Whilst on the subject of pilot cutters, it is interesting to note the construction of the "pilot" schooner Doña Francisca, currently in her final stage at Sr. Lopez Mena's shipyard near Montevideo. This is Latin America's largest yacht construction and the World's largest fully-carbonfiber project, and reminiscent of the Baltic Yachts Panamax project (which did not feature carbonfiber rigging), with a significant 172ft carbonfiber/Epoxy-infusion hull. She features a classic "pilot" appearance with a graceful counter, deep cockpit with coamings, sweeping sheer with lowrise bulwarks, clean flush deck with mahogany kingplank, distinctive pilothouse and skylights, plumb bow and bowsprit. Thorough presentations of Carbo-Link's rigging supplies to the yachting industry by Dr. Andreas Winistoerfer and of the Doña Francisca project build by Resoltech resins supplier Pierre Calmon were given at the 2012 HISWA symposium & METS tradefair.
midship frame of the Velox (draft Jacques-Augustin Normand)
Extracted from Howell's Steam Vessels and Marine Engines (1896) Now that England and America's attention is once more attracted to schooner yachts through the regattas for this kind of vessel, it may be interesting to publish the plans of a thoroughly French yacht which, although dating several years back, gives no leeway to similar foreign yachts. Built in Le Havre in 1875 by Jacques-Augustin Normand, who obliged us with the plans, the Velox shows remarkable improvements and special features, showing a great advance over foreign constructions, as these novel forms were only applied later to a number of celebrated foreign yachts in her wake. Mr. C. Maurice Chevreux, in an elaborate article, published in The Yacht of April 13th, 1895, has, moreover, brought out forcibly these characteristics which are found in certain racing yachts recently built in England. The outlines of the Velox, a combination of those then in use partly in England and in America, call at first for stability of ballast and for width of water line. The hull of the Velox is, therefore, in reality a conglomeration of two hulls brought together by softened curves, a broad hull with a weak depth on the lines of the celebrated Sappho and under that upper one another very narrow one, very high, intended to receive the ballast. The length of the second receptacle is so great, in proportion to its width, that its resistance is hardly more than the surface friction, and, notwithstanding the capacity, is such that it can accommodate in a low draught, without injuring the stability or solidity, all the ballast necessary. The center volume is placed at a slight distance from the water line and the dLsplacement rather lessened, so that the hight of the metacenter (half center) above the center (which is inversely proportionate of the displacement) becomes considerable. The metacenter is located 1 meter and 42 centimeters above the water line. This is of exceptional value for a yacht having a great stability of weight. It will be seen what enormous distance from the center of gravity to the metacenter could be possibly obtained if the total of the ballast was lead and if the lower hull was consequently reduced. The low displacement in proportion to the volume of freeboard, allows the ship to rise very easily with the wave, and the nautical qualities are very good indeed. The board lines are composed of two diagonal and one longitudinal line. The first, running from front to rear, are only present in the center part. The second, running in an opposite direction, covers the ends in connection with a longitudinal outer layer. There are, therefore, three thicknesses of very thin woodwork in the middle and only two at the ends. These layers, powerfully riveted, form a surface as rigid as a metallic hull. It was also possible to allow a considerable distance between frames which admitted of a very light construction. Iron stanchions, inserted into the sides, bind the bridge and frame and prevent a deformation of the transversal lines.
The keel is very large (96 cm) hanging free in the center and supports a leaden keel. The yacht is not at all intended for racing, and, moreover, the proportion of lead in the total make-up of the balla.st is exceptionally weak (25.5 tons on 87 tons of total weight). Yet the vessel carried very readily one of the greatest expanses of canvas of any existing yacht. Important modification would have been necessary if it was intended to apply the same system of outlines to a racing vacht; But it appears that the plan gives a maximum of carrying power and stability, which is the intrinsic motive power of a sailing vacht, as it conditions the quantity of canvas. The Velox is by her dimensions, qualities and beauty of shape before all a high sea vessel and compares advantageously with the best English and American yachts of her type. Let us quote by comparison now as to yachts of her kind, more recent constructions, like the Ambassadress; the fine schooner Constellation, by Burgess; Yampa; Alcæ; and in England, Enchantress, Cetonia, Waterwitch, etc. Let us compare the Velox with the Coronet, which dates but from 1886, and was built by Cornelius & Richard Poillon in Brooklyn, New York.
Velox
Coronet
year of launch
1875
1886
designer:
Jacques-Augustin Normand
William Townsend
builder:
Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand (Le Havre)
Cornelius & Richard Poillon (Brooklyn)
total length:
42.21m
40.54m
Load Waterline Length:
37.50m
37.49m
beam:
7.20m
8.23m
draught:
3.91m
3.78m
ballast:
87 tons
126 tons
sail area:
959m²
772m²
displacement:
249 tons
277 tons
Sections, deck, layout and sailplan of the Velox (draft Jacques-Augustin Normand)
Lines, profile, frames and interior layout of the Velox (draft Jacques-Augustin Normand)
Following is a key to the letters shown in the plan of the
interior of the Velox:
A owner's cabin
B cabins
C toilet
D hall
F saloon
G dining-room
H officers' mess
I captain's cabin
C bunks
M buffets
N pantry
O second officer's cabin
P lockers
Q cook's cabin
S galley
T wash room
U quartermaster's cabin
V mail room
These drawings were first published by Le Yacht, Paris, at a time when the shapes and lines of vessels were often analysed to great extent. The lines of the Velox were redrawn by François Chevalier in 1993, in the Musée Maritime de la Rochelle's attempt to draw interest in building a replica the vessel, which was the largest sailing yacht built in France until Alain Colas' 1975 four-mast schooner Club Med a century later. The Velox was not considered however, instead the 34-gun frigate Hermione replica project was favoured, a more considerable challenge to build and to sail, and unlikely to be handled to full potential. However it is interesting to note that the yacht Coronet (1885), which served for the table comparison in the article, still exists and is currently undergoing a US$15m rebuild at the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport. The Hermione is awaiting for her topmasts whilsts and the framing of the Coronet has just completed.
When the age of discovery developed into the modern age of commerce, with the shipping fleets of the French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and British empires ensuring a global trade of exotic spices, the demands of an industrialised 19th century Europe required increasing tonnage, and the ships grew significantly in size, sail area, and in consequence, draught. With the largest trading ports inside the English Channel, scattered with rocks and extreme currents, or inside the shallow sounds, harbours and bays on the East coast of a fledgling American nation, fast pilot boats were developed specifically for guiding the increasingly large clippers to land and to port, and the advent of insurance companies made sure this became a generalised requirement. East and west, local experts on rocks and currents, these pilots could not be bypassed, and they advocated a "fiercely independent profession", in Tom Cunliffe's own words. They earned a commission for each commercial ship that they took to port - the larger the ship, the larger the reward. As a result, competition - to get to the larger vessels first - was indeed fierce.
The English channel pilot boat developed to be a truly wholesome type: seaworthy (able to safely withstand the roughest sea and wind conditions), and fast in light conditions, including to weather. The earliest French pilot boat for which we have lines, the Henriette Marie, was built circa 1847 and served as pilot boat to the city of Le Havre until 1870. She carried a fore-and-aft gaff rig with a square lug topsail (In the day's nomenclature, she would have been called a cutter because, like revenue cutters, her mast would have been placed amidships, enabling her to carry multiple headsails - in this case a staysail on the bow and a jib at the end of a long bowsprit). She was recorded with the figure H2 annotated on her mainsail, although it is not clear if she featured this throughout her career and she may have already featured the distinctive anchor sign and red stripe that identified her as a pilot boat. Shipwright Armand Pâris, took her measurements in 1866 and drew the lines below. A seakindly boat, she represents the epitome of the fast boat of the time, with the cod's head (fat stem) and mackerel tail (lean stern), with the beam well forward at 2/5 from the stem.
lines of the Henriette Marie (draft Armand Pâris - collection Claudie Reinhart)
Henriette Marie H2 year of launch: 1847 Length Over All: 13.65m Length between Perpendiculars: 12.40m beam: 4.14m draught: 2.42m displacement: 26.6 tons.
During the build of Henriette Marie, the production of the first iron yacht was started at the Thames Iron Shipbuilding Company in Blackwall. Her designer, Thomas Waterman, had already produced commercial vessels, both steam and sail. To produce the racing cutter, he drew significantly on the published works of John Scott Russell, especially the waveline theory, so when the Mosquito was christened and launched in 1848, she became an immediate threat to larger yachts. Although she did not take part in the 1851 RYS £100 Cup, the Mosquito won the 1852 Queen's Cup and in that year beat the larger 178-ton America in another race 'round the Isle of Wight. The Mosquito's "easy and hollow bow, large displacement, well-raked post and deep keel" (in George Lennox Watson's own words) were proven right by her long and successful racing career; Watson followed: "If the Mosquito had been the product of an American or foreign yard, she would have created a greater sensation than the schooner, for she exhibited quite as much ingenuity in her design". It is therefore unfortunate that she did not immediately or substantially influence cutter design, although it is important to note that 40 years after her launch, she became one of the very first yachts to be converted to pilotage. She served at Barrow-in-Furness and closely resembled other pilot cutters of that period.
lines of the Mosquito (Badminton Library, volume 22, 1894)
the rig of the racing cutter Mosquito (print from Montague John Guest's memoires of the Royal Yacht Squadron, 1902)
Mosquito year of launch: 1848
builder: Thames Iron Shipbuilding Company
designer: Thomas Waterman
Length Over All: 21.44m
displacement: 49 tons
rig: fore-and-aft gaff cutter rig with square lug topsail and two headsails
In 1871, after Henriette Marie's service had ended, the shipyard headed by Jacques-Augustin Normand, the country's leading naval architect at the time, produced the pilot boat Cours-Après. A larger vessel probably built for a wealthy pilot, she presented the same shape, albeit with a slightly taller plumb bow, a deeper keel aspect ratio, and a premonitory raking sternpost. The beam had been drawn back to the midship section, like the the yacht Mosquito, enabling the boat to present a finer cutwater entry. With a lengthier waterline in keeping the same beam as the 1847 Henriette Marie, she was a narrower and more heavily ballasted boat. This would have resulted in a stiffer boat, capable of easier handling and better performance in rough upwind conditions. A versatile split sail plan would have been mounted on a gaff rig and three headsails mounted on a stocky bowsprit, not present on the lines plan.
lines of the Cours-Après (draft Le Normand - collection Claudie Reinhart)
Cours-Après H1 year of launch: 1871 modeler/builder: Jacques-Augustin Normand, Chantiers et Ateliers Le Normand (Le Havre) Length Over All: 15.60m Length between Perpendiculars: 13.80m beam: 4.22m draught: 2.75m displacement: 41.6 tons.
With the first French yacht club (Société des Régates du Havre) established in 1838, a mere decade before our first pilot boat, it is surprising that yachtsmen & pilots did not interact to develop a common fast coastal boat together: That is due to the early races being held predominantly on the Seine rather than the coast itself, so the actual type requirement would have differed significantly. When the Bassin d'Arcachon -designed and -built cruising yawl Trident II (1892 design by Joseph Guédon, built by Bonnin & Damon) arrived in Le Havre in 1900 to be converted into a pilot boat, new interaction possibilities were made obvious, and marked one of the earliest type conversions in this country. The boat, rechristened Fellow, served a year under her yawl rig until she had earned enough to be converted to a cutter rig. Her mizzen removed, the final step in her conversion was completed. She suffered a tragic sinking during a storm in 1903 while on a Search & Rescue mission. The Trident II had attracted the attention of British yachtsmen before her pilotboat conversion, and it is easy to see why: Guédon had achieved lines that resembled the pilot cutter, yet were far easier, producing a more slender vessel, with a pronounced yet gentle sheer, a long counter and a very raked sternpost and fully submerged rudder: this would have made her very responsive without compromising speed, though it was originally intended as a loophole in previous rating rules for racing yachts. The very hollow hull and exterior ballast would have compensated for the fairly shallow draft, a much desired feature on the yacht's original cruising grounds.
lines of the Trident II as published in Die Yacht (collection Jacques Taglang)
Fellow H21 (formerly Trident II) year of launch: 1892 designer: Joseph Guédon builder: Bonnin & Damon, Lormont (France) Length Over All: 18.30m Length Water Line: 15.30m beam: 4.80m draught: 2.60m displacement: 38 tons (including 17 tons ballast, amongst which 6 tons placed outside the keel) sail plan: gaff yawl, 241m² mainsail: 100m² staysail: 27m² jib: 32m² jib topsail: 29m² topsail: 33m² mizzen: 20m²
The early 1910s marked the climax for the pilot boat type, when small vessels still used the power of sail, whereas the shipping lines of the day had all but abandoned the extreme clipper type of the likes of the Lightning, Thermopylae or the Cutty Sark (destined to ship specific goods over considerable distances at speed), in favour of more versatile cargo steamers of larger overall tonnage, well suited for comfortable passage and therefore accommodated for passengers and diversified cargo in large quantities; Their well-established propulsion systems and quadruple expansion engines providing guaranteed passage times. In the 1910s, rivers had been dredged but not channels, and hydrographic soundings plottings did not use a schematic, and with the number of commercials ships at an all time high, boarding pilots at the entrance of channels was of utmost importance.
The historical climax in the count of pilot boat numbers comes can be tracked to this period in time. Tom Cunliffe's own pilot cutter Hirta dates from 1911. His personal understanding of the type led him to consider that it was Barry pilot Lewis Alexander's Kindly Light, commissioned for a staggering £500 in 1911, which was the World's fastest pilot cutter. Two years later, the Jolie Brise was launched by Albert Paumelle's yard in Le Havre. She earned her fame when she was entered in the first edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Fastnet Race in 1925, which she won. With a back-to-back win in 1929 and 1930, the Jolie Brise is the only boat to have won the race three times. The pilot cutter is now represented as a very canvassed vessel with deep draught, very hollowed sections, with a huge sheer from the transom to the bow and a very raked sternpost. Safe, she featured bulwarks along the entire length, acting significantly on the sheer at the bow to keep the deck safe and dry; The bulwarks feature a signature distinction with the openwork scupperholes on the transom that can be recognised on most channel pilot cutters of that period.
launch of the Jolie Brise (collection Jacques Taglang)
lines of the Jolie Brise (collection Jacques Taglang)
Jolie Brise H6 year of launch: 1913 naval architect: Alexandre Pâris builder: Albert Paumelle Length Over All: 22.50m Length On Deck: 17.06m Length Water Line: 14.63m beam: 4.63m draught: 3.10m displacement: 23 tons sail plan: gaff cutter, 228m²
Shipping resumed after the Great War and the pilots never stopped work, but they would be replaced little by little by the radio and the boat type neither evolved nor did their numbers increase, instead, significant changes were made to propulsion of increasingly small vessels, and during this period marine diesel engines were fitted with great success and put an end to the working boat's glorious "Age of Sail".
After he had successfully conducted full restorations on all three surviving J boats, naval architect Gerard Dijkstra received in 1999 a commission to draw a modernised pilot cutter. The topsides of the vessel, christened Christoffel's Lighthouse, is textbook pilot cutter: Vertical bow, fine entry, a clean working flush deck, and bulwarks all the way forward and aft giving a high freeboard, a sweeping sheer and "openwork" transom scupperholes. While that may please the appearance, Christoffel's Lighthouse's underbody and rig is modern and very different from the wooden pilot cutters. She features a canoe hull with very small quickwork's prismatic coefficient, a deep balanced rudderblade and a high aspect dropkeel with bulb. Being built in aluminium, she enabled Mr. Dijkstra to further develop the original pilot boat type: The dropkeel provides the righting movement, stiffness and ability to point in which the original pilot cutters excelled. Mr. Dijkstra could have chosen a gaff rig like for the Harlequin project but instead a carbonfiber bermuda rig was stepped well forwards, and not amidships like in the original pilot cutters: this enables large ketches to adopt the type as well. Interestingly the deck layout features a novelty: the "pilothouse" is a fusion of a modern decksaloon and of Endeavour's doghouse, affording comfortable seating for the crew whilst keeping in style with the vessel's "classic" appearance. The resulting yacht was so compelling to Mr. Dijkstra that he developed a 53ft pilot cutter to build for himself and which he named Bestevaer II. Following Christoffel's Lighthouse's launch, Mr. Dijkstra and his partners have acted along with fellow Dutch designer André Hoek to revive and modernise the pilot cutter with significant success.
How to be a pilot - Gerard Dijkstra at his spyglass, aboard Bestevaer II
How to use a pilothouse - Gerard Dijkstra at his charttable, aboard Bestevaer II
The future is pretty anachronistic for Dykstra & Partners. Whilst they are involved in ultramodern yachts and ecoliner containerships, they are still developping pilot cutters and even extreme clippers. After the two 256-footers Stad Amsterdam and Cisne Branco, the keel of the 282ft clipper Orchid for the Oman navy has been laid down at Damen shipyards. The ship will surely need to hire pilots...
Magic Carpet 2 (94ft, 2003) has just changed hands as her builder Wally delivered to her former owner a new yacht, christened Magic Carpet 3 (100ft, 2013), the second in the WallyCento class. Designed by two longstanding and perfectly established naval architects in large maxi racers, respectively Germán Frers and Reichel/Pugh, neither the designer of Magic Carpet 2 or Magic Carpet 3 has broken with tradition with these two yachts: Both have a significant track record in maxi racing, and Frers still handles designs for Hallberg Rassy's wholesome cruisers and Nautor's Swan cruiser/racers whilst Michael Reichel & Jim Pugh still act as leaders in monohull underbody & appendage developments. Both design teams can be described to have peaked though, and they are challenged by Javier Soto Acebal, Jason Ker, Shaun Carkeek, as well as Judel/Vrolijk in the monohulls above and below 100ft. Yet Magic Carpet 3, launched last month in Italy, is no repeat, and neither was her older sister ten years ago. They are the "Best Of" products of continous development by the World's best naval architects in the very prime of their professional careers. Read more about the Wally rules and the WallyCento class here.
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