AK Ilen Restoration part one: Conor O'Brien

Conor O'Brien and his sister Margaret aboard Kelpie

courtesy Irish Military Online

Molly and Erskine Childers sailing Asgard in the Baltic,1910

courtesy Wikipedia



Molly Childers and Mary Spring Rice aboard Asgard bound for Howth

courtesy Echoes of Erin

Arklow Harbor about the time of the build of the boat on whose lines Conor based the Saoirse.

courtesy The Traditional Boats of Ireland Project

Saoirse in the late 1920's, rigged as a staysail schooner

courtesy The Traditional Boats of Ireland Project

Saoirse

courtesy Betty CK 145

Conor and wife Kitty

courtesy AK Ilen Company

Conor at the yuloh of the engineless Saoirse

courtesy The Traditional Boats of Ireland Project

The AK Ilen building at the Baltimore Fishery School, Tom Moynihan and crew.

courtesy The Traditional Boats of Ireland Project

The Ilen is launched

courtesy The Traditional Boats of Ireland Project

Conor and crew, I believe, about to leave for Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, delivering the Ilen

courtesy AK Ilen Company

The AK Ilen

courtesy AK Ilen Company

The Ilen in her new digs at the Hegarty Boatyard, Oldcourt, near Baltimore, Cork...but that's the next story.

courtesy AK Ilen Company

&
Kevin O'Farrell, photographer

I find this an absolutely magnetic story. At it's heart is a true Irish character, Conor O'Brien. Aristocrat, author, naval architect and intellectual, O'Brien was also an Irish patriot and supporter of the Irish rebellion. In 1914 O'Brien in his Kelpie, along with Molly and Erskine Childers in Asgard among others, ran guns for the rebels into Howth harbor in 1914.
Fast forward a few years to 1922 and we find Conor working with the master shipwright Tom Moynihan at the Baltimore Fishery School's boatyard to bring a vision of his to life. That vision was a cruising yacht which was a combination of the traditional and not so traditional. The hull was based on the lines of an old Arklow fishing boat O'Brien had been to sea in, but with more modern accommodations below and a rig designed for ease of handling at sea. Conor's design became Saoirse, (seershuh) gaelic for Freedom in celebration of the new Irish free state. 42' with a 12' beam he seems to have been pleased with his creation. Responding to an invitation from New Zealand, Conor set out in 1923 on a voyage that would bring him to the attention of the yachting world.

"I was invited to join a mountaineering party in the New Zealand Alps at Christmas, 1923, and having a nearly new yacht I regarded this as an excellent opportunity of finding out the merits or demerits of her design, which was of my own making."

The trip to New Zealand became the first leg of a rather bold circumnavigation, rounding the Southern Ocean before returning to Dun Loaghaire, and flying the new Irish Tricolour. Planning his voyage, O'Brien studied the logs of sailing ships from the past, helping him find his way. He made twelve ports of call on his voyage, which took almost exactly two years. This heroic voyage was chronicled by O'Brien in his 'Across Three Oceans'. The book, one of fourteen under his authorship, got the attention of the bluewater cognoscenti at the time. Don Helm, in his informative 'The Circumnavigators' says:

None other than L. Francis Herreshoff said of him: "I consider
O'Brien's books the most masterly analysis of seagoing conditions perhaps ever
written, and even if he and I do not see eye to eye in all matters pertaining to
rig and rigging well, no progress would be made if we all thought alike- but
under no circumstances would I contradict Conor O'Brien for he has had actual
experience." Quoted from the old master's instructions on how to build
Marco Polo, which ran in Rudder magazine, 1946.

On his return leg up the Atlantic, Conor O'Brien and Saoirse called in at the Falkland Islands for a somewhat extended stay. The stopover resulted in the Falklands Islands Company commissioning a larger version of Saoirse, which became, on Conor's return to Baltimore, the AK Ilen.
Construction began in late 1925 under the supervision of Tom Moynihan at the Fisheries school boatyard, Irelands first vocational school. Upon her completion in 1926 Conor pronounced her a 'handsomer model' than the Saoirse. He proceeded to sea trial her around Kerry and the Shannon and ransacked Saoirse for gear. He then set out for the Falklands with two 'Cape Clear' men, arriving in Port Stanley early in 1927, where the boat and crew received a warm welcome. The Ilen was subsequently put to work as a jack of all trades workboat servicing the needs of the islanders for nearly 70 years (!), "working for her living in some of the most demanding waters in the world, ferrying people, school teachers, sheep, stores and mail between the scattered island communities of the Falklands". The Ilen finally retired from worklife in the early 1990's.
In 1997, one keen Irish sailor lamenting the loss of Saoirse in 1979, focused his attention on the Ilen. That was Gary MacMahon. Gary learned the Ilen might be available and with help quickly put together the financing to secure and return her to her birthplace. He founded the AK Ilen Company with Anthony Keane and began planning the Ilen's return. But that, as they say, is another story. (there's more coming)

I'd like to thank a few folks who have been invaluable in starting this series.

First is Kevin O'Farrell, photographer, who put me on to this story and whose invaluable photos of the restoration will be seen later,

Gary MacMahon, who opened the whole can of worms and is still active as the principle of the project,

And Dr. Martin Kay, who spearheads the educational side of the Company and has been exceptionally liberal and forthcoming with information. He's working on grants for writing a book about the Ilen as well as presenting papers on this project and the educational and general status of traditional boatbuilding in Ireland to groups such as Dorna. Martin has promised to send updates as the project progresses.

And the Traditional Boats of Ireland Project, for it's extensive research and some very special photos.

Links:

AK Ilen Company

Big Boat Build Workshops

Traditional Boats of Ireland Project

Don Holm's e-book 'The Circumnavigators'

Wikipedia ConorO'Brien

Wikipedia Howth Gun Running

Wikipedia Erskine Childers

The DORNA Project

Originally published by Thomas Armstrong in 70.8%

MotR: Clodia, Giacomo & Co. Cross the Channel

Clodia in Ramsgate prior to the crossing

Giacomo sailing out

crew Bruno rowing out of Ramsgate

Giacomo amidst the Channel









video and all photos courtesy Man on the River/Giacomo De Stefano

Our Man is back on the River, rather, this time on the sea. After a hiatus from his ambitious project, Giacomo De Stefano has triumphantly resumed his adventure after a bout with a rare and potentially deadly virus. High congratulations are in order. Giacomo and his crew Bruno Porto successfuly navigated the English channel in about 9 hours, sailing from Ramsgate Uk to Gravelines France aboard their 19' Ian Oughtred designed Ness Yawl, Clodia.

Here is Giacomo's report of the crossing:

"We did it!

Crossing the English Channel is something special:
To make it real we had to rely on many friends and on our best commitment and effort. Not to mention lots of luck.
I thought to all those people who lost their lives in these cold and troubled waters, even in the best weather conditions as we were so fortunate fo find yesterday.
Streams, sea beds,shallows, big ferries and commercial ships: A lot to worry about for a nutshell like Clodia.

We could never have done it without the help of Chalky, a sailor friend, who escorted us all the way from Ramsgate to Gravelines.

A support boat is required by maritime regulations to cross the Channel for a small boat, engine free, like our Ness Yawl.

This is the report of our day: We leave from Ramsgate at 6 o’clock after a rainy night that didn’t seem like a good omen. Chalky already offered us a good coffee.

We get out of the harbour by rowing, under a bright sun: In the meantime Paolo is filming us from the top of the pier.

To cross the shipping lanes at 90°, Chalky asks to tow us, because the wind is contrary and he wants to get to Gravelines before 4.30 p.m. for the high tide. We can’t turn his offer down, even if it doesn’t stick to our values: We could have easily made it without any help, but not following the regulamentary 90°.

We need to get out quickly from the routes of the big ships, that need many miles to stop, so we accept to get towed for what is strictly needed.

When the shipping lanes are at our back, the wind calms down. The green power of Bruno comes very handy and we row for a couple of nautical miles: Then, when we have to cope with an opposite stream of nearly 2.5 knot (faster than us!), the wind comes to our help at about 12-16 knot, keeping constant for the following hours.

We can now swiftly sail for hours: The day is beautiful and Clodia doesn’t seem to care much about the sea, running fast toward the French coast.
The last 12 miles are fantastic: We literally fly over the waves caused by streams and shallows, and by a stronger wind, reaching 6.3 knot speed.

We enter the canal of Grand Fort Philippe al 4 p.m. local time, after 9 hours and 35 nautical miles of navigation from Ramsgate. A little thrill: The gaff jumps over the peak of the mast, hit by a naughty wave. I quickly turn down the mainsail and leave the rope, avoiding any further trouble. Everything goes well, but it could have been very dangerous.

The access to the channel leading to Gravelines is a bit difficult, but we enter quite well, then we sail for the last 3 miles and dock in the wonderful Marine. Fantastic!

Gravelines welcomes us with all its peace and beauty. The fortress of Vauban is very nice.
We also discovered a 57 metres vessel, replica of the 18th century original, under construction: Impressive! Here you can find more info.

Thanks to all of you for support and help, we felt your presence every time. We dedicate a special thought to Roland, Silvio and Jacopo that should have been aboard with us.
Shortly, we’ll set sails to Saint Omer. A big hug.

Giacomo and Bruno"

You'll find map of the crossing, more on the project, and full documentation with a link to the project Flickr site at Man on the River.

See previous posts on the adventure here.

Giacomo, it's lovely to see your triumphant return, welcome back and my deepest congratulations on the successful crossing!

thomas

Bequia Beauty

Plumbelly underway

Plumbelly's launch off the beach in Admiralty Bay, Bequia where she was built.

Sailing down to Bequia from the US, Grenada in the background.

Landfall in the Caribbean, down from New England.

Carriacou

Carriacou

lee bower

Bequia

Plumbelly at rest.

Tyrrel Bay, Bequia

Patrick and Joel just before Joel manifested his illness in the most visceral way.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere.

Zidan, Cabo Verde Islands

Boatbuilding family, Cabo Verde Islands

Jose and Boteline sailing. Cabo Verde

El Jagdida, Morocco

About half the fleet at El Jadida

Building in Morocco

Plumbelly on the hard.

Well stocked, 'bellies belly.

Galley

Back in New England

Flush decks

Save for the canvas dodger over the companionway

Goals accomplished, surf's up!



all photos courtesy Patrick DaLilla or David Jones

You can just about hear J. Buffet and a steel band in the background. This very interesting boat turned up in one of those tiny ads in the WB classifieds. I've been to St. Vincent and was regaled with stories of the Bequia whalers by my host, Captain Jack Longley. We were to deliver a 65' steel motorsailer from St. Vincent to the Cayman Islands. This is back in the early 90's. I was able to get away and had quite an adventure. But the story of the Bequia whalers, one of the very few traditional whaling communities still allowed to hunt whales, (up to 4 per year, though they rarely make quota, in open boats w/ harpoon, no mods no motors, sail only) has stayed with me and continued to intrigue me over the years. There's precious little info on them on the web.
Plumbelly is the quintessential Caribbean cruising boat, though I'm sure she fares well in other waters, and I've included some photos from Patrick's adventures across the Atlantic. She was built on a beach in Bequia by local shipwright Loran Dewar and Klaus Alverman, a German ship's captain who commissioned her. Built to Bequian whaleboat lines with the exception that she's not an open boat, but flush decked. I'll let the current owner, Patrick DaLilla, tell the story:

"When I bought my boat in Maine six years ago, people told me that she was famous, built on an island called Bequia and sailed twice around the world. At the time I preferred to consider her more “tried and true” than famous. But as I guided my (by now) beloved little boat back to her birthplace after her 28th crossing of the Atlantic, I couldn’t help but revel in her amazing history.
PLUMBELLY was built on the beach in Admiralty Bay under the shade of the palm trees in the place where Tommy Cantina’s now sits. An eccentric German architect and ship’s captain named Klaus Alverman wanted a small yacht to cruise the islands in, and he set out to build it with the help of Bequian shipwright Lauren Joe. They built the boat in the local tradition: hewing carefully selected timber from around the island into the shape of a modified two bow fishing boat. Her full body inspired the name as a passerby commented “look like she got a big plum in dee belly mon!”
She was launched in 1965 and a few years later set out to cross the Pacific Ocean. She had no engine, no electricity and no self steering device. After four weeks of sailing sheet to tiller with the bow down, PLUMBELLY arrived in the Pacific islands sporting a beard of algae on her bowsprit. While resting in Tahiti, a big red double-ender came gliding into the harbor with a wild eyed Frenchman at the helm(could this be Moitessier? ed.). The man had just sailed two times around the world non-stop. The two men became friends and Klaus obtained a design for a simple wind vane from him. He built the wind vane in New Zealand and it is still working it’s magic today.
PLUMBELLY and Klaus returned to Bequia to a heroes’ welcome; the first Bequia boat to be sailed around the world. For those in Bequia that know the story of PLUMBELLY there is a gleam of pride in their eyes when they speak about it. This is my second time in Bequia with the old girl and I’ve yet to meet someone over thirty that doesn’t know the name. And it’s not just in Bequia. In places as far afield as Senegal I’ve had people ask me, “That’s not the PLUMBELLY, is it?” “Bet your boots it is. The one and only!” People just smile and shake their heads.
When Klaus finally stopped after twenty odd years of sailing, PLUMBELLY ended up in the hands of an American science professor in Massachusetts. She was used for day sailing and coastal cruising until an adventurous young man from Maine bought her and once again pointed her bow in the direction of faraway lands. Now I am the third in a line of owners from Maine (actually I’m from Ohio but I bought the boat while living in Maine) whom PLUMBELLY has carried safely across oceans.
I once read that art is an expression of Humans’ love of labor, and people have described Klaus’s relationship with PLUMBELLY as “a grand love affair”. In the case of the Bequian shipwrights it was a love born out of necessity, for nothing less than a sort of love can create a vessel seaworthy enough for whaling. In PLUMBELLY, Klaus created a working monument to this fading tradition, a swan song which fused his love of construction and love of the sea. She is a vessel that has turned into a legend in the waters that she plies, always popping up to the delight of everyone who ever dreamed of just getting in a boat and going."

Design & Construction
PLUMBELLY was designed and built in 19the Bequia West Indies by Loran Dewar and Klaus Alverman. Launched in 1965, she was designed with a spoon bow, round bilge and a deep full keel. She has an attached rudder and a canoe stern. PLUMBELLY was designed and built for offshore sailing. The hull is constructed of 1" pitch pine in the topsides and 1" Silver Balli in the bottom all over 2 1/4" x 2 1/2" tropical white cedar sawn frames. In some areas the frames are doubled. All frames are on 11" centers, the floor timbers are 2" and 3/18" sided on varying centers. PLUMBELLY has an interesting keel structure: the keel is an iron box that is fabricated with baffles and 1 1/18" iron bolts welded into the inner web structure. The bilge area has been filled with concrete for additional ballast. Her decks are also built of planked 1' pitch pine over 2" x 3 1/18" deck beams on varying centers. She is flush decked with a small trunk cabin at the companionway with sitting headroom. Her mast is solid and round, stepped through the deck and lands on a mast step in a reinforced toerail. It is then drilled to take a lanyard from the dead eyes in the rigging. PLUMBELLY is gaff rigged and flies a topsail with a jack yard.

Interior
PLUMBELLY's interior is quite simple: there is a general storage area forward, followed by the cabin. The cabin has a platform with cushions on either side and a storage box in the center that doubles as a table. Aft to port is the small navigation table and an area for some electronics. Aft to port is the galley which has a two-burner kerosene stove and a fresh water pump that uses a jerry jug for a water tank. (Kerosene is also used for cabin light.) Aft of the galley is an area for the batteries. There is then a small companionway that leads to the cockpit.

Surveyor's Commentary
Over all the boat was found to be in good condition. She has had good care and maintenance over the years. The vessel was built to high standards and it is reported that Klaus Alverman sailed around the world in her. This vessel was designed and built for this kind of offshore sailing.

This boat is currently being offered for sale by David Jones Yacht Brokerage and has full specs listed on his site. David has a keen eye for interesting boats and I may do an article on his brokerage, located in Camden ME. The asking price of the boat is 20K, she's well found and has lots of equipment for cruising. If I had the 20K...
Patrick also mentioned, in response to my query, that he's lived aboard for 3 years. She's lying in Rockland, ME.

Two Against Cape Horn

cover

Whisper from aloft

Interior of the Roth's sailing home, Whisper, designed by John Brandlmayr and built in Vancouver by Spencer Boats, Ltd.

Chilote gaff sloop off Isla Tenglo

Chilote sloop bow on. Note the flaring topsides and the mainmast brails

Eight of the fleet of about 300. These boats were essential to commerce and life itself around Isla Chiloe', the Cordillera and Puerto Montt

Here a family heads home after going to market, along Canal Tenglo. this is one of the less common double ended boats of the region

Horse carts provide transport inland and back, and these boats use the entire interior holds for cargo, so the crew live, work, sleep and cook on deck.

Unloading produce at the port of Castro, on the Isla de Chiloe'

Porto Aguirres in the Chonos Archipeligo with whaleboats

Builder at Necron working up a plank for a traditional Chilote workboat

Much further south the Roth's ran aground on Isla Diana in the Bahia Gretton and erected a survival tent from sails on Isla Grevy

Rescue effort underway with help from the Chilean Navy

After major repairs to the hull, Whisper continued south, here finding safe anchorage in (I think) Seno Ocasiaon on Penninsula Brecknock, Tierra Del Fuego

Heading north in the Strait of Le Maire, between Tierra del Fuego and Isla del la Estados, after rounding...

Capo de Hornas, Cape Horn



all photos courtesy Hal and Margaret Roth, without permission

Hal and Margaret Roth were avid sailors and among the lucky few able to support their adventures through their writing(Ed.envy). This book, 'Two Against Cape Horn' written in 1978, chronicles a cruise down the west coat of South America to Cape Horn. It's a charming, and sometimes thrilling read. One of the better cruise accounts I've read, but what stood out for me was the ample photo documentation of the local Chilean fishing craft on and around Chiloe' Island. Interesting boats used for fishing and local transport, gaff rigged traditional workboats. Most had raked transoms but some few were built double ended. Recent internet searches seem to suggest that these boats no longer exist in the original form. During the eighties, the area experienced a boom in salmon farming, but after infection from a virus, the boom turned to bust. During the boom years it appears many of these boats lost their sailing rigs and converted to diesel. The hull forms are the same but all my searches turned up no current photos of the traditionally rigged gaff sloops. A pity. These boats, at the time of the Roth's visit, were essential to the life of the islanders, necessary both for livelihood and transportation. After leaving the Chilote's, the Roth's continued on their adventure eventually rounding Cape Horn after experiencing marvels and setbacks, including a grounding which necessitated serious repairs. For me, one of the strongest points of the book was it's exposition of remote Chilean culture. Truly one of the great books of sailing adventure. Out of print and hard to find.

I wrote to WW Norton months ago asking permission to write about this book, per their in house permissions process. They advised that a response could take up to six weeks. It's been much longer than that, and I've had no reply. I have decided, with all due respect, to go forward with this post, as I feel the Roth's photo's supply what may be one of few records of these interesting boats.
Anyone from WW Norton or the estate of Hal Roth who objects to my publication of this material should contact me per email.

Anyone who can point me to additional information/documentation of these traditional Chilote' workboats, or the the whaleboats of Porto Aguirres or anywhere in the Chonos Archipeligo, please contact me.