Stow & Son 47 ft Gaff Yawl 1895 - Sold

In restoring VALERIE, Scott Metcalfe and his team at Waterfront Marine have accomplished an exceedingly beautiful, sympathetic rebuild, apparently commensurate with her vintage, which at nigh on 120 years makes her a genuine historical artefact. It is both a quirk and a blessing of classic boating however that an object of such rarity, beauty and desirability can be experienced and enjoyed as was intended by her maker so many tides ago.

The simplicity of her finish and fit-out are also appropriate to her vintage, while the re-introduction of her original yawl rig makes her a handy craft capable of being easily sailed by a small crew.

Partial completion of her interior enables a new owner to specify to his own needs the arrangements forward and for which an outline optional plan exists.

Early Lloyds registers show VALERIE as owned by Thomas Stow himself and still registered at Shoreham in 1897 - 98, a couple of years after her build. That she was registered to one of the yard’s owners suggests VALERIE was built as a stock yacht, but even though this was during one of the yard’s busiest periods (23 vessels built in the decade after 1890) it would have been a hugely speculative investment with no specific owner in mind. More likely, is that a potential buyer withdrew, leaving the yacht in the hands of the yard.

Quite early on – thought to have been circa 1912 she was transferred to Ireland, where information is yet more sketchy. Hearsay around her home port of Shoreham has it that she crossed the Atlantic in 1912 - and in 1916 ran guns for the IRA along with Erskine Childers’ ASGARD but unsurprisingly perhaps there is no documentary evidence to substantiate this.

It is believed that in 1922 she returned to the UK to be kept in the West Country in the hands of one Alexander Cochran, CBE. According to historian and naval architect John Leather, Cochrane had also been a naval architect - at the Burns Shipyard in Bombay. In 1936, VALERIE is listed as owned by Cochran lying in Dartmouth. And in 1939 she was converted to cutter rig. At some stage later she was converted to schooner rig, but exactly when is unknown.

Following Cochran’s death in the late 1950s, VALERIE changed hands several times before ending up in the ownership of Richard Biddle, a Somerset-based solicitor who bought her in 1972. Having lain in a West Country boatyard for some years prior, Biddle purchased her in the Isle of Wight however before transferring her to Port Hamble Marine for remedial work. On removal of her copper sheathing serious deterioration of her planking was unveiled, leading to the replacement of 80 per cent of it in pitch pine.

For more history see below

- Carvel planking of pitch pine
- Top two planks on each side of teak
- Sheer clamp made from 1 single length of Douglas fir
- Bilge stringers single lengths of Douglas fir
- Newly reframed with laminated iroko in the centre section and grown oak at the ends
- New galvanised steel floors, secured with insulated silicon bronze fastenings
- Keel bolts replaced to form a secure new structure in the bilge and keel area
- Deck beams and carlins all replaced in air-dried English oak
- Two-layer plywood sub deck finished with 2 inch , ¼ inch thick laid teak planking over
- Cover boards and bulwark teak
- Oak rudder stock, pitch pine blade bronze fastened

- Sliding hatch and lift out board access to companionway steps down
- Saloon furnished in Welsh oak panelling
- Single settee berths 6 ft 3 inch long each side with stowage below and outboard above
- Access to stowage by 3 x lift out panels at each level
- Cloth upholstered seat cushions
- Lift out cabin sole boards
- Saloon and head compartments built and fitted out
- Chart table and seat
- Aft galley bulkhead fitted
- Taylor 029 Cooker new 2014
- 2 x Quarter berths; one of which is large

- Douglas fir bowsprit in oak bitts
- Douglas fir main mast, boom and gaff
- Douglas fir deck stepped mizzen mast
- Sitka spruce Mizzen boom and gaff
- Galvanised iron work on masts and bowsprit by John Duncan
- Leathered gaff saddles by Joe Ormond
- Oak mast hoops
- 7 x 7 double galvanised and oiled standing rigging supplied by T Nielsen
- Rigging spliced, turned back and seized by John Duncan
- English Buff Polyester running rigging
- Refurbished antique mixed elm and ash blocks – mainly bronze sheaved
- Elm deadeyes

All sails hand made in Dacron Clipper Canvas by North Sea Sails of Tollesbury 2013
- Jib
- Staysail
- Main sail
- Mizzen sail
- Top sail

- Cockpit, trunk cabin, king plank, coach roof furniture and hatches all in teak
- The teak coach roof incorporating some original corners
- Bronze Panama eye fairleads and cleats fore and aft both sides
- Bronze jib sheet fairleads
- Brass binnacle and vintage compass by Sewell of Liverpool
- Galvanised steel tiller secured to engraved bronze topped oak stock
- (Antique wheel, worm gear and linkage for wheel steering also with the boat)
- CQR anchor and 150 ft galvanised chain

- Yanmar 3YM30 engine new 2014
- Propulsion through a Sillette Sonic sail drive unit to a Gori 2 blade folding propeller

Substantially restored from 2006 to 2012 using the best available materials

To read more of VALERIE\'s history turn to Sandeman\'s Yachting Chronicles or click here