Boy George CK28 1.91grt cutter. 20.4'x7.7'x2.7'. Constructed 1930 at Brightlingsea by Charles Kidby 30/9/1939 Fisheries number CK28 allocated. Owned by George James Stoker (master) & George Thomas Stoker, West Mersea. 10/3/1942 Aux. motor fitted. [Registry details from John Collins, the Nottage].

Rebuilding at Peldon

John Milgate at the helm of BOY GEORGE at the 2004 Dredging Match.

SKIFFS AND BUMKINS
or THE REBUILDING OF THE BOY GEORGE.
By John Leather.

This article was sent to Classic Boat Magazine September 1989, but it is not known if it was published.

Fifty years ago, as clouds of war gathered, at a few places in Britain men still used sailing craft, innocent of engines, to fish and carry cargo. Amongst these quaint survivals in the relentless march of the internal combustion engine were a handful of small craft working from the then delightful Essex village of West Mersea, at the western end of Mersea Island, facing its creeks and the bread and windswept river Blackwater.

There were then still a few small, cutter rigged smacks at Mersea dredging oyster under sail, as they had done in that area for centuries. Others in the little fleet had been fitted with engines. Besides these there were smaller, humbler craft used in the fisheries and known variously as "skiffs" if they were not rigged for sailing and as "Bumkins" if they were. There were large, open, clinker planked craft, strongly built and usually having all grown frames if they were to be used in the oyster trade, when up to a couple of tons of oysters might be carried to be re - laid on the "layings" in the many creeks, or for similar amounts of "culch" or old oyster shell, broadcast on the layings before the spring "spat fall" or birth of young oysters. There would hopefully cling to the culch and commence growth. Skiffs also at times carried "shram" or shingle for making up the basis of oyster layings. At other times they might be loaded with the detested American slipper limpets, dredged up in tons as this imported pest began to infest some grounds, particularly in the river Colne.

At nearby Brightlingsea, on the Colne, centre of the spratting trade, skiffs were much used to carry barrels of the little silver fish ashore from the spratting smacks crowding Brightlingsea Creek, landing the catches amid clouds of crying gulls in the winter "stowboating" season; a very different type of smack and often men, from the estuary oyster dredgers.

In their various uses the skiffs were the humblest of the various craft in the Essex fishing fleets which for centuries until 1939 numbered several hundred vessels. Skiffs for lightering use existed principally at Brightlingsea and these and many sailing skiffs were also built there by the shipyard of Aldous and the smaller yard of Charles Kidby,as others had been earlier by Root and Diaper. The unrigged skiffs were propelled by one man sculling with an oar in the transom score and it is surprising what speed can be attained in this way with a fair tide, or across it. The skiffs for lightering use at Brightlingsea and later at Tollesbury, were between 18 - 22 ft long, 8ft beam and 1ft 10in - 2ft 6in deep. Loaded draught was about 1ft 4in and light about 11 in. They were flat bottomed with a broad, flat "fish" shaped keel which enabled them to sit on a hard loaded with up to two tons of shell without distortion. Although flat in the bottom and not very deep the hulls are surprisingly shapely, usually having a hollow entrance and a well shaped run ending in an attractively shaped transom. Who and when originally devised this simple but pleasing shape is now unknown but skiffs were certainly in use on the river Colne at the end of the 18th century. Hull planking is of English elm, a tough wood, long lasting in salt water. Keel, stem, sternpost, frames, knees and gunwales ( known in skiffs and "the rails") were of English oak. The transverse floors were usually of Baltic fir. Skiffs are open except for one strong thwart from gunwale to gunwale about 6 ft aft of the stem. A pine planked transverse bulkhead is fastened to this and to a transverse bearer at the height of the sole or "ceiling" planking which forms the bottom boards. This was a "shifting" bulkhead to prevent the weight of shell or other cargo from shifting forward and so sinking the skiff.

In the spratting season, usually from November into February, the lightering many thousands of bushels have been carried ashore by them from my grandfather`s smack, the BEATRICE, when she along with many others chose to discharge at Brightlingsea rather than at her home port of Rowhedge. I have known these skiffs most of my life and have always admired their workmanlike air. I have owned a sailing version and am at present part owner of a lightering skiff which we use as a floating base vessel, prolonging her probable century of usefulness.

A few years ago when living at West Mersea, I came across my old friend John Milgate, versatile shipwright and accomplished small boat sailor, assisted by his son Angus, struggling to lift a rusted Brit engine out of the hull of the old Mersea sailing skiff BOY GEORGE, where she lay decaying in the saltings. Giving a helping hand I learned that she was to be taken to John`s home at the village of Peldon, at the head of Ray Creek, to be rebuilt to her original sailing condition. A few months later I saw her there, blocked up and with her old grown frames being removed and replaced with new, the work progressing as an evening class in boatbuilding under John`s tuition. At first it seemed an unremarkable task but as the months passed I and others were struck by the high quality of the workmanship going into the skiff by the "pupils", who where obviously enthusiastic in "serving their time" at boatbuilding in this way. When it was time to take out the old wood keel, stem and stempost, John had to step in, with help from members of the class which numbered ten, including two girls and one or two old age pensioners. One girl removed the old transom, cut out and bevelled the new one and later fitted it, making an excellent job. The classes skills were developing rapidly and they were learning much of the history of the skiff.

The BOY GEORGE, CK28, was built by Charles Kidby at Brightlingsea in 1920 for George J. Stoker of West Mersea. The few years immediately after the end of the first world war in November 1918 brought a flurry of building of new sailing working craft, from sailing barges and schooners to Brixham smacks and Blackwater bumkins, as many men put the horrors of war behind them and hoped for a resumption of old ways. Alas, an economic depression quickly gathered strength and coupled with the widespread acceptance of the marine motor, doomed these brave but misguided attempts to retain sailing ways after a short time.

Oblivious of these changes men like George Stoker took delivery of new craft, with their sharp edged plank lands, unscored rails and clean, new white canvas sails and set about the business of earning a living in ways they understood and did not expect ever to change.

The BOY GEORGE spent most of her life working under sail and later power on George Stoker`s oyster layings in the Strood Channel, above "the old city" as the ancient part of Mersea village is called. Sometimes she worked on another laying he owned in "The Fleet". Her dimensions were (and are) 20 ft length overall x 7ft 10in beam. Draught with the centreplate raised is 1ft 2in and about 3ft 6in with it lowered. Hull depth amidships is 2ft 6in to the rebate. The gaff sloop sail plan has a high peaked mainsail of 207 square feet and a foresail of 52 square feet, set to a short bowsprit. The hull was originally planked in English elm on a keel, stem, sternpost, grown frames and rails of English oak. The mast and spars were of pine.

Like a dozen or so other bumkins, the BOY GEORGE towed one, occasionally two dredges over her owners oyster layings to bring up a daily "catch" of the oysters he cultivated in the Mersea creeks. At other times she carried "culch" or clean old oyster shell for broadcasting on the layings in spring, ready to receive the fall of spat or young of the oyster, which would hopefully cling to it and start the five or six year cycle of growth to maturity. At others she sometimes carried "shram" or clean shingle from the beach of the spit known as The Nass, at the entrance to Mersea and Tollesbury Creeks, This was used in making up the bed of layings, as was chalk. So the BOY GEORGE worked almost always in the creeks and she seldom had to venture into the broad river Blackwater, which can at times be rough for small boats.

A sailing skiff or "bumkin" such as the BOY GEORGE was worked by one man and like many a dredging smack, these craft could be worked under sail without touching the tiller, by adjusting sheets and dredge warp, with the dredge cast over and the warp checked and made fast on the weather side or quarter, pinned in with a thole, the foresail was brought aback and the mainsheet slacked so the skiff began a drift over the laying at low but controlled speed. When it was time to haul, the momentum of hauling the dredge was used to bring the skiff round on the other tack. The already sheeted foresail filled and with the mainsheet trimmed she started the sail back for the next haul while the owner culled the contents of the dredge. Mature oysters were retained, immature returned to the water, along with the culch. In strong winds a reef or two would be put in the mainsail and one in the foresail. About five hours was a normal days work, then the skiff was sailed back to her mooring and the oysters taken ashore for depositing in oyster pits to cleanse themselves in less muddy water before despatch to customers.

The little fleet of sailing skiffs or "bumkins" at West Mersea included the DAWN, owned by George Stoker`s father; the IRENE, owned by Cassell French; WHY NOT, E. Wolf; OYSTER, Leslie French; GIPSY, Banks Brothers; SALLY, Jack Mole and MANABS, which sometimes towed a small shrimp trawl in the Strood Channel. When the WHY NOT was built in 1921 Charles Kidby proudly told Mr. Wolf "She`ll be faster than the BOY GEORGE, I`ve given her a finer bow". "Humph" said Mr Woolf, More likely the planking came out different to what he expected".

The sailing skiffs raced in the Fishermen's Boats class at the annual West Mersea Town Regatta along with the similar winkle brigs, which were about 18ft long and frequently faster than the bulky skiffs. There were other diversions. The skiff SHIFT was often used for wildfowling in winter with a punt gun lashed to her stem and to the main beam. She crept silently up on the birds under sail, firing when within range. By the 1930s the owners of a few West Mersea skiffs abandoned their sails and bought outboard motors. Powerful British Anzani Motors were the make favoured. The newly motorised skiffs could get about with more certainty and regularity, if more expensively. As one sailing skiff owner put it; "Them ole ingines burn forever o` oil". But the owners often gave their becalmed or tide ridden brethren a tow, The owner of the sailing skiff DAWN always insisted on being towed to the far and of his laying so that a dredge could be slipped over as she passed over it and a quick haul under somebody else's power could be made; "Best haul of the day" as he put it.

In the late 1930s Banks Brothers had an engine installed in their skiff GIPSY; a 10 horse power petrol paraffin BRIT motor, capable of the slow running for long periods, so necessary in dredging oysters. Many other owners soon followed and the slow Chuff, Chuff, Chuff of the Brit is one of the pleasant recollections of being anchored in the Thornfleet. Salcote or Tollesbury Creeks on a misty autumn morning as the skiffs sild by with cloth capped figures at their tillers. Later the motors became petrol only. The BOY GEORGE had a Brit installed in either 1939 or 1940.

George Stoker continued to work into the war years and in the surge of oystering when it ended. Grounds not dredged during six years of war needed cleaning and layings received long awaited attention. A rich haul of oysters was found in the upper part of the Blackwater, below Osea Island and many Mersea skiffs dredged there each day for some time. I remember beating up the river in my little cutter, against a strong south - west wind on an October day and seeing eight or more Mersea skiffs motoring home with bow waves surging over the rolling blue - green seas of the flood tide.

At times they also worked in Robin Hood`s Creek, that enigmatic little trickle which runs around the back of Peewit Island, off Bradwell village.

In the late 1940s Peter French re-rigged his father`s bumkin IRENE and sailed her in the Mersea regatta and local handicap races. By then all the working skiffs were powered at West Mersea, where the reliable Brit engines were preferred. Several new 21ft x 8ft motor skiffs were built at that time by the yard of William Wyatt Ltd by Jack Enemy, a consummate master of the art of clinker boatbuilding. Apart from being built with a propeller aperture, there skiffs followed the well tried form, construction and arrangement of the ex-sailing skiffs such as the GIPSY. Their names were JINNY, built for George Stoker as a new craft [ but see WKB_001 built for Edwin Haward ] the SILVER SPRAY and the GOLDEN CHANCE, named for a Scottish steam drifter then fitting out for sealing in the Falkland Islands at nearby Rowhedge.

After the war a few of the smaller sailing skiffs passed into pleasure use at Mersea. In 1960 I bought the 18ft x 6ft OYSTER from Hervey Benham. She had been built in 1919 by Hempstead and Co at West Mersea for Leslie French, who used her principally for carrying oysters from smacks dredging in the river to layings and oyster pits in the creeks at Mersea and Tollesbury. She was also used for other work and cultivation on the layings. With the usual flat floor and shapely ends she was a stiff sailing boat, ideal for smooth waters but dangerous in a seaway.

The complete rebuilding of the BOY GEORGE took three years and was carried out by John Milgate, actively sided by his class of evening school students. The whole of the original planking was removed and replaced with ¾ in thick larch. It was shaped and fitted by John and fastened with copper boat nails, those in the plank lands clenched on rooves. The students clenched the bottom planks, where the lands had reasonable thickness, leaving John to clench the trickier bilge and side planks which are diminished at the edges by "browing off". The centreplate and its case had been removed and John replaced this in new material.

All this hard work resulted in an almost totally new BOY GEORGE standing on the blocks, just as she originally came out of Charles Kidby`s shed; strong, sound and wall finished. The only original timbers remaining in her structure were the mast beam, the wood keel and the wooden show fitted under the keel to take chafe.

John researched the original sail plan of the BOY GEORGE. Her sails had been made at West Mersea by the old established firm of Gowen and Company. In their old cutting books of the 1920s was the sail plan of the BOY GEORGE. A new suit was ordered for delivery in 1989, made in Egyptian cotton, as the originals. So, a new BOY GEORGE is set to sail the creeks of her native West Mersea for many more years. A few weeks ago I had my first sail in her and enjoyed the lively performance of her generous sail plan above a broad, shallow hull which developed considerable speed in a strong wind and smooth water but keeps the crew alert on a beat to windward. Her shoal draught allows her to skim the edge of the saltings and be an eye catching part of the creeks at high water. She is a pleasing and interesting boat to sail and a practical reminder of the way men earned their living afloat not so long ago. Her rebuilding, achieved through John`s determination, has set off a wave of local enthusiasm for restoring skiffs, either sail or motor, and the Fishermen's Boats class at the Town Regatta will soon resemble the 1920s.

Read More
The Bumkins of Essex by John Leather