Transmare by DragonflyRiver.com

Transmare- bow and bitts

21st April- Breaking News!

After more emails from the Deputy Librarian at Uni of Essex, we have discovered that Transmare is NOT a pinnace! She was originally built as a Harbour Steam Launch! It doesn't change any of the facts about her registered numbers- but it makes it easier now for us to look for similar boats and sister ships!

Transmare was built at the Rowhedge Ironworks in Colchester, Essex in 1912. The name 'Transmare' is Latin for 'across the sea' and she has had the same name since at least 1949- possibly since 1943.

She was originally driven by a Mumford compound 2 cylinder engine, was converted to a Chrysler petrol/paraffin engine in 1943 and is now powered by a marinised BMC 6.5l diesel engine. She also carries five sails- three on the bowsprit, a main sail and a mizzen sail.

She is 16m (52.5 feet long), 3.3m (11 feet) wide and weighs 38 tons. She has a registered carrying capacity of 11.77 tons.

Her hull is crossed planked larch on oak and iron frames with an oak keel. She is based on the design of a pinnace- with a straight keel which would have also been useful in the sometimes shallow waters of harbours.

David and I live on Transmare with our ships cat Willow, in Paphos Harbour, Cyprus. David is working on the boat to make her more liveable- increasing storage space and updating the electrical sytems, galley, head (bathroom) and saloon. The boat can currently sleep six (if needed) although it is more comfortable for four adults as we have two seperate sleeping areas- the saloon has a double berth on the starboard side (right hand side) and there is a double berth in the forward cabin (forepeak) that David built himself.

Latest News

Posted by Kat on 16th April 2007

Further conversations with Paul at the Rowhedge Regatta magazine. He would like to see more photos of the boat, more details on the work we have done and work that still needs to be carried out- and our plans for the future. He would like to link the article about the boat to the history of Rowhedge then and now- how the village has changed through the years and maybe some details of some people who worked at the yard- and possibly on our boat.

The Rowhedge Archives

Posted by Kat on 16th April 2007
Transmare

The Albert Sloman Library at the University of Essex at Colchester holds the complete Rowhedge collection. This includes the day book, wages book, sketches, photographs and specifications of vessels built at the yard until 1956.

Rowhedge Ironworks built private yachts, Admiralty vessels and other types of boat- including tugs, punts and launches.(more)

Researching Old Boats

Posted by Kat on 16th April 2007

Its not uncommon to see an old boat really, you may pass one every day on your way to work. It may be sitting in the river- (well, in the mud half-buried by the water!) ; it may be sitting in a field or rotting quietly on someone's driveway. But why should you care about it? Well, if it's old enough, it could be like our boat- a piece of naval history that needs care and attention- even if it's too far gone to rescue, there are people out there who try to find the lost boats from history and it always good for them to discover something 'new'. (more)

Change of direction!

Posted by Kat on 21st April 2007

Without the internet, it would not have been possible to find out the information that I have about Transmare. Finding out about the history that we thought was hers- as a steam pinnace possibly attached to HMS Hercules and then with a little encouragement and the wish to double check something turning up the news that our boat is a Harbour Launch and not a pinnace was, well, slightly odd!

Transmare was sold to us a pinnace. We know now that the previous owner thought that 'pinnace' sounded more romantic than 'harbour steam launch despite what the owners previous to him said! Misinformation may be more interesting, but it has made my job doing all the research harder and led to more dead ends! Never mind, alls well that ends well

Links

Transmare

The list below is a collection of links that I have used often- a lot of them for research! Others are my other sites (my main site and my blog) and Davids website North Up!

Links

Other Boats

Transmare

David and I were told there was another pinnace to be found in Limassol- returning to Billys Yard we found a sad vessel in the form of HSL (High Speed Launch) 2625. I returned another time to take photos of the boat- which can be found on my Picasaweb Album (see link above). I applied for her service history and was sent a copy of her work card

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