The Longboats' Chronicle.
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Over the next weeks and months local craftsmen from the area will be recreating 2 23 foot boats from plans of the launch carried by HMS Bounty of "Mutiny on the Bounty" fame. More correctly the Bounty was the HMAV or His Majesty's Armed Vessel Bounty.
In April 1789 Captain William Bligh with 18 loyal crew were cast adrift in the Bounty's launch. They sailed and rowed a seemingly impossible voyage of 3,618 nautical miles (6,701 Km) to Timor after Master's Mate Fletcher Christian and a third of the crew mutinied and took control of the ship.
In this remarkable act of seamanship and having only a sextant and a pocket watch but no charts or compass for navigation, Bligh succeeded in reaching Timor after a 47-day voyage, and with the only casualty being one crewman killed on the island of Tofua by hostile natives although a number succumbed to disease after their arrival.
We're not voyaging that far but the boats will be active throughout the July Showcase events so watch for them in the harbour.
Also over the Summer Months the boats will be displayed and you'll have a chance to speak with the people who built them about their experience of recreating real wooden boats using the boat building skills practised in Shelburne since the earliest boatyards lined the harbour, skills they will have acquired from a Master Boat Builder.
In this remarkable act of seamanship and having only a sextant and a pocket watch but no charts or compass for navigation, Bligh succeeded in reaching Timor after a 47-day voyage, and with the only casualty being one crewman killed on the island of Tofua by hostile natives although a number succumbed to disease after their arrival.
We're not voyaging that far but the boats will be active throughout the July Showcase events so watch for them in the harbour.
Also over the Summer Months the boats will be displayed and you'll have a chance to speak with the people who built them about their experience of recreating real wooden boats using the boat building skills practised in Shelburne since the earliest boatyards lined the harbour, skills they will have acquired from a Master Boat Builder.
To give you an idea of what we're building, these images are of a model of the Bounty's Launch and Reproduced with kind permission of the National Maritime Museum, London, England and Robert Lightley (maker).
Our boats will probably not have the masts but we are looking at the feasibility of mounting a small swivel cannon in the bow of one of them.
Our boats will probably not have the masts but we are looking at the feasibility of mounting a small swivel cannon in the bow of one of them.
Pass your mouse over an image for a larger view
Introduction - January 12th
Edition 2 - February 26th
Edition 3 - March 16th
Edition 4 - March 29th
Rowing Commands
Edition 2 - February 26th
Edition 3 - March 16th
Edition 4 - March 29th
Rowing Commands
Follow the progress.
Thank You to the Halifax-Dartmouth Branch of UELAC for their donation towards the construction and fitting out of the longboats.