The Western Ocean Yacht

 

 As the age of sail commenced its steady decline, usurped by grimy black steamers, a flotilla of the most elegant schooners to grace the seas continued to trade to and from the Rock.

 These handy, weatherly vessels with a surprising turn of speed were Western Ocean Yachts, a type of topsail schooner developed at Porthmadog, North Wales, towards the end of the 19th century. Between 120 and 177 grt, they varied from 89 to 102 feet long and were very strongly built to allow loading on a beach at low tide. Carrying square sails on the foremast only and fore and aft sails on the main and mizzen, they were easily handled by a small crew of five or six; which is perhaps one of the reasons that they survived into the steam age.

 Thirty two of these handsome vessels were built between 1891 and 1913. The first was Blodwen and the last Gestiana; the last under sail being Isallt, which was wrecked in 1948. But they were the stars of their age. Basil Greenhill, a former director of the National Maritime Museum wrote; “The grace of their hulls and the balance of their tall spars gave them a beauty, both under way and lying at anchor, not exceeded in all the history of sailing ships.”  Good looking ships then, with a reputation for speed, economy and seaworthiness.

 For the small town of Porthmadog, they were the final chapter in an 81 years association with shipbuilding, which began in 1824 with launch of the sloop Two Brothers and produced some 260 ships. William Alexander Madocks constructed Porthmadog’s harbour in 1824 to serve the slate quarries of Blaenau Ffestiniog. Initially the slate was delivered to the quayside by horse tram but with the arrival of the Ffestiniog railway in 1836, Portmadog’s trade expanded rapidly, providing roofing for the fast expanding towns of Britain and northern Europe.

 

                                                                  Loading slates by sliding them down planks.

 

Local boat builders produced the sloops, snows, brigs and schooners which traded slate to the Baltic and Germany in ever increasing quantities. After the Great Fire of Hamburg in 1842, Ffestiniog’s quarries held a near monopoly of the German market, for about 40 years until 1880, when the demand for slate fell through the floor.

 

                                                          Building on the beach at Porthmadog

 Throughout that time, Portmadog boatbuilders had responded to observations from ships’ masters, about meeting particular sea conditions or innovations they had seen on foreign vessels. The end result of their refinements was the Western Ocean Yacht. They had developed what were probably the best ships of their size in Europe, but now had little work for them. So the owners began to seek other markets and they soon established themselves in the salt cod trade.

  

A typical voyage shipped slate from Porthmadog to the Elbe, then general cargo or ballast down to Cadiz or Gibraltar, followed by salt across to Newfoundland or Labrador and then salt cod back to the Mediterranean where the master would look for a cargo, typically fruit, back to Porthmadog.

Sometimes coal was loaded at Hull or Newcastle for Gibraltar and granite from Cornwall, possibly for the kerbs and cills of the dry docks. It is said that around the turn of the century you might find as many as twelve Porthmadog boats entering, leaving, or waiting for orders in Gibraltar, at any one time.

 

 

                                                                     A Western Ocean Yacht in Rosia Bay

 

On one of her 1901 Atlantic crossings the Western Ocean Yacht Blodwen set a record for the 4500 mile trip from Labrador to Patras, Greece, in 22 days. Ten knot averages were not uncommon and the strength built-in for loading on a beach served them well in the stressful Atlantic swells. The square topsails often had stun sails added (extensions on light weight poles) for the down wind passages.

                                 

 

                               The Schooner Blodwen, courtesy of Rob Montgomery, Southern Tall Ships.

One of the regular visitors to Gibraltar was the Sgwnr (schooner) Cadwalader Jones, one of the smaller Western Ocean yachts. After twelve years carrying slate she joined the salt cod business, calling frequently at Gibraltar from 1890 to 1906. Her figurehead was Cadwalader Jones - the master’s uncle in his Masonic regalia - who undoubtedly cut a fine figure driving through the Strait at ten knots.

 

 On one memorable occasion, Captain Evans of the steamship Iolo Morgannwg encountered four Porthmadog ships (Cadwalader Jones, Rose of Torridge, CE Spooner and the Linus) wind bound in Huelva. After a social night together Captain Evans offered to tow them all out to sea the following morning. As they finished the evening aboard the Cadwalader Jones, her master drew the attention of his guests to a flying fish suspended from the skylight by a thread, which was indicating a change of weather; a fair wind. The master of the steamer told him not to talk nonsense. Next morning, however, as Captain Evans came on deck he saw that all the Porthmadog vessels had left the anchorage. When he got to sea he found them all well on their way to the UK, the little schooner well inshore. The Cadwalader Jones reached her destination several days ahead of the rest.

  

From 1909, Isallt was another regular to The Rock. She was the second schooner of that name, the first having been run down by the SS Atlantic in 1908. Ably commanded by Captain RO Williams she carried slate to Germany, salt to Newfoundland and salt cod to Gibraltar where she waited for orders for Italy or Greece. According to Sea Breezes magazine, Isallt was the last Porthmadog boat to load salt cod in Newfoundland in 1930. Her final demise came in 1947 when she was driven ashore on Ballymooney Strand, with the loss of four crewmembers, including the master.

 

 

    A dry bale of salt cod. Individual pieces would be soaked for four days, fresh water changed each morning,          to re-hydrate and remove most of the salt. They became a staple food and are now considered a delicacy.

 

                                                      Schooner Jane Banks in the Newfoundland trade.

 

 

The Sidney Smith was a three-masted schooner owned by a syndicate of eight, mostly Portmadog men, who operated her for seventeen years from 1895.

 

                                                         Sidney Smith, pic courtesy of Portmadog Maritime Museum.

The Sidney Smith voyaged to a large number of locations. She sailed from Preston to Gibraltar with coal; Cadiz to Newfoundland with salt; from Rio Grand du Sol to Falmouth with a load of (stinking) raw hides; from Falmouth to St Petersburg with stores; from Russia to Perth (Scotland) with linseed cake and from Falmouth to Gibraltar with granite blocks. Her master, Portmadog man Richard Williams, said that when she landed at Gibraltar, another thirteen ships arrived within 24 hours; none having sighted one another in their passages across the Atlantic. She was driven ashore and wrecked in Twillgate Harbour, Newfoundland, in December 1912.

 

                                                              The wreck of the Sidney Smith

 

The hazardous nature of the voyages made by these Portmadog ships is clear, as many were wrecked at sea. Several W.O.Y.s were lost round here; Consul Kaestner in a collision at the far end of the Strait, off Cape St Vincent in 1902; the Dorothy lost in a collision at Gibraltar in 1905; the Elizabeth Llewelyn lost on passage from Gibraltar to Huelva was stranded near the Pearl Rock in 1912 and became a total wreck, the Royal Lister foundered off Morocco a year later. That most famous first schooner, Blodwen, was wrecked off Alicante in 1916.

  

 

 The last remaining of the 260 Portmadog built ships was the brig Fleetwing, last heard of more than 20 years ago. She arrived in Port Stanley with a full load of coal in October 1911, having been sold to the Falkland Island Company who used her as a wool warehouse and hulk. Fleetwing survived the Falklands War but remained beached near Falkland Island’s East Jetty, a bare hull with her hold full of rusting 40 gallon oil drums.

 

 

More recently, Fleetwing’s remains were bulldozed out of the way to build a new sea wall; rather a sad end for a noble ship with a fine pedigree.

 

 

 

First published at Gibraltar Magazine Sep. 2005, revisited Jan 2025.  Paul Hodkinson.