Square rigger Club Spring 2013 by Hugh Illingworth

SQUARE RIGGER CLUB TS ROYALIST

SPRING 2013 EDITION

Big Brother Marine Traffic TS Royalist The early days Disasters and Drills

SPRING 2013 EDITION

Plus: Crew Update • TS Roylist Replacement Bosun’s Locker • Boaty Days Out

Contents Commodore’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . 03 Membership News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04 Operation 360 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05 TS Royalist Replacement. . . . . . . . 06-07 Tales from the Bosun’s Locker. . . . . . . 08 Charter 2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 09 General News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Big Brother is Watching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Cadets’ Corner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13 Bursary Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-15 Disasters and Drills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Boaty Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Early Days of TS Royalist. . . . . . 18-19 Membership Application Form . . . . . . 22

Commodore’s Annual Report 2012 This will be my third and final year as Commodore and my last Newsletter Report for The Square Rigger Club. During the course of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee pageant, Royalist was moored by London’s Tower Bridge and I was fortunate to be able to go on board and present to each cadet a specially inscribed Bosun’s Call. These commemorative “whistles” were donated by the Club as lasting mementos of the occasion. I am sure that if the response from the cadets was anything to go by, then they will be much cherished for years to come. This was a rare opportunity to spend half a day with the crew and cadets during their training. Many cadets thanked us individually for bursaries but one shy cadet in particular approached us (unprompted) and said “thank you for what you’ve done – if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be here this week.” There is nothing like being amongst the cadets during their voyage on board Royalist – the high point of the sea cadet experience – to underline the work that The Square Rigger Club does. There have been two successful charters this year – I think possibly amongst the best ever judging by the post-charter reports – and the money raised. I went to Portsmouth to see off our Square Rigger Club crew on their way to Le Havre in September and a very enthusiastic bunch they looked too! We successfully applied for matched funding from Barclays Bank this year, which helped to boost the profits raised by the charters. Under their scheme they agreed to match any money raised up to a maximum of £750 and we were grateful to have this additional sum. Thanks to your involvement in charters and your donations we have been able to continue to provide the bursaries. As a charity we couldn’t have done it without your extraordinary support and as many families continue to rely on us I hope that we can continue to count on you all. My good wishes to you all for a happy and healthy 2013.

Irene Agass Commodore Square Rigger Club

October 2012

Membership News

Financial Report 25th February 2011 to 24th February 2012 INCOME: Total Income for the period £15,993 Income this year was up £5,500 mainly bolstered by charter income and donations. Subcriptions remained steady albeit from fewer members subscribing in the year. We have improved our bank interest at long last, although we are moving our deposits over to Virgin Bank as they are offering a better return than our current bank, you just have to keep shopping around these days. EXPENSES: Total Expenses for the period £15,187 60% of our income went directly to bursaries this year, which is 5% higher than our 10 year average. Club expenses amounted to 31% this was 18% higher than average. The steep hike in costs here were attributable to our 40th AGM anniversary in Gosport 2011 which was but the increase in donations more than paid for this exceptional cost.

Most of you will have received your AGM minutes by email, for those who do not have an email address the minutes are enclosed. These show the accounts to 12th February and the minutes of the meeting, if in the future you would like these emailing to you, please forward your email address to jmac@squareriggerclub.org.uk and I will set up your account on our database. This will save the club money, additional paper and postage, you will also receive updates and information automatically.

Operation 360 Gift Aid – Act now!

he club is always trying to generate more funds and one that is available through the revenue is that of Gift Aid. We currently have 178 members who donate via GA and this generates some £1800 to £2000 pa in tax claims from the revenue. The 178 members account for about 71% of total membership. We will never achieve 100% as some people are non-tax payers, but feel we could raise more through this method. Remember, it does not cost you a penny. Even if you are not sure if you have signed in the past, you can still fill in the form and return it back to me at the address below. I can then check our database to ensure we are claiming the correct entitlement. For further information you can look on the Government’s official website: www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift-aid.htm Please address all completed forms to: John MacDonald Square Rigger Club 146 Manchester Road Mossley Lancashire OL5 9BG

John MacDonald

By Richard Weston

he club needs more members to keep the good work going into the future. We currently have 178 members. The income from these subscriptions is essential to provide the funding for bursaries to get young people away on voyages. Our club members are long-standing and loyal, but our age profile means that we have very few young members. Without new members the club will gradually fade away, which would be a great pity for the club and particularly for the cadets. We are at a stage where legacy money and bequests are keeping us afloat. To provide new energy and vitality to see the club go on for another forty years, supporting the replacement sea cadet vessels means more members is a key ingredient.

This realistically means having a membership of a minimum of 360, just as the marks on a compass. To achieve this number and ensure the club endures, the Committee need your ideas on the best way of recruiting. We of course need help with recruitment and people who can just telephone and say hello to new members. To get the message out into the wider sailing and marine community is very difficult and not without hurdles, but we have to start somewhere. For example leaving leaflets in chandleries and marinas and setting out stalls at boat jumbles and sailing events. So if you have any ideas or could help in any way, please contact the Committee. We promise not to try and recruit you to doing things you don’t have time for.

Deaths

adly, we’ve had 4 reported deaths this year.

Geoff Norman of Oswestry died June 2012. Jeoff Smith from Loughborough died suddenly in July 2012. Philip John Williams died 2011 Bristol area. Left £3,714.62 in his will to the Club. Frederica Hilda Lambert FRGS November 2011. Left £3,131.99 in her will to the club. Frederica’s bequest came out of the blue and was wondering if any of our older members can throw any light on her association with the club it would be nice to find out a little more about this “adventurous woman” some details we knew about her was cleaned from the internet.

4th May 1915 – 18th November 2011 nee Dougal (previously married to John Conrad Wheadon). Peacefully died 18th November 2011, aged 96 years. Loved mother of Susan, Heather, Ruth, John, Ken, Joanna and Rachel. Always remembered as an adventurous and extraordinary woman. Profession: Secretary, Hotel Manager, Places lived: C roydon, Guernsey, Switzerland, Newent, Hawkes Bay – New Zealand, London, Wookey Hole, Weston-super-Mare.

Acknowledgements ALL ABOARD! Do you know any potential new members? Turn to page 21! 04

Once again a big thank you to Photolink Creative Group for producing this edition, especially Kevin O’Neill for proof reading this newsletter. Thanks also to all the contributors for their pictures and articles.

TS Royalist Replacement By Richard Weston

replacement TS Royalist is even more important now than in 1971, because many things have changed within society. Schools are now very risk adverse and existing activities after school have been discouraged by scaremongering about health and safety and risk aversion where all risks are eliminated to the point where nothing

can be done safely. Computer games and television are a very big factor in any child’s life. It is common for cadets to tell you that they find TS Royalist ‘better than a computer game’. The long march with cadets to find a telephone box for a ten pence phone call home at the beginning of the week or parents without a telephone and having to phone a neighbour are distant memories. The Facebook generation can keep in touch across the world, from a mobile telephone. Some things have not changed, a child’s need for adventure, the skill of sailing a vessel with a team and the leadership, courage and fortitude required to be at sea. Children crave this more than ever, because teenagers are most unlikely to 06

be able to go to sea with a father or grandfather in our modern world. Children still need training and jobs as they progress to adulthood, and the evidence of aptitude to demonstrate to employers that they have potential to be a good trainee and they are worth investing in. My proudest moments are when ex-cadets come back to TS Royalist to explain they are merchant navy cadets or passed out a Raleigh for the Royal Navy or decided to take some other path as a result of their sailing experience. And of course the training of a new generation of adults that will go on to work in the UK sail training fleet. The design of any new ship including sailing vessels is now strictly regulated by international agreement; that are then translated in to law of the country to which a vessel is flagged, including habitability and health and safety. Because the existing TS Royalist has been so successful for so long, in the forty year period, many things have changed beyond recognition in that time. For example the provisioning of a ship does not rely on cans and dry storage, because of refrigeration and scientific advances in food storage and packaging. Effective food storage saves costs in the long-term, when the grocery bill is nearly £1000 a week, stuffing cadets with calories. Water makers can provide almost unlimited fresh water on long voyages. Pollution is now discouraged under the MARPOL regulations, so putting your sewage over the side is not allowed on new large vessels.

The new ship will have to comply with the following mandatory and statutory regulations and many more beside: • Class requirements of Lloyds 100A technical requirements, these govern the strength of the vessel and its construction in steel, with minimum requirements for fire, flooding, buoyancy and strength. • Marine and Coastguard Agency requirements on the number of crew the ship must have for its given length and operation. For example to have a Commanding Officer and a Sailing Master to navigate the vessel and an engineer on board to attend the mechanical and electrical systems. • Maritime Labour Convention that governs the minimum size of cabins and usable space, and facilities such as wash hand basins and showers, and also the number of people that can be squeezed into one cabin. • Child welfare and safeguarding rules, regarding the separation of adults and children and privacy of children when changing or washing. It is easy to remember that TS Royalist was designed for boys, and girls were part of a separate sister organisation. This is without all the usual considerations of space restrictions on equipment, safety, reliability, availability of equipment and spares. Expectation is also a big driver of changes in the design, is the expectation of parents and authorities such as social services, schools and media. Also designers, builders and maintainers expect a modern vessel to last a minimum of thirty years. Clearly the experience of maintaining the current TS Royalist has played a big part in the development of the new design. Requirements for the ship start with a series outline specifications that set the

basic parameters of the ship. This might seem obvious, but they are required to explain to potential designers and builders what kind of vessel is required. This is even more important because the project will be procured as a design and build. The completion will run in two

design of TS Royalist four adults were in the forepeak, to the same purpose. Also it is required that twelve adults can be aboard as day visitors. Some may scoff at the importance of child protection regulations, but their implementation is a legal requirement,

The two stage tender process works by asking suitable contractors who have pre-qualified in terms of financial security, specialist experience, quality, health and safety for example. To provide an initial design and a cost as a tender. From this foundation, negotiations will take place

stages with a provisional design and indicative cost, and then detailed negotiations to ensure the correct design and the right cost is achieved. Basic requirements include: • A sailing brig under twenty four metres load line length with a single displacement hull. This is a small two masted vessel that can be crewed by staff with commercially endorsed yachting qualifications. The vessel needs to be constructed of steel to provide the strength required to endure poor weather and give a vessel that will have a long life and can be easily repaired. • The vessel must be capable of operating in Northern European waters from March to November, including the ability to sail far offshore on Tall Ships races. Of course this governs the strength of construction, but also determines the type of ventilation within the vessel, the type and quantity of food storage, and storage for first aid equipment and navigation and radio equipment. • The number of young people is unchanged at twenty four, but the number of staff is increased from the current nine to ten. The ship initially started off life with ten staff, but changes over the years squeezed more adults into the wardroom, and also reduced the number of staff. Two of the staff will be accommodated forward with the cadets to ensure better provision in terms of the child protection regulations. In the original

because a sail training vessel is both a floating dormitory and school. Children should be afforded the same protection and welfare at sea, the same as if they are at school or college. The child protection rules apply to all children, to the age of eighteen, also strict rules apply to young people to the age of twenty five. The Royal Navy, as to apply these rules in just the same way and military training colleges and establishments are subject to Ofsted inspection and reporting in the same way as schools. All youth charities including the sea cadets have the responsibilities. Child protection is not just about the prevention sexual exploitation. More commonly it is about making sure that the cadets are not bullied by other cadets or adults. That they are not mistreated or neglected, for example that they are fed properly, that they receive sufficient drinking water or juice, and they are kept warm or protected from sun burn. The regulations are of particular importance to vulnerable children, such as those that are immature or have learning difficulties and are less able to help themselves; or communicate the issues at hand.

with the competitors, to achieve the best matrix of costs and quality. Once a preferred tender is selected the detailed design and approval can take place. The detailed design will be measured against the functional requirements. For example operational needs like sailing performance, the ability to sleep and the impact of light and vibration, the privacy of accommodation and the ability to interview children in private. Regulatory issues such as the size of the cabins and eye space across the cadet mess. Safety such as the provision of the controls for bilge pumping at deck level or the water proofing of electrical systems. The functional requirements will also include an analysis of the machinery such as generators and main engines. Everyone accepts that cheap or poor quality equipment will entail premature failure and replacement, or more expensive repairs and maintenance. The cost of spares and fuel consumption will also be an important issue in reducing the long-term running costs. The paint system is very important, especially as ships rust from the inside. This gives a dilemma, because the paint system is so important the old days of the hardy amateur happily slapping paint on a ship in refit will be over. Modern paint systems require professional application and maintenance by properly trained people. Similar issues will exist across the ships systems and the ability of the club to get involved in the maintenance of the vessels will diminish.

Procurement All ship designs are a compromise, you have to balance the physical size and strength of the cadets with their ability to pull on lines and set sail and hand sails. The details of the replacement ship have yet to be developed. The design will be scrutinised as part of a two stage tender process.

From the Bosun’s Locker A summary of 2012 By Alex Coakley

Greetings fellow Square Riggers!

hat an incredible year! Over the course of 2012 TS Royalist has taken part in several particularly special occasions, such as The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee pageant on the River Thames, The Brest Festival in France and bidding the Lord Nelson ‘bon voyage’ on her round the world tour, along with several other sail training ships in the Solent. She has also had the privilege to have approximately 500 cadets sail onboard over the season, meaning she has now taken more than 31,000 young people to sea over the past 41 years! Well done TS Royalist! The winter refit period (December ‘11 to March ‘12) was a challenge for the Sailing Master and I. We had decided that the yards needed to be struck down over the winter for a full refurbishment. It took us a good three months work, repainting the aluminium spars, replacing their fittings, foot ropes and so on... But rest assured, we did manage to put it all back together! At the end of February it took us less than a fortnight to repeice the jigsaw puzzle, with the whole team working together to rerig and reinstall the yards. Over the past two years that I’ve worked aboard the flagship, the phrase ‘the Bosun’s work is never done!’ has 08

become rather familiar, and it’s definitely not been far from the truth – working onboard ship presents new challenges day-to-day, whether at sea or over refit. This year the ships team have also refurbished all the upper deck woodwork including the ship’s wheel, which looks fantastic! Moving on to some of the major events in the ships calendar this year, the closest to home was the Royalist Regatta, hosted in May, for which TS Royalist was of course in prime position, dressed overall in the Solent! The ship also participated in the avenue of sail on the Thames for the Queen’s

Diamond Jubilee Pageant, and again she looked absolutely wonderful, not that we’re biased or anything! When the pageant was over, the crew hosted a ‘street party’ onboard for the cadets, and they really got into the spirit of it, making it a fantastic evening! In between cadet training weeks during the summer months, TS Royalist ventured to France, stopping off for the Brest Festival, an event where many tall ships from around the globe gathered around the time of the tall ships races for a giant festival. I think the highlight of my year had to be our impromptu meeting with STS Lord Nelson in the Solent on the departure day of her ‘round the world’ voyage. Both ships sailed together from Calshot Spit to Gurnard Ledge, where Royalist Saluted, before parting ways with Lord Nelson and continuing to Cowes. The ship looked magnificent sailing dressed overall, and even had the chance to give Colin Mudie three cheers as he sailed past, a spectator for this wonderful event! Another winter is now upon us, work has already started on stripping down the mess deck for her hull inspection, I suppose I better start moving before the coxswain destores me for the winter! Fair winds! Keep supporting! Bosun – PO(SCC) Alex Coakley

GOSPORT TO GOSPORT Friday 17th – Monday 20th May 2013 Prices: £205 (members) £230 (non-members)

FALMOUTH TO FALMOUTH Saturday 7th – Friday 13th September 2013 Prices: £495 (members) £520 (non-members)

For more information, contact Ed Bird Charter Secretary of the Square Rigger Club Email: chartersec@squareriggerclub.org.uk Tel: 07962 698648 www.squareriggerclub.org.uk The price of the charters is inclusive of all meals and accommodation. 09

Crew Update 2012

Big Brother is Watching www.marinetraffic.com

By Richard Weston

ngie, as Captain continues to deliver a fantastic experience to both cadets and adults and has now completed three seasons as Captain. She has managed to combine being away at sea with buying and refurbishing a house in Brixham. Also she is still a very active member of the Brixham Lifeboat crew, when she is home. Her Dad who fishes from Brixham was able to lend the ship an enormous help, when an anchor cable had to be let go after a hydraulic pump failed unexpectedly. Dad; went out and recovered the cable and anchor with his fishing boat and returned it to the ship and then drove over to the suppliers to fetch a replacement pump. The strangest thing I have done with Angie as Captain was lying alongside the fish pier at St Peter’s Port, Guernsey, with a full size Viking longship outside of us on the way back from the Brest Festival. Roy has now completed three seasons as Sailing Master and continues to enjoy developing the training programme. My abiding memory of the season will be Roy as relief Captain inbound for St Helier, Jersey and in the main channel in the dark on a night entry with a car ferry waiting for us to clear the channel. The port engine cuts out just when we need it to turn in to the harbour and would not restart. Using one engine and the sea boat he turns the ship and lays the ship perfectly alongside the pontoon. The ferry was not delayed, and the engine was soon fixed. The shaft brake temporarily replaced by a small crowbar to get us home. Although everyone all needed a strong cup of tea afterwards to recover. Alex is working very well, still bouncing around the rigging as Bosun. To make sure he qualified in the eccentric category, he went skydiving to raise money for the club. Alex is well on the

By Richard Weston

way to completing a foundation degree in youth work, through the Open University. He is also helping to recruit young people to the club, and has reviewed the membership of the club. Martin is still cook and we all enjoy his meals, recently he has been used as relief on the power vessels. We helped to bring back 24 cadets from Cherbourg to Poole by fastcat ferry in July, and his wife and daughter arranged transport from the ferry to the railway station. Martin is also still District Officer for the Poole area and works very hard for the benefit of the cadets. Sadly Martin has been tempted away from TS Royalist to work full time on the John Jerwood. Mike has now retired from the ship, but not the Sea Cadets. He now manages engineering support to all the sea cadet offshore vessels and is regretfully office based. In the early part of the season he did some relief weeks to enable Kenny to join as the new engineer. Kenny comes from a sail training background, but has proved very good at teaching the evolution of stretcher evacuation because of his experience in mountain rescue. I got to know Kenny very well, in June when moored in London in advance of the Jubilee Celebrations. A pipe suddenly became disconnected flooding the bilges with Thames water, just as the Prince of Wales came by on the Royal Barge. The team spent a very busy hour pumping bilges and plugging the leak with a wooden bung, we did not sink of course but it was a good team building exercise.

Remember us in your will

AGM 2013

lways a delicate subject to broach but can be an effective way of donating no matter how small the bequest is. Make a bequest to the Square Rigger Club in your will. It can include money, land, property or stocks and shares. The wording in your will should read: “I give and bequeath, free of all duty and taxes, to the Square Rigger Club for the general purposes of the Charity, the sum of £ ….....…… , and I declare that the receipt of the Treasurer or other proper officer for the time being of the said Charity shall be a sufficient discharge of the same.” 10

Aimee has been a watch officer this year, a very good relief cook and able to communicate in teenager she has been a sterling part of the crew. With no previous experience of sail training she has now decided on a full time career in sail training, now her year as watch officer year has ended. She is off to Gordonstoun School in Scotland, with ambitions to go sailing in the Arctic next season. Peter has now left the ship and swanned off to join an Oyster yacht on a round the world trip, the entire team was green with envy over the stop offs in Cape Town and Australia. Seduced by the comfort and luxury of sailing with adults in the warm is understandable, but his skill with the cadets and cheerful approach to life will be sadly missed on board TS Royalist. Peter’s replacement as coxswain is David; who started the season as a relief cook, transferred to watch officer and is settling in to the post of coxswain very well. His merchant navy experience on large commercial ships has been of huge benefit to the ship. My own fond memories of the ship include the Remembrance Day Parade at the submarine museum, with cadets and the retired submariners of the Royal British Legion. John Bradnock has now been retired five years. He holidays on the Isles of Scilly, Alderney, and the canals of the Midlands by hotel barge. He is in good health, after a few running repairs to the rigging. His local church would be lost without his work as a server on a Sunday.

e are still finalising a date and location for the Annual General Meeting September 2013. As soon as we have a confirmed date, I will send an email or letter to you to mark in your diary. We look forward to seeing you then. Regards John Macdonald Honorary Treasurer

eeping track of TS Royalist from your front room or office is very easy if you have a computer linked to the internet, you do not need any specialist equipment or training to use the AIS system. Automatic Identification Systems were made compulsory in 2004 by the International Marine Organisation for all vessels over 299 gross tonnes. TS Royalist and the power vessels Jack Petchey and John Jerwood have AIS fitted, so it is possible to monitor their movements using a computer. Several websites have similar facilities, but the one I use is Marine Traffic, type www.marinetraffic.com into your search engine. You have to register, and to do this you first need an email address. Getting an email address is a free service and the Marine Traffic registration is also completely free of charge. The website will send you an alert by email every time one of the ships in your fleet departs or arrives at a port. You can also have alert messages sent as a text to your mobile telephone. This does cost 15 euros per 100 texts, you buy in advance. Cheaper, if you have a smart phone is purchasing an application (app) for around £5 that enables you to receive the same information, free of charge once you have purchased the application. Once registered and signed on to your Marine Traffic account you can then add vessels to your fleet. Go to the Services tab, and click on My Fleet, Notifications, My Data, this will take you

to another page, at the top will be My Fleet, this page will be blank, choose add a new record. On the line searching for a ship, the boxes are not very clear, so make it easy and click on the question mark. This will bring up a search box. Type in TS Royalist, hopefully the search will find the vessel, click on the line for the vessel you require, some searches will bring up more than one vessel with the same name. This way you can slowly build your fleet. You must put TS, just Royalist comes up as a blank. The fun part is that once you have chosen a vessel for your fleet the web site will send you an automatic email every time the ship departs or arrives at a port. You can also go on the website and see the last reported position of the vessel. Reported positions are usually reliable, when a ship is within 40-60 miles of the coast around the UK. Because the AIS system is based on short range VHF channels 87 and 88, information from

the vessels global positioning system is transmitted to shore. Once beyond the range of VHF, AIS will not work unless the ship has some other method of reporting their position. Clicking on another page will give you a map with the position of the vessel. A bonus is that you can see the vessels around TS Royalist as she makes progress on a voyage. The colour of the routes, is a code describing the type of vessel, red for tankers, green for cargo vessels and purple for yachts including TS Royalist. You can tell she is underway, because of the ship symbol, when she is stationary, alongside or at anchor the symbol becomes a square. Information includes the speed and course of all vessels when underway. The site has many photographs posted by shipping fans, so you can see TS Royalist and also look at pictures of the vessels close to her. Interestingly you can also get the real-time weather information for the area around the vessel, for example wind strength and direction. If you are unfamiliar with the port she is bound for, on the same website you can look up the port information. A very useful tool when trying to join TS Royalist in Brest, a very large dockyard and you want to know what she is alongside. The same page gives the traffic within the port such as vessels departing or joining Southampton on a particular day. So get clicking, unfortunately none of the sea cadet offshore vessels will be operational, before March 2013, but the site is still a lot of fun.

Cadetsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Corner

Bursary Report 2012

Distribution of bursaries by vessel

By Richard Weston

he bursary applications for the 2012 season are at an end. The season has been very busy and all the applications have had to demonstrate the financial need of the cadets before they obtained approval for a bursary. • Total number of bursaries for 2012 – 150

Average value of bursaries VESSEL Yachts Jerwood Pechey TS Royalist

VALUE £81.85 £58.10 £58.28 £69.60

• Total estimated value of bursaries – £10,897 • Average bursary £68.10 This does not include the bursary to Mark from the Peterhead Unit for best cadet on the Tall Ships Race 2011. This is an additional £1000 donated to the club especially for this purpose. Mark; chose to sail on the Jubilee Sailing Trust brig, Tenacious from Southampton to Dublin. The voyage commenced on 10th October and ended on the 20th October. He signed on to the Young Leaders Development programme while on the ship. Bursaries by vessels – number of cadets

Many cadets already have funding that comes from other grants and bursaries. This is called match funding, they have some funding and they require a top up. So the SRC funds are an essential part of the match funding process. All cadets or their families have to provide the first £50 of the £250 voyage fee as a deposit. The deposit is necessary to prevent abuse of the system. The sea cadet unit or the family may simply not be able to pay the remaining £200. The family will have a low income for example. Just as likely is; several brothers and sisters who want to go away on offshore courses in the same season and this is unaffordable. The cost of the course also includes rail tickets and other travel expenses to and from the vessels for each cadet. In the 2012 season no cadet was refused funding. Nine cadets applied for funding and then decided they did not need the money. This was primarily because they could not go on the voyage, for example hospital treatment. One or two had more funding than they required from all bursary providers. Applications are usually made by email, to a dedicated bursary email account for the SRC. This email address is on the Offshore Poster so cadets and adults in a unit can apply directly to the Club. Sometimes the Offshore Office will refer a bursary application.

Distribution of bursaries between boys and girls TS Royalist and the yachts 110 bursaries, or 69%. Power vessels 40 bursaries or 31%. Bursaries by vessels – value of bursaries

TS Royalist and yachts £7,987 or 74% of value of bursaries. Power vessels £2,910 or 26% of value. 14

The yachts are usually operated as one boat for girls and one for boys. This is reflected in the bursary applications, being almost equal between boys and girls. There is no evidence that the female cadets have a greater financial need than the boys for bursaries. Boys and girls have an equal opportunity to apply for Offshore Courses, and they are considered equally for bursary applications. Each application form is considered on its merits, no account is taken of units claiming special consideration for their best cadet for example or a cadet that would like to join the Royal Navy. All a cadets has to have is enthusiasm and a real desire to sail on the offshore vessels. TS Royalist did not participate in a Tall Ships race this year so no special funding was required. Bursaries have a very special resonance for children with learning difficulties, dyslexia, autism, hyperactivity and other similar problems. It not only gives the cadet a brilliant opportunity. It also gives the family a break from being a parent to a frequently difficult child. No matter how well loved a child; offspring with behaviour problems can be very frustrating. Being able to send them away, to an environment where they will learn in a very structured and disciplined environment can be a huge help to Mum and Dad. This respite is beyond value or cost, especially to be able to give attention to other brothers and sisters living in the shadow of these difficulties. Looking Ahead TS Royalist will be going to the Rouen Festival, but not racing in a Tall Ships. It is estimated that the funding requirement and number of bursaries will be approximately the same in the 2013 season. The SRC bursaries continue to make an essential difference to cadets wishing to sail on the Offshore fleet. Without this funding, their families or sea cadet units would not be able to send them away.

More boys than girls apply for voyages on all the vessels, so the number of bursary applications reflects this. 15

Disasters and Drills

Boaty Days Out

By Richard Weston

uth is a very careless member of the crew, she is the rescue dummy and is always falling off the topsail yards and tumbling down the mess deck ladder. Practice and drills are a fundamental part of the safety systems on the ship. It is useless to have a safe system in place if it is not used or practiced. Some drills, such as putting on life jackets at the beginning of a voyage are mandatory.

This Ruth she has been found lying on the mess deck. The red inflatable stretcher has been slid underneath her. Kenny the ships engineer is explaining the need to keep the body straight in the stretcher and line up the straps before securing them. Ruth is not light, she weighs 60kg (132Ib), and represents a typical cadet. The stretcher is effectively a large plastic bag filled with polystyrene balls. Sucking the air out with a special pump, makes the bag become rigid and wraps around the casualty. 16

The briefing is complete and the person at the head takes command. With the stretcher secured and the casualty comfortable, Ruth is elevated. Ready to be passed along the Burma Road. This is the interesting part of the drill no room to lie the casualty flat or space for the rescue crew. Teamwork is essential in a very confined space. Looking after each other and keeping Ruth safe and comfortable. Squeezing down the Burma Road is a very demanding challenge, if you have never done it before. Finally Ruth is out in the fresh air, and feeling better for being laid flat again. With lots of help she is laid on the emergency box, ready for a helicopter evacuation. The look of concentration etched on the faces of the cadets, explains everything. The teamwork and planning required transferring Ruth from the mess deck to the cockpit is something these cadets can be very proud of.

don’t know about you, but I enjoy days out doing “boaty” things, time spent wandering around places such as The Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Chatham Docks or Portsmouth Harbour. I enjoy sailing, on TS Royalist of course, but also on yachts new and traditional, so perhaps some day-sailing or a trip on a canal? How about a trip to a classic rally with a good pub-lunch? I would like to organise a series of outings for like-minded people, with a view to raise funds for our charity and to increase interest in membership. To keep costs to an absolute minimum I would like to use email only. If you’re interested in receiving details in the future, please send me an email with “Boaty Days” in the subject box, let me know the region you live in and any ideas you might have for “BOATY DAYS OUT”. I look forward to hearing from you. Ed Bird – Charter Secretary chartersec@squareriggerclub.org.uk Please note that any email addresses sent in response to this will only be used by me in connection with planning future events and will not be passed to any third party.

New Members

elcome to our New Members since our last news letter.

Martin Clarke

Dorset

Brian Condon

Kent

Jane Hughes Stephen Millisom Carolyn Mills Angela Morris Edward Paterson Andrew Rycroft

Canada Hampshire Essex Devon Lincolnshire

Rosemary Skeffington Robert Smith Sam Smith James Sumberg John Ward Nicholas White Roy Young

Surrey Surrey Wiltshire Essex Devon Staffordshire Devon

Dorset

The early days of TS Royalist and anecdotes of square rig sailing By ByKeith KeithSmeaton Field

n 1971, as a Petty officer, SCC, RNR, rigging the new TS Royalist from bare poles – no rigging at all – at Groves & Gutteridge, Isle of Wight – I could never have imagined that the day would arrive when she would be replaced. However, forty two years on, we have arrived! At the age of twelve years, I joined the Wembley SCC with Keith Moon of later fame as the drummer of The Who. Keith played the bugle and I played the drums in the SCC band. I learned to sail at the Welsh Harp Hendon, sailing GP 14s, Dipping Lug Naval Whalers and I also spent much time on the Blackwater river, Essex where I sailed Thames barges and fishing smacks among other boats. In those days, HMS President, a First world war flower class cruiser moored on the River Thames, was the RNR London HQ and she had various small naval boats in attendance. It was there I learnt to row naval cutters and whalers against the strong tidal current of the river. When it was decided to build TS Royalist, Bruce Ashwood and Alfie Smith and myself amongst thirteen

others, trained aboard the German officer training ship The Gorch Fock, a 2000 ton barque – square rigged on the fore and the main and fore n’aft on the mizzen. We sailed from Keel to Tunis. When first ascending the main top yard and told to step on the foot rope, my heart 18

was in my mouth and I thought, “Shall I just let go now and get it over with?” I was terrified. During the subsequent voyage, I was impressed when watching the hardened crew running along the yards. I wondered if I would ever be able to do that. The main lower top yard weighed about two tons and it took forty men to hoist it. We slept in hammocks slung in three tiers on chains. Each of the eight watches comprised of about forty men per mess deck. It was hell trying to lash up and stow – get dressed and fall in on the waste in about a 5ft space. In the end, I didn’t bother. I would just lie in my hammock and wait until the other thirty men were on deck and I took my time. One morning, when the rest of the mess were on deck, the duty PO saw me in my hammock. When he realised I was part of the English contingent he, to my surprise, let me stay there. It was a tough voyage, designed to make or break and men were falling like flies. One night, when manning the six man wheel, the Captain, a former U-boat skipper, came over to me and asked me if I knew where we were. He was surprised when I didn’t know. Laughing, he said, ‘We’re on the battleground of Trafalgar’. When subsequently rigging TS Royalist from bare poles, we had to bring her yards and rigging from Portsmouth on the SCC HLD (harbour defence launch). For posterity I took Super 8 film of the rigging of her and

the Square Rigger Club possesses an unedited copy. During this time Captain Wheeler made me Bosun. Just after that, the wind backed 180 degrees and we had to follow it as one has to do in a square rigger, otherwise we would have been caught aback, which is dangerous for square riggers. Rigging Royalist was an exciting and challenging time, particularly the first shakedown voyage to Alderney, Channel Islands. There were only four riggers aboard who knew about operating a square rigged ship and

particularly a brig. These first few months were exhausting. During this first voyage we were constantly on watch to ensure the smooth operation of the ship because TS Royalist’s first Captain, John Wheeler, Ex Queens Harbour Master Portsmouth and other professional crew, though experienced yachtsmen, had little practical experience of handling a square rigger, particularly a brig. During the voyage I was appointed TS Royalist’s first coxswain and was commissioned Sub Lt SCC RNR while at sea. Teaching the crew the manoevres for going about and wearing, and teaching the pin and fife rail layout, setting sails, particularly topsails and topgallants and stowing them, became a time consuming task, confusing most novices aboard.

One day when in mid channel, my tiredness really kicked in. I, being the deck officer during the morning watch, noted that the lights of the Decca Navigator red, green and blue were dimming. I thought it was the rising dawn causing the problem. I then realised the ship’s batteries were flat and we were lost. I thought Captain Wheeler would keelhaul me. I gingerly knocked on his cabin door. A gruff voice answered “What!”. I replied, “Skipper, we are lost”. Luckily, Wheeler was able to attain our position because he had a sextant. When coming alongside in Alderney, the whole town, led by the Mayor in all his finery, had turned out to greet us. We were exciting news. The trouble was that the outgoing thirty foot tide made it difficult to moor the ship. At that time, we knew little about ‘Cockbilling The Yards’, using the lifts to depress the yards to either port or starboard bringing them with the beam of the ship – facilitating mooring alongside in a high tideway. Therefore, the captain decided to turn the ship and stay out of harbour, much to the disappointment of the town folk. On one of the other early trips to Cherbourg with Captain Wheeler, when anchoring in the outer harbour, we managed to drop the hook on a French nuclear submarine which had not been buoyed. We realised this when a couple of Frenchman came running up the sea wall, waving arms and shouting their heads off. You can imagine us trying to un-snag the anchor! Another memorable occasion was when taking dignitaries, including the First Sea Lord, on a trip around the Solent. Unfortunately, when returning on a falling tide we went outside the channel buoys. Needless to say, this resulted in us going aground. It was so embarrassing! Naval launches were summoned to the rescue. I managed to get a stern tow line across. Still, we were still not having much success at re-floating. I realised the dignitaries clustered in the cockpit had to be moved forward but unfortunately, that was not successful. We then decided to move

the ship backwards and forwards and side to side to loosen her. In a third attempt to refloat the ship, I, a lowly PO, had the pleasure of ordering the dignitaries to run forward and aft and side to side. It worked and we were re-floated with the help of the HLDs pulling us astern. The point is, this was the only time I, a lowly PO RNR, was able to order the First Sea Lord and the high and mighty to do my bidding. They still talk about it to this day! To return to life aboard TS Royalist: one day, Chris Daniel came aboard as crew. He was the curator for the sundial department of the Greenwich Maritime Museum. It turned out that he had been contacted by an American Company that was building the replica of Sir Frances Drake’s ship, The Golden Hinde. This resulted in my being asked to rig this ship and sail with it to San Francisco. And what an adventure that was! Amongst other happenings, we were nearly shipwrecked on the northern Californian coast, when encountering a one hundred and twenty mile an hour hurricane. The Golden Hinde was rigged with traditional natural fibre material which meant we had to employ all the traditional skills and arts of the Jack Tar of Tudor period. The ship had no fridges and navigated by the Cross Staff and Astrolabe. After becoming becalmed in the Pacific Ocean and subsequently encountering a hurricane and eighty foot waves, we arrived in San Francisco to a tumultuous reception with three twenty-one gun salutes. During this voyage I learnt true seamanship skills, rope work and sail making with a palm and needle - the arts of the true wooden wall sailors, which regretfully are now disappearing. I am just proud and very pleased that I was part of the Royalist story and assisted many thousands of youngsters experience square rig life and team building. One recollection - my real claim to TS Royalist fame is being the first person to be seasick aboard her! Being a member of the SCC and Square Rigger Club has enabled me to associate with some great people such as the Princess Royal and her brothers, Sir Robin Knox Johnson, Morin and Francis Scott, Colin Mudie, the TS Royalist designer and many other wonderful people. I am currently involved in projects to enable people to experience deep sea sailing - another great experience.

Square Rigger Newsletter 2014

Join the

o you have an interesting or amazing photograph of the TS Royalist? Do you think it would look great on the front cover of the next edition of this Newsletter? We here in the production office are always looking for images for the next edition of the Newsletter and would love to be able to use one of your photos for the front cover – or anywhere! All we ask is that your photos are as high resolution as your camera allows. Please send any photos you think would look great on the cover next year, to jmac@squareriggerclub.org.uk and please in the subject line add – Front Cover images.

•S ail TS ROYALIST on at least two weekends each year – no previous sailing experience required! • Plus additional week or weekend charters (dependent on the availability of the ship). •M ore experienced? Sail as afterguard crew with the Sea Cadets. •C harter one of the Sea Cadets offshore yachts. Membership starts from just £20 per year. The perfect gift for any would-be sailor! Who we are TS ROYALIST, the square-rigged sail training brig of the Sea Cadets, was launched in 1971. Formed to support the ship, The Square Rigger Club provides support in men, materials and money for the Sea Cadet’s square-rigged sail training brig TS Royalist and assists the Sea Cadets with a bursary scheme.

Interested?

More info More details on the Charter Weekends, Sea Cadets and Offshore Yachts can be found at www.squareriggerclub.org.uk

It’s easy to join. Fill out the Application Form overleaf OR download it from www.squareriggerclub.org.uk (in Acrobat Reader format) and post it to the Membership Secretary: John MacDonald, 146 Manchester Road, Mossley, Lancs OL5 9BG 20

The Square Rigger Club Membership Application Form Membership fees are due on joining the Club and on 31st March each year. In order to keep expenses to a minimum we would ask you to pay by Bankers Standing Order. Please complete and return to: John MacDonald, 146 Manchester Road, Mossley, Lancs OL5 9BG If you are a tax payer please use Gift Aid. Remember it does not cost you a penny!! Membership Details

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