1950's Broad's Holidy

[PaulN]

This just popped up on my Youtube, no doubt lot's of you have seen it, but for those who haven't:

 

 

[grendel]

ah the good old days of biodegradable boats that mostly went under all of the bridges.

[LizG]

And WR hogging the screen shot!

[MaceSwinger]

1 hour ago, LizG said:

And WR hogging the screen shot!

I knew the number was familiar, I just looked it up

[Vaughan]

I think Royal Tudor got a look in there as well!

 

 

[grendel]

me too, I knew the number was familiar, but didnt put 2 and 2 together

 

[PaulN]

At the start of this video there is a child on  tricycle, a 'Gresham Flyer' I believe. I had a blue one just like it and would cycle to Infants school on it on my own each day, along the pavement of what was then the A12 in Colchester (Ipswich Road).

Shortly into the video, there is a lugsail dinghy in tow, just like the one I learnt to sail in about 1959/60 on Barton Broad. My parents use to hire from R. Moore I seem to remember and before that in the early 50's from Herbert Woods. They told me I was conceived at Potter Heigham when they hired a waterside property to day sail from one year.

Happy Days. Whoever sid naustalgia was a thing of the past!!

 

[grendel]

I can remember having a blue tricycle like that too.

[DAVIDH]

It struck me, how well finished the boats were. So well varnished. Stainless steel plating around the gear and throttle levers, and the wheel itself was a work of art. I liked the curve of the wheelhouse sides, and the aft roof too. 

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

I think Royal Tudor got a look in there as well!

I think I may be wrong there!

I have been having another look and I think the boat (with a Y registration no) shown at 4mins 50s is a Jenners "Amethst" class, which were named after the WW2 Black Swan class RN Frigates.  I was there at the big ceremony in Thorpe when Amethst was launched by Cmdr J.S.Kerans, who commanded the original H.M.S. Amethyst during the famous "Yangtse Incident".

I also notice that the film was produced by G.L. Ward and the opening shots look to me, very much like the grounds of the Old Hall in Thorpe, where Alf Ward and his family used to live.  The first shots in the film are of a Wards cruiser.

At 9:23 the launching of the cruiser Pauline shows the "greasy ways" used on the slipways and the the pin through the "snore hole" for the winch wire.  I think one of the men shown there, may be a young Mike Fuller!

At 11:35 we see the great design of the folding wheelhouse canopy, which came down in stages, but all operated by one man!

Most interesting for me is at 12:08 where they lift the engine hatch and we get a good view of a Morris Navigator petrol engine.  You don't often see photos of these, but they were the engine that was most used in Broads hire boats after the War. This one has been modernised with a dynamo, and a starter motor.  Before that, they were hand cranked and the only electrics in the whole boat came from the magneto, which fed the spark plugs.  Lighting was by gimballed oil lamps, cooking was gas or Primus stove and water came from a hand pump in the galley.

If you look carefully, there is a spare oil can and a funnel, with a large handfull of standard Admiralty "cotton waste" to mop up any spillage.

Lying underneath it is the starting handle, in case "all else fails"!

[webntweb]

42 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

Most interesting for me is at 12:08 where they lift the engine hatch and we get a good view of a Morris Navigator petrol engine.  You don't often see photos of these, but they were the engine that was most used in Broads hire boats after the War.

Think this may be a Navigator.

Crusader 1 from Richardson's in 1963. The lad with the cigarette was an apprentice motor mechanic !

[BroadAmbition]

Proper enjoyed that PaulN - Thanks for sharing.

Shining Light B71 Seeing her brought back memories - Mum and Dad hired her many times when me and Bro' were proper young uns in the early sixties

Wonder where she is now?  Hope she is still around

Griff

[Vaughan]

10 hours ago, webntweb said:

Think this may be a Navigator.

I think it is but not quite certain.  If so, it has been converted, with a coil and distributor instead of the magneto.

[PaulN]

Whereabouts is the hand cranked lifting bridge with the fishing net to collect the tolls? Is it Somerleyton?

[NorfolkNog]

2 minutes ago, PaulN said:

Whereabouts is the hand cranked lifting bridge with the fishing net to collect the tolls? Is it Somerleyton?

I think that's over the New Cut at St Olaves. 

[eddybear]

Bloody hell can you imagine this happening today trainee mechanic sitting over engine (sorry petrol engine) with cigarette alight, blimey I wonder how the rest of his training went?

 

 

 

[JanetAnne]

44 minutes ago, eddybear said:

Bloody hell can you imagine this happening today trainee mechanic sitting over engine (sorry petrol engine) with cigarette alight, blimey I wonder how the rest of his training went?

 

 

 

With a bang?

[PaulN]

So pleased I posted this youtube video I came across, because it teses out this wealth of historical broads information you guys have. I love reading your posts, imparting your knowlege. 

[PaulN]

Should read 'teases'

[LizG]

You also see a steam engine coming up to one of the Swing bridges but I think it was Somerleyton rather than Haddiscoe...........unless the time line shifted?

[Vaughan]

I think it was Somerleyton as well.

It's a pity about the way some yards stained the varnish in those days, though. It was known as "Turkey Umber" and made everything look like brown paint.  A good example of why you should always stain the bare wood, but never the varnish!

In the section taken in GYYS, there is a quick shot of a Woods yacht "dropping down" through the bridges by drifting stern fist with the mud weight dragging over the bows.  The current going under the boat allows you to keep in the centre of the stream, using the rudder.  An old wherryman's method!

[LizG]

45 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

It's a pity about the way some yards stained the varnish in those days, though. It was known as "Turkey Umber" and made everything look like brown paint.  A good example of why you should always stain the bare wood, but never the varnish!

 

WR had her fair share in the past!

[BroadAmbition]

Shining Light B71

Me and mum about 1965

Our Candie dog

Grandma, Mum, Me

For abreast at GYA, our crew on shining Light second out from quay

Griff

 

 

[BroadAmbition]

The last photo can you see what is glaringly un-seamanship like?

When doubling up on side moorings the accepted rule is that a big un should never be outboard of a little un.  Not only have we got boats four abreast (Try getting away with this nowadays) there are three big uns outboard of a little un!

What's more isn't that little un similar to Dougs  Nipper?

Griff

[DAVIDH]

I've seen photos of boats three abreast at Yarmouth but never four. Can you imagine the chaos and danger involved when it became time for that little boat to leave the moorings, especially say around 10am in the morning - changeover time, and the tide is ebbing fast? With the sad deaths at or around Yarmouth last summer, it make you wonder what it must have been like back in the 50s and 60s. Probably just not widely reported as now.