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HUMBER KEEL RETURNED TO SAIL
Name: SOUTHCLIFFE
Owner: CHRIS SHERBURN
Southcliffe was built as a Humber Keel in 1923 by Richard Dunston’s of Thorne for W Bleasdale & Co. She plied her trade carrying a variety of cargos by sailing the local rivers and canals until 1940 when, with the aid of a government grant, she was fitted with her first and only engine, a Lister JP2 Diesel of just 21hp.
In 1958 British Waterways took over all Bleasdale’s vessels in lieu of payment of mooring fees. Southcliffe continued as a working vessel with British Waterways until the 1970’s by which time coal runs and many other cargos had moved onto the roads and, like many other vessels of her kind ended up at Vic Waddington’s of Swinton.
Chris Sherburns’ sister, Vicki, and bother-in-law, John, bought Southcliffe from Steve Waddington in 1992 as a houseboat project. Firstly a new bottom was fitted to give a sound basis to work on, the remodelling involved cutting large rectangles in the hull and fitting household upvc double-glazed units??!! Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view, John’s business picked up and he lost interest in the project.
Chris was born into a family who worked the local canals and rivers all their lives. He would rather be out on the tugs with his dad, Goff, and Uncle Ernie than go to school. This early grounding coupled with his desire to preserve the knowledge of the local boatmen before it was too late influenced his decision to purchase Southcliffe in 2002. The price was £20,000.00 so he sold his house and after paying off the mortgage had £19,950.00 to which he added £50.00 from his pocket and the deal was done.
His initial idea for Southcliffe was to provide a platform to learn the practical skills of handling and rope work from his dad and uncles working era. This was to take the form of a cargo carrying motor vessel with drop-down cab and steering by chain-driven wheel. However, a visit to the Sea Shanty Festival in 2003 at Hull where Chris saw two keels, Comrade and Daybreak made him look into the possibilities of a full restoration with mast, rigging and sail.
On his return home Chris began to look for bolt holes to find the original locations for mast and rigging. He began to construct his own lutchet without plans or diagrams, then with visits to Comrade and reference to books and plans gradually restored Southcliffe to enable her to be converted to sail at some stage.
In practical terms, the decision to return Southcliffe to a cargo carrying vessel was also revised. Loading facilities had been removed, warehouses demolished or turned into apartments so the next best use was ‘human’ cargo, using the space for meetings, concerts, entertainment and carrying people on trips down the local canals and rivers.The sight of Daybreak’s accommodation area inspired Chris but there was no master plan for the layout of his vessels interior, it evolved around actual use. As it took shape everything was left freestanding and nothing screwed down until he was sure that the location was right.
Chris is an engineer by trade and between that and his musical ability earns enough money to get by. He has never had ample funds to put into his vessel so the majority of the work has been carried out by him and family members as and when finances allow. When two friends from the HKSPS pointed him to a place to obtain the timber for the mast he purchased it as a straight, square piece for £480.00 and spent three weeks hand cutting and shaping it to the mast you can see today.
Southcliffe retains its original captain’s cabin, although for some unknown reasons it is one frame deeper than any other cabin he has come across, its original engine and full height engine bay conversion. The restoration may not be totally original, because Chris has made conscious decisions to retain some modifications and manufacture parts where cost was prohibitive. A typical example being the sheet roller assembly where he purchased the raw materials for £25.00 and hand-cut the gear wheels himself!!
The decision to install a shorter mast with mainsail only was made once again with practicality in mind. The swing bridges on the canal have been replaced with fixed ones making the need to raise/lower the mast more frequent or leaving it down altogether. Keeping the mast shorter makes the job quicker and leaves the aft deck clearer for steering. On the Humber he believed the mainsail would give him enough speed coupled with easier handling without the additional complexity of a topsail which he may not have used very often anyway.
The final decision to convert back to sail came not from a restoration point of view but the need for more power than his 2-cylinder 21hp engine could muster on the Humber.
While Chris hand-crafted the mainyard, the sail was being made with the help of a grant from National Historic Ships. On Sunday 25th April 2009 the sail arrived, was fitted at Goole Waterways Museum by Steve of North Sea Sails and a bunch of willing helpers. Two hours later the sail was turned to windward, filled and Southcliffe began to strain her mooring lines.
Then, a few weeks later, on Wednesday 10th June 2009 at 0400 hours Chris along with his partner Beth, dad, uncle, brother-in-law Steve and Ian Murray penned out of Ocean Lock with the intention of seeing just how Southcliffe would react under sail. With a northerly wind they motored down to King George Dock where, with some shelter from the wind, they put up the sail. With no forward tack rollers they relied on shackles and ropes tied off to keep the sail in tension. They sailed across river towards Immingham and then from King George Dock sailed non-stop to the Apex. Twelve hours out, six of which were under sail with a maximum speed of six knots. A great day out, there is still much to do and learn, but a very enjoyable start for another Humber keel returned to sail.
By DAVE EVERATT
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