Page last updated: june 08

GERMAINE - 1882

Hunt’s Universal Yacht List no 1279

History:

Germaine was launched on June 21, 1882.  by Camper & Nicholson at Gosport. She was designed by Ben Nicholson for F W Leybourne Popham, and built by Camper and Nicholson at their Gosport boatyard. F W. Leybourne Popham was a prominent figure of yacht racing on the Solent, and a member of the Royal Portsmouth Corinthian yacht Club and Southampton yacht Club. He had a number of other yachts, among them "Bird of Freedom", a five-tonner, and the much larger fourty-tonner "White Slave" .

Germaine's lines and structural drawings - From the original - François Chevalier 1997

Germaine appears to have raced infrequently in 1882 and 1883, winning a first race on August 26 1882 with "Little Nell", a Camper and Nicholson cutter belonging to Ben Nicholson, taking second place. She won two second prizes in 1883. No other racing results were found to date.

Germaine in a squall - Beken 1885

Interestingly, she is reported in the contemporary French magazine "Le yacht" as having sailed to the Mediterranean in December 1882, quite a bold move from a boat that size in the winter season. I am seeking further details on that cruise.

Germaine was re-rigged as a cutter in 1887, then back to yawl rig in 1897. Her second owner appears to have been Mr Harvey A. Dixon. Her third owner was Major Middleton Robinson, member of the Royal Albert Yacht Club. Major Robinson owned Germaine from 1904 to 1910, and had a series of pictures  taken by William Kirk during that period. One of these pictures is featured in the book "The Great Days of Yachting" by Ian Dear.

Germaine became the property of Mr H.W Whittingham at some unknown date . In the late 30's, she was still listed in the Lloyd’s Registers of Yachts as belonging to H W Witthingham from Goodmayes, Essex.

It then becomes very difficult to trace any further history until Germaine reappears in Southampton in the late seventies, reportedly pulled from an Essex mudberth and tranported down to Camper and Nicholson’s yard at Shamrock Quay. Their intention was to restore her for the bicentennial celebrations of Camper and Nicholson in 1982.

Camper and Nicholson underwent severe problems before the project was started, and sold their premises and land to Marina Development. This included Germaine, and her rotting hull standing in front of the shops and pubs became a familiar sight to Shamrock Quay visitors. She was eventually moved to an empty parking lot at Ocean Village marina, until a small news item about her fate in issue no 100 of Classic Boat magazine attracted my attention. I eventually took ownership of Germaine for one symbolic pound, and moved her to Lowestoft in 1997. François Chevalier, naval architect and historian, took the lines from Germaine's wreck and re-created a superb set of drawings to assist with the restoration, currently under way at the International Boatbuilding Technical College in Lowestoft.

Below are pictures shot in April 08. Germaine is on track to be relaunched late summer '09.

Owner's cabin, aft. The interior had been pilfered and is rebuilt based on François' knowledge of period boat.

Characteristics:

Built from January 1882 to June 1882 under Lloyd’s supervision by Camper and Nicholson at Gosport. Classified under the 10 and 12 years Lloyd’s material rules.

Length between perpendiculars 34’1, breadth 9’4, depth 6’8. Approximate length on deck 42’. Displacement 12 tons Thames Measurement. Lead ballast 4 tons 17 cwt. Approx sail area 1432 sq.ft

Building specifications:

All deadwood, frames, knees: English oak, iron reinforcements.

Rudder: English oak

Keel, 1^st strake: American elm

Strake 2 to 11: pitchpine

Topsides, sheer strake, covering board, hatchways: teak

(All planks 1 ¼ ‘’)

Deck: yellow pine

Documents in hand:

Lloyd’s survey report July 1882

Prints of Beken of Cowes plates no 7226 & 7032 circa 1882/83

Prints of William Kirk collection plates no 269 B and 270 B, Ms. Ruth Simpson owner circa 1904/1910. (No 269 B featured page 45 of "Great days of yachting" by Ian Dear).

"Yachting" from The Badminton Library, London 1894

"Great Days of yachting from the William Kirk Collection" by Ian Dear 1988

How my tailor foresaw Germaine's coming, and what ensued

"Tu navem habebis" You will have a boat, my son:

In 1970, I hitch-hiked my way into Western Ireland for the first time. Three years later, I went back to Galway and lived there for a while. I have not been back since the early 80's- that's when I saw my buddy Ollie Nevin last, hope I'll find him again one day.  (Know anybody by that name who's some kind of a thirsty artist with an Irish accent, probably living in England, give him the URL or my email pbigand@yahoo.com , thanks). 

Anyway, one day I went down to the Claddagh, the ancient fishermen's quarter. On the way I stopped at O'Maille's, a tailor's shop on the street just before the Claddagh Bridge, where nonchalant salmon poachers with long coats and polaroid glasses dreamily watched the river Corrib flow below. As old man O'Maille was taking my measurementss to cut me a Connemara tweed waistcoat and pair of trousers, he looked up at me and said "You will have a boat". I was puzzled by this simple yet mysterious statement. I had not talked to him besides discussing the cloth and cut I wanted for my garments. We certainly had not talked boats. Maybe my foreign accent and young age made him think I came from one of the coastal freigthers that often visited Galway, and was destined own one of them in the future. Maybe it was just the way tailors were on the West Coast of Ireland in the 70's. Pair of trousers and a look into your future for twenty quid. I did not ask him for any clarification, and he did not say any more. I lost the trousers a few years ago, and the waistcoat has become tight. But I still remember O'Maille's prediction, and I know he was right. Some 15 years later, I started collecting wooden boats, mostly old rowing boats. I now own about 15, dating from the 1880's to the late 30's. But none is "the" boat. Germaine is it, or rather "she", I am sure.

How I came upon "the" boat

 Fast forward. In 1997, during my short spell as an Oxonian, I read an article in 'Classic Boat Magazine" mentioning the plight of an 1882 yawl called "Germaine" abandoned to the rot and weather on Shamrock Quay in Portsmouth. Ian Dear, the writer, asked for somebody willing to "lavish love and money" on her to save her from a certain death. There was a picture of Germaine under sail in 1913. It was love at first sight. I hopped into my old E-Type jag and drove South to the rescue the following week-end. The E Type nearly died on the way, and this would also have sealed Germaine's fate. I think it was out of jealousy at the prospect of having to share my loving care and cash with another aging lady. 

I bought Germaine, a sorry wreck, for one symbolic pound and eventually found a place where to have her restored. 

Links:

www.broadlyboats.com Lots of news and stories about sailboats, covering most aspects of sailing from real time round-the-world races updates to news from the Broads, an area North East of London where a huge networks of lakes, marshes and rivers connect with the sea.

Wooden Boat Magazine unquestionably, the first and the best magazine there is about wooden boats. Take it with you on the desert island, and you'll know how to build, fix and steer the boat that will take you back home in style.

Skira Yacht Designs  classic designs clearly to show a beautiful boat need not be as old as Germaine. Personal thanks to Daniel, whose nice words on Germaine came just in time to convince me I was not the only one thinking this whole project was worth the trouble.

If you want to contact me:

patrick@port-rhu.com