Swallow fetching down. Photo: Peter Willis.

Swallow, the film boat, up for auction is in Turk’s Boatyard in Chatham. I visited it this week to view some of the boats in the forthcoming auction, and, of course, quickly located Swallow.

What follows is not intended to be an expert survey and shouldn’t be relied upon as such; just on-the-day observations to give potential donors a little more feel for the boat. In short, she looks sound, if well-worn, in a pleasing sort of way, and potentially good fun to sail. The photo gallery is here.

Hull

When I arrived, she was in a rack, 6 feet up, which facilitated examination of the condition of her hull. It was, on the whole, good, though a little bit of caulking, about 3 inches, had worked loose on the port side, by the stem and close to the garboards.

The people at the yard kindly lifted her down and I was able to carry out a more thorough inspection. It is clear that she has been well-used over a number of years. Turks can’t remember how long they’ve had her, but since their business, or part of it, is procuring boats for film production, it’s reasonable to assume she’s been in their possession, and in storage, since 1974. The general wear, on the transom in particular, is consistent with 10 or 15 years of vigorous use, which would have presumably taken place prior to 1974, and given her an authentically weathered look for the film.

Transom

The top of the transom is worn bare of varnish and quite a lot of wood is worn away either side of the sculling cutout in the centre. There is bare wood (varnish worn off) here and there on the spars, and a little evidence of woodworm, probably dormant, on the end of the boom where the wood was exposed. Some protective battens on the hull have also suffered wear, and in at least one case an old (painted-over) break

On rigging the mast and sail, I found the wooden halyard cleat on the side of the mast very loose, and this would need attending to – not difficult – before any pressure were put on the sail.

On the whole though, the hull looked sound and sturdy. The bottom boards were in place and all the rowlocks (four of them – two rowing positions) still there (and one pair of oars).

Sail

The sail was wrapped in a long sausage, secured by the mainsheet, along the boom and gaff when I arrived. It did not take long to unravel this, and even less long to rig the mast, the lug gaff, which carries a  rope loop to attach to an iron hook on the haluard, and the boom, which fits round the mast with jaws. All very simple.

The sail is tanned canvas, in good condition, although there is a dummy patch in cream fabric, maybe 5in square, sewn onto the sail, about midway up near the leech. It appears to be there purely for effect since there are in fact two identical patches either side of the sail.

Ropes and varnish

The ropes – sheet, halyard and mooring rope – all look to have plenty of wear in them. Two holes in the top of the transom suggest there may once have been a metal horse to carry a mainsheet block clear of the tiller.

The condition of the varnish on the clinker hull, both inside and out, was a lot better than on the spars, sound and stable.

Final thoughts

There would be plenty of winter work to keep people occupied, but I’d think a trial sail would be immediately possible and successful. At least in keeping afloat – how well she would sail is a different matter. She has no centreboard, like Swallow, and it is quite possible that she was adapted from a rowing boat. Her keel is shallower than Swallow’s, and there is no sign of a ballast box, which Swallow is thought to have had. It wouldn’t be difficult to improve her sailing performance and she would certainly be an attraction at Ransome-related events.

– Peter Willis