Present History

To continue from the last post, the boat was purchased in 2002 by yet another enthusastic collector of all things steam, Roger Lees. Having homed the boat at Northwich marina in a dry dock he eagerly set to work fitting out the somewhat unloved by now boat with a suitabley impressive steam engine and boiler to his own design.

US Navy 'M' Type 5 3/4 & 12 x 8 Steam Engine

New additions were also added to work started by Alan Ritchie such as twin front bunks located behind a tongue and grove bulkhead.

It was deemed necessary for scale purposes that Roger made use of the bed

Other nice examples of work carried out by Mr Ritchie included a double glazed skylight to match the double glazed wheelhouse all in beautifully finished solid teak.

Front Cabin Roof

And so with steam boiler designer extraordinaire Roger armed with a fantastic boat just a few screws away from being sea worthy the scene was set for this vessel to finally become the boat the late great Jumbo Goddard had dreamed of all those years ago, right? Well sadly not. Due to a number of factors progress on the boat fizzeled out over the years and the project seemed to be too much even for the living. The steam engine was removed and sold and plans were put in place to sell the increasingly unloved looking boat.

Engineless

However this wasn't to be the back of it because in the spring of 2012 news came through that Northwich marina was to be renovated into some kind of useful thing like houses or something, the result of which being the boat had to be moved. The how and the where proved slightly panicky for a while but a location just outside of Macclesfield coupled with a massive crane, a big lorry and no doubt some swearing culmonated in the boat finding itself a much more eco friendly 5 minutes drive from Rogers door, opposed to the 45 minutes to Northwich.

The Back Of It

But why are you telling me all this? Well I'll tell you why. Because this is where I come in and this is when the present history becomes the present. Still working full time for Petersen Engineering I have decided with the help of parents, boat builders, friends, strangers and google to taken on the completion of this boat. Naturally with my own interpritation of how I think it should look and function mixed with what I believe will be most appealing to a prospective 'massive wooden boat' owner.

The Story So Far - Boat

In Dry Dock Featuring Current Proud Owner Roger

The boat, where did it come from and how did it get here? While some history is unknown, some history is, so let's start with that. It was designed and commisioned by marine engineer, diamond miner, Bentley enthusiast and general eccentric John 'Jumbo' Goddard and built by Halvorsen Gowland in Sydney, Australia. The hull is made from 42 feet of huon pine, no mean feat considering this is a rare and protected species only found in western Tasmania. Famed for it's natural resistance to rot and shrinkage most of this wonder wood was sucked up for boat building in the 1820's and with a growth rate that's measured in thousands of years there isn't going to be any more any time soon.

Huon Pine

The design is the result of Jumbo Goddard's want for a Naval steam pinnace, and based on 1908 Simpson Strickland design.

1908 Simpson Stickland Gentleman's Day Cruiser

It is currently unknown to me whether the boat ever made it into Australian waters but in 1978 it was transported to Britain to settle a debt with British business man Tom Wheatcroft.  Subsequent owner Alan Ritchie added the raised center wheelhouse but sadly passed away following a ballooning-parachute accident before completing his proposed installation of twin high pressure boilers and steam engine. And so the boat originally named Gollywog by Jumbo was briefly owned by steam enthusiast Derrick Mills before being purchased by current owner Roger Lees (my step father) in 2002.

Rear Cabin

The Story So Far - Me

Working for my parents manufacturing buissness from a young age I quickly gained knowledge of 'how to build stuff'. These skills mixed with some childish imagination gave birth to creations over the years such as the super swing, the super chair, a motor bike powered go kart, an earth shattering home cinema and numerous tree houses, most of which were successful and didn't catch fire.

Would you like to buy some wheels..

Once I had politely declined any further education from the state at the age of 16 I found myself in full time work and education completing an apprenticeship in engineering while working for my previously mentioned parents company making wire wheels for vintage cars. This period saw the scale of car based tomfoolery increase to include the building of my own sports car, restoration and sale of a 1917 Simplex, the racing, crashing and repairing of numerous single seater race cars throughout the UK and Europe, as well as the 'how many miles can you put on a US hire car in two weeks' challenge I set myself.

Self Built Sports Car

All good fun, but come 2009 the business was sold to man more enthusiastic about owning his own wire wheel manufacturing company than I was. Subsequently I have found myself working for a man who answers only to the name Bob Petersen. So proud of this name he is he's spent the past 30 years building rather expensive vintage Bentley specials with his name discreetly engraved on the cars build plate and dashboard, and door sills, as well as number plates and if fitted, supercharger.

A Petersen Special

What does this have to do with boats I hear you ask, well this is an issue which coincides with the conclusion of the 'The Story So Far - Me' bit and gives birth to 'The Story So Far - Boat'. Or to be more concise, I'm not really sure. All I know is I really like the idea of building a massive wooden boat. I think it happens to most people at some point in their life, probably, and I'm also enthusiastic about a project which will (hopefully) yield some money for some travel based tomfoolery for me and my inspiration, Sasha.

My first time piloting a battleship