Shipwrights in Gloucester in the United Kingdom are working daily to make the Cayman schooner Fair Weather seaworthy again.
Paul Deegan, who is trying to get the ship – believed to be the last Caymanian-built wooden schooner capable of sailing – to Cayman, said a team of six shipwrights at the T. Nielsen and Company shipbuilders are working from 8am to 4pm Monday to Friday on the vessel.
“There is damage to some of the frames which are the cross pieces, so we decided to replace any damaged ones,” Deegan said, “but, in general, the condition of Fair Weather was more or less what we expected.”
He said the entire refit centres around having the boat shipshape in time for its return next year before its 75th anniversary in 2025.
Fair Weather was originally built in shipyards in Cayman Brac and Jamaica, and is believed to be the last of the wooden schooners built by Cayman Boats Ltd. that can be made seaworthy.
Earlier this year, it was transported from Spain to the UK for repairs, after Deegan and others tracked down the schooner and began arrangements to bring it back to the Caribbean.
The plan is to bring Fair Weather to Cayman to help promote the islands’ maritime heritage and hopefully kickstart interest in modern seafaring among students, via education programmes and on-ship training. Deegan also hopes this may lead to the establishment of a maritime museum.
Repairing the ship is a costly affair though, and Deegan is hoping that members of the public or local companies or foundations will invest in the $2 million project.
“Overall, we are confident of getting her here next year,” Deegan said, but added that currently the main obstacle to bringing the ship to Cayman is a lack of funding.
The S.V. Fair Weather Ltd., a foundation that is now registered as a not-for-profit, is planning to offer family and individual memberships of the project, so people can become invested both financially and emotionally in the ship.
Deegan said one way to support the efforts to bring the ship to Cayman and to be a part of its future is to avail of a five-year membership offer to become a ‘Friend of Fair Weather’, which involves a $1,000 donation that would give participants perks such as merchandise and excursion discounts and other benefits.
He said there are also plans to register the foundation with global grant-making organisation CAF America to enable US nationals to donate.
Storied history
Fair Weather was built by Cayman Boats Ltd., owned by Sir Anthony Jenkinson and Arnold ‘Cappy’ Foster, which had boatyards in Port Royal, Jamaica, and Cayman Brac, that were mostly staffed by Caymanians.
Leicester Hemingway, brother of author Ernest Hemingway, was also involved in the shipyard, and actor Errol Flynn was a regular visitor to Port Royal to see his friend Jenkinson, whose family owned and used the schooner for many years.
The Jenkinsons sold it in 1958 to former Royal Navy Commander Angus Alexander MacKenzie, who then sold it about a year later to Bill Adams of Saratoga, California, who took it on a round-the-world cruise with his wife Suttie and family. The couple broke up in New Zealand during the trip, and Suttie ended up captaining the boat back to the United States.
During that voyage, Fair Weather sailed 35,566 miles, spent 349 days at sea, and visited 103 ports.
Modifying a classic design
Slight modifications will be made to Fair Weather’s engine and generator “with a more environmentally friendly set-up”, Deegan explained.
The interior of the ship is also getting a refit, with modifications to the kitchen gallery and bathrooms, as well as the addition of collapsible rather than fixed bunks, so that students can sleep on board during night voyages to the Sister Islands and back.
“The only difference from her original dimensions will be the use of copper plating on her outside to prevent rot,” Deegan said. “Years ago, they used a heavy toxic bottom paint. This is to prevent worms eating away at the timbers.”
The shipwrights at Nielsen and Co are taking a more modern approach, he added.
For more information about the schooner and donations to the foundation, visit the Fair Weather website.
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