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The Longboats.
©copyright 2009 Winntec Ventures Canada
All images on this site are the property of Winntec Ventures or the images' copyright holders who have granted permission to use their images on this site. If you would like to reproduce any of these images please contact us.
All images on this site are the property of Winntec Ventures or the images' copyright holders who have granted permission to use their images on this site. If you would like to reproduce any of these images please contact us.
During the Late Winter and Spring of 2008 2 "Longboats" were built from original 18th Century plans in the Muir-Cox Shipyard in Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
The Muir-Cox Shipyard was in continuous business from 1820 to 1984 building wooden schooners, brigs and all manner of boats and ships. The last owner Bill Cox was instrumental bringing a single sheet plan drawn in the 18th century to life.
The Muir-Cox Shipyard was in continuous business from 1820 to 1984 building wooden schooners, brigs and all manner of boats and ships. The last owner Bill Cox was instrumental bringing a single sheet plan drawn in the 18th century to life.
The Muir-Cox Shipyard is now part of the Shelburne Museum Complex under the management of the Shelburne Historical Society.
The building of the longboats was done under the auspices and funding of the Loyalist Landing 2008 Society (website preserved) which was formed to celebrate the 225th Anniversary of the Landing of the first fleet of Loyalists to land at Shelburne on May 4th 1783.
The target was to launch the first of 2 longboats on that date in 2008 with the second to follow on the LL08 Waterfront Weekend, July 11th, 2008.
The plan used was that of the launch of HMAV (His Majesty's Armed Vessel) Bounty of Mutiny on the Bounty fame.
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.
This site has been put up to be a legacy of this effort and to show the skills needed to build a wooden boat, in fact the methods used are not that different from building a full scale wooden ship.
After the dissolution of the Loyalist Landing 2008 Society the boats were passed to and are now managed by the Shelburne Longboat Society, if you're interested in more information the Society can be contacted via their website
The building of the longboats was done under the auspices and funding of the Loyalist Landing 2008 Society (website preserved) which was formed to celebrate the 225th Anniversary of the Landing of the first fleet of Loyalists to land at Shelburne on May 4th 1783.
The target was to launch the first of 2 longboats on that date in 2008 with the second to follow on the LL08 Waterfront Weekend, July 11th, 2008.
The plan used was that of the launch of HMAV (His Majesty's Armed Vessel) Bounty of Mutiny on the Bounty fame.
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.
This site has been put up to be a legacy of this effort and to show the skills needed to build a wooden boat, in fact the methods used are not that different from building a full scale wooden ship.
After the dissolution of the Loyalist Landing 2008 Society the boats were passed to and are now managed by the Shelburne Longboat Society, if you're interested in more information the Society can be contacted via their website