media. 3. Objects of this type and construction play a very important part in the understanding of the very complex science of naval architecture and wooden ship construction. The fact that this vessel is in full sailing condition also allows the continuance of the art of seamanship to be passed onto future generations. DETAILED CASE 1. Detailed description of item(s) if more than in Executive summary, and any comments. Kathleen & May was built by the reputable wooden shipbuilders Ferguson and Baird (1840-1916) at Connahs Quay on the R. Dee North Wales, and is now the last surviving Welsh-built merchant sailing vessel. She was commissioned by leading Chester ship- owner Captain John Coppack and originally named after his daughters Lizzie and May. Her working life was spent in the home trade carrying a whole variety of cargo, sailing between Scotland, London, the Channel Islands. Later she plied between Cardiff, Ireland, Liverpool and the West Country, covering a wide geographical area and sailing nearly 40,000 miles in her first 8 years. Her form made her fit for purpose as well as being economical and a handsome vessel; Kathleen & May was substantially built to carry a cargo of 226 tons over a considerable distance around the UK coastline. Her planks were three inch pitch pine, laid on doubled oak frames and fastened with tree nails and iron bolts. She has an elegant semi-elliptical stern and a sailing rig of a kind first developed in Britain in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries through North American connections. The captain’s quarters in the stern, comprising a saloon and comfortable sleeping cabin, have been sympathetically restored to show the high quality workmanship involved, reflecting the high social status of a master of such a vessel. A prayer from her early days - God save the Kathleen & May – can still be seen inscribed into the saloon panelling. Under Irish ownership she developed a strong significance for the port of Youghal and the Bristol Channel where she plied the coal trade. In 1969 the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been instrumental in the restoration of Cutty Sark, started the Maritime Trust in as a means of preserving other significant British ships, with Kathleen & May an early object of the Trust’s attention as a national icon. She was purchased by the Trust in 1970 with funds from the Hong Kong ship-owner Sir Yue-Kong Pao. After restoration work carried out by the Trust in Appledore and Mashford’s Yard, Cremyll, Kathleen & May was opened to the public in Sutton Harbour Plymouth from 1971 to 1978, when she was towed to St. Katherine Dock London to form part of the Historic Ship Collection until 1985 when the collection was dispersed. Subsequently she was sold on, fell into disrepair, and was then bought in 1998 by a local business man who brought her back to Bideford, the port with which formerly she had been associated, and where he had her restored her to full working order. Since then she has cruised the UK coast attending maritime festivals, and developed European links, being chartered by Companie de Transport Maritime a la Voile to carry 30,000 bottles of French wine to Dublin and also crossing the Bay of Biscay to Bilbao where she was the guest of the Guggenheim Museum for three weeks. Records survive of the cargos she carried in her working days, along with a range of historic photographs and paintings. Although Bideford remains her home port, in 2011/12 she took up a berth in Albert Dock, Liverpool. Kathleen & May remains in operational condition cruising the same waters she once traded; an appropriate setting which highlights her significance as one of the few historic sailing merchant ships from this coastline to have survived. At build, Kathleen & May incorporated the first known example of the Appledore roller reefing gear which has been has been fully restored on all three booms for use today. She was fitted with an engine in 1931, her topmasts reduced in height and square topsails removed, and operated as a motor schooner. It was this configuration that enabled her to make the most profitable passages of her sailing career. An ex-lifeboat engine is now installed with twin hydraulically driven propellers, but her rig has been restored to its original specification. During conservation, approximately 85% of her planking and 60% of the frames were replaced and she was then re-decked. However, most of her internal timbers and fittings remain original. As the UK’s last working wooden hulled three-masted topsail schooner and the only one of any construction still in operation, Kathleen & May typifies the great era of the British merchant schooner with a rig that was widely adopted from the 1870s to the First World War due to its efficient and economical form. Both rig and hull were crafted, and subsequently repaired and restored between 1999 and 2002, using traditional techniques developed over 400 years. Today, the Kathleen & May remains the sole survivor of both the builders and the Welsh merchant sailing fleet. Although the Kathleen & May is the sole surviving wooden three-masted topsail schooner, there are a number of other similar coastal vessels but vary in terms of hull materials and rig. Examples of these are in both the public domain and in private ownership and include the two-masted ketches Irene, Garlandstone, the steel hulled, three-masted topsail schooner Result, and the riveted steel hulled, three-masted schooner De Wadden. She is an excellent example of wooden ship construction which allows the understanding of naval architecture and also provides a vehicle on which keep alive the traditional skills of the wooden shipwrights and other associated trades. The fact that she is in full sailing condition also promotes the longevity of seamanship, allowing this specialised skill to be passed onto future generations. Finally, the Kathleen & May is an outstanding vessel of both regional and national significance, in recognition of which she is one of a limited number of vessels on the National Register of Historic Vessels (NRHV) to be listed in the National Historic Fleet (NHF)