Voyages | Designing the Matthew | Building the Matthew

2010 Voyages Blog

Here you will find musings on our sailing experiences during 2010.

midnight - The single white navigation light at the top of Matthews 60 foot high mast crept slowly under the Clifton Suspension Bridge -  after Englands dismal performance in the World Cup, the city seemed surprisingly quiet and just a few souls would have witnessed the return to her home port of this grand lady of the seas after another extremely action packed adventure. The lock through the Cumberland Basin -  where work is still continuing on the gates - was smooth and shortly before 01.00 am the ship was nicely tied up next to the SS Great Britain.

Everyone has stories to tell of making for Port in Poole under sail without engine -  yes of course thousands of ships would have done that in days of old but we take our iron donkey for granted too much in the 21st century -  and of recycling oil from a nasty engine leak using a chinese take away dish on approach to Plymouth.

Slightly more alarming is the tale of a near gale around Lands End tossing the poor little ship this way and that, the bilges filling nicely with water and sloshing around like an industrial scale washing machine and somewhere in the tempestuous mix an escaped chisel contorting at alarming speed towards those trying to effect repairs to pumps, jury rig pipes and generally calm things down a bit... this is all the stuff of a voyage and the raw material for stories that will grow in drama and proportion with the passage of time and beer.

Visitors to Watermouth in North Devon were correct in beleiving they witnessed a wooden pirate ship "raid" their tucked away bay yesterday dinner time - firing shots that reverberated around the Exmoor cliffs and creating a to do not seen since two German U boat crew made a secret landing in this quaint cove and wandered off with some plump apples from a shoreside orchard. 

Good to report that Calais was quite an experience -  a busy industrial port doing all it can to retain economic viability in the face of the channel tunnel, cheap flights, ash cloud, plague, pestilance and financial crisis. All you need at a time like this to make people feel better is a mix of interesting ships and their multinational crews, plus the unique french festival organising flair, which is well disguised often as chaos, but which resulted in a wonderful arrival by Henri 8th and his entourage and some robust canon firings from Matthews battery. The evening sailing cavalcades got later and later as the atmosphere built and were only made possible after good humoured batering between our captain and the festival admiral, involving cases of wine as currency - hussar and bon viveur!!!    

18th June . .  20.00 ship in Bristol channel passing Holms - on schedule for lock in at Midnight  

18th June  really good progress made .    ship off Ilfracombe just after lunch -  should now make Bristol by midnight and fortunately the lock gates should be operational for the ship to lock in and crew to have a good nights sleep before a busy weekend of trips in Bristol harbour.

18th June - message from Thom -  plan is to weigh anchor at 06.00 -  went ashore at Lundy and lifted the curse on the place ( a previous crew man had always hated Lundy as he beleived an ancient pirate curse laid many years ago by the infamous Mariscos  was the source of some of the bad weather, we'd experienced after stepping ashore!!! -  probably true) -  Thom goes on  the place is bloody lovely -  well lots of us know that from the holiday brochures - but I guess theres nothing quite like arriving on board a Tudor ship after an adventure and a half...

ship will be making its way up channel today -  good sighting spots, Minehead, Porlock, Exmoor generally  and might well anchor off Wales and wait for the morning tide...

17th June evening -  the most gorgeous day, an abundance of Dolphins and a big sense of releif to be heading up the "right" coast to be approacxhing Bristol.- Plan is to anchor off Lundy have a really good crew meal, step ashore on this mythical; Island and cruise back to Bristol on Friday  

17th June -  ship at sea - -   still a slight problem with 240 volt electrical power so calls from the ship via mobile phones will be limited -  any reports of sightings off cornwall or devon would be greatfully received

16th June PM - ship l;eft Plymouth -  heading for Bristol - due in Saturday morning - those crew who have already departed and returned to Bristol report an amazing experience for many good and a few unexpected reasons . . . 

16th June am -  a few bits and pieces, due to be delivered and then we should be ready to sail on the afternoon tide

NOTE$ FROM BASE - The mechanical issues we've had so far this trip are partly a result of the ship and its sytems not being given a good hard run for aropund 2 years -  there is an issue  here that whilst in the harbour, running for a few hours at tickover, more taxing problems never show themselves -  its important that Matthew is kept up as a fully operational working hard offshore sailing ship, but these things take time and money to resolve when they happen and unfortunately will disrupt our harbour cruise schedule in Bristol -  sincere appologise for this, but we'll have a good pow wow first thing in the morning and see what the next step needs to be. 

June 13th - shiop alongside in Mayflower Marina Plymouth - whilst not far from Salcombe a routine engine check discovered a small hole in the crank case of the engine, which is causing a loss of lubricating oil and needs to be fixed and also we have a problem with batteries - not in itself a massive issue, but we've been running systems a lot without shore power and they clearly need to be checked and probably changed. Bit of a shame, but as always better to discover these things when in a favourable position and near port and good engineering help.

June 12th -  grand sailing four sails set, all drawing well  boat speed 9.5 knots -  Fantatsic to be out sailing off the english coast in the sunshine after a few trials of late 

June 11th  -  09.00 departed from Poole, nice weather forecast, winds from the North North East which is a great direction for sailing down towards Portland Bill and out across Lyme Bay. 

JUNE 9TH - Amazing reception from Poole and fantatsic offers of help with our mechanical problem. HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE HAVE PASSED BY THE SHIP TODAY MOORED AS IT IS IN A PROMINENT POSITION ON POOLES TOWN QUAY. Lots of people have commented on what a truly fantatsic ship Matthew is and many have thanked the crew for bringing the ship to Poole  even though it wasnt planned, and for keeping such an extraordinary project going and little ship sailing.

All the bits and pieces, we need to fix the raw water engine cooling pump have been ordered or are being made - in some shape or form all the necessary components are making their way to the ship -  its going to be a couple of days before the ship can leave -  which is no bad thing as theres a brisk burst of North Easterly wind coming in -  which woulkd make rounding Lands End rather unpleasant much before Sunday anyway.

More reflections and news from Poole tomorrow - and a big thank you to everyone whos offered help and support to the crew.  

MESSAGE FROM BASE -  Well done to Ben and his highly skilled crew, for taking good seamanlike decisions and sailing a sensible course to make a safe landfall in Poole harbour.

20.00 alongside at the town quay in Poole - journey made mostly under sail, in fact sail had to be shortened towards the end as the ship was sailing too fast to make the correct rendezvous time with two big ribs that were standing by to help Matthew to its Berth alongside.

Many phone calls made from base, and hopefully within 24 hours we should have sopurced all the right components to rebuild the troublesome cooling pump -  we can take this time to study the next few days weather in more detail to make sure we get it right going round Lands End, we can top up with diesel and food and hopefully have a good run back to Bristol -  albeit that we will be a few days late.

17.00 Decision made to sail into Poole -  engine can't be run but fortunately wind is mostly from South so sails set for a course to Poole harbour where repairs can be made. 

16.00 call from Ben on board to say that they were south of Portland and had sp[otted a potentially serious problem with the engine raw water cooling pump -  we had an issue with this pump last year but had substantially rebuilt it.

8th June 14.00 discussion with ship about where to stop to seek shelter from Northerlies which will hit SW coast within the next 48 hours and also we need to top up on diesel -  general consensus that Salcombe would be a good spot.

8th June message from lizzy on board - steering 255 degrees - wsw, the rain has stopped and we're getting some sails up!! ahoy -

(From base we're imagining they'll be somewhere off the isle of wight now with some decent wind behind them for the next couple of days - that turns into a brisk North Easterly by thne end of the week and not nice for 24 hours - fri /sat for going round Lands End, so hopefully they can have a good sail across Lyme Bay and the coast of devon and cornwall maybe hiding in Penzance ready for kinder weather to make the last 150 miles or so back home.)

7th june 20.19 message from thom on board - sad to lose Derek, hes been ledgendary on this trip - just outside Hastings now heading West

7th june 07.00  Matthew slipped moorings and motored out into the English Channel. Crew members Benedict and Derek are reluctantly returning via ferry, but reported later that they saw the Matthew bobbing into the distance from the deck of their ship. Plan is to cross briskly to English coast and hopefully pick up some favourable wind for sailing west

Monday 7th June - crew feeling a little bleary eyed after a fantatstic festival full of fun and colour and a certain amount of chaos - the french put on wonderful maritime festivals, unfettered by the uneccesary health and safety culture that stifles creativity and innovation at UK festivals these days! They seem to have a grand vision for things and of course a joie de vivre that is well worth the effort of sailing 1,000 miles to be part of. Well done Calais and thanks very much for inviting us.   

Saturday 7th June -  nice weather expected in Northern France as in the UK -  100,000 people expected at the festival -  got to keep our eyes on the weather for next week as theres a bit of an Atlantic Low brewing, doesn't look too bad for getting down the Channel, but theres a bit of briosk north Westerly promised for later in the week, which could just coincide - knowing our luck -  with the rounding of Lands End.  

Friday 4th June - First day of the festival, some other vessels went out with guests for some sailing, but Matthew stayed alongside and was visited by many admiring folk - Skipper Ben Jones has been tied up for some of the time, making sure that crewman Derek is OK -  he got taken to Hospital and is suffering a bit, but will be fine and we're in constant touch with the French medical authorities and will make a decision soon on whether hes fit enough to return with the ship or will need to be repatriated by another route (maybe he could come back on  Dunkirk little ship like the good soldier he is!)   

09.00 excited conversation with Lou, off to do her laundry -  she is known as, shall we say, an extrovert character and usually wins personality of the year award for her excellent charm skills with passengers on the Bristol Ferries.  She said she loved every minute of the journey over the france, especially the rough stuff around Hartland and Lands End. People respond in two ways to such a situation, they either become fearful for their lives or like Lou, they whoop with Joy at the sheer wonder and magnitude of the tumultuous and chaotic conditions tossing their little craft that way and this.  

05,00 Thursday morning - ship has arrived in Calais and is moored up in the B assin Carnot. The English Channel was surprisingly quiet of ships until the last few hours approaching Calais when ships appeared from everywhere as the sun rose. The Bassin where the festival is is a bit like a long thin version of our Cumberland Basin in Bristol, fairly industrial, but this festival is part of a massive 10 year regeneration programme for the centre area of Calais and a reconnection with the towns fascinating maritime past is what its all about.

Wednesday morning - early approaching Dungeness - good boat speed, wind on the nose as it has been for the en tire trip!, but the sea state is good and we should make it across to catch the tidal window which will get us to Calais around 5 am high tide Thursday morning.

tuesday morning shipping forecast is giving easterly winds as the ship approaches the dover straits, which is not ideal -  and also annoyingly another south westerly blow is heading our way for the return journey from france next week -  hopefully we can get a good start away from france and get ahead of it a bit and maybe catch the tail to whisk us back across the channel and around lands end back towards bristol -  but thats getting a bit premature, lets get there first and enjoy this weekends festival

01.00 am tuesday 2nd june report from skipper ben jones on board ship -

currently due south of the isle of wight, making 8.5 knots speed over the ground, will kn ow in next 12 hours whether we will arrive in calais thursday morning or afternoon -  good progress today

08.55 Matthew passing Start point -  an important passage headland off south Devon -  The forecast is pretty good with gentle winds from many directions forecast, and a calm sea state, the only fly in the ointment might be a bit of brisker easterly wind as the ship heads for the narrows between dover and calais in around 40 hours time - it wouldnt be a proper matthew trip without a bit of dud weather just before arriving in port!!

0.700 1st June  -  Matthew slipped moorings from Mayflower Marina in Plymouth - crew rested and a few essential repairs carried out including to a bilge pump and a fuel line which was causing a bit of consternation and a nasty smell.

Considering the ship had such a bouncy time round Lands End, these were small prices to pay, plus of course a bit of mal de mere, but thats all sorted thanks to the superb showers and luxury baths at Mayflower. 

04.55 From Ben Jones -  skipper on board - cruised past Plymouth Breakwater as a beautiful sunrise unfolded in front of us -  safely moored up at Mayflower Marina -  spirits very high.

(Note from Rob back at base - well done to the crew who did this part of the trip, the weather always looked a bit iffy and theres nothing more tiring than the numerous capes and headlands you have to pass going round the far end of England, if the sea is a bit tempestuous -  I remember many years ago taking 2 days to beat past Lands end in a winter gale aboard a very leaky 72 ft Ketch, Many on board didn't care whether they lived or died at certain points of the voyage, but as we headed home up the BristoI Channel spirits soared and the bonding experience of such a trip is hard to put into words) -  more log entries and details of departure from Plymouth shortly . . 

17.00  sun 30th May

quick chat from ben on the ship -  sea much calmer, crew up on deck resting and those who suffered during the night are taking some food -  decision is to carry on across mounts bay, catch the last of the tide past the famous Lizard Point and head on for Plymouth. A deciding issue is the improving weather and the fact that all the moorings in the River Fal and Falmouth Marinas seem to be full -  this is probably because most sensisble people have seen the bank holiday weather forecast and decided not to venture out to sea!!

14.00 Ship passing Cape Cornwall, not far from Lands end, wind has dropped but roughish and confused seas, making the final course change to run along the English Channel a tricky one.  A few minor mechanical problems need sorting out with a pump and also to identify the source of a strong diesel smell -  stops being considered in Falmouth, Fowey or Plymouth

11.00 Sun 30th May a tough night and challenging conditions down the Cornish Coast reported from on board

08.45 Sun 30th May From Sacha Hall

The sun rose over our stern and Trevose Head ( near Padstow) slips past 8 miles or so to Port -  our watch has bounced back to three

midnight -  shipping forecast still got a fair bit of breeze in it - Sacha hall reports from on board that the ship is 10 miles south west of Hartland Point and making slow progress into a SW wind - his watch is down to 2 standing - (its impolite to ask which members of his watch are "resting")

17.50 Sat 29th May

Ben Jones reports that the ship has left its mooring in Clovelly and is now making passage for Plymouth via Lands End -  with a decent prospect of some Northerly winds which could mean good sailing down the rugged  Cornish Coast and past the famous Westerly landmark-

Sacha Hall reports that winds are gusting to 25 knots approaching Hartland Point - the forecast still contains a bit of brisk wind, but its gradually easing and so hopefully Matthew will catch the first wafts of gentler more helpful breeze over the coming few days to speed progress to France

23.30 Fri 28th May -  ship safely moored

From Sacha Hall on board 22.30 Fri 28th May

"as the sun went down a large school, of porpoises gave us a nice welcome into Bideford Bay and onwards to Clovelly -  the twinkling lights of the Red Lion in this spectacular cliff side village beckon and we hear there is a beer festival on this weekend - -  now theres a thing!" 

From Ben Jones on board 21.25 Fri 28th May

Ship just passing Baggy Point (Big headland a bit west of Ilfracombe) 10 miles to go to the shelter of Clovelly - ship speed 7.5 knots, can see the weather front which is predicted to contain gale force winds on the horizon - timing just perfect, we'll be moored up on a big bouy very soon and can wait for the weather front to pass and hopefully make Lands End on Sunday 

From Sacha Hall on board ship - 16.22 Friday afternoon -

just off Foreland Point -  not bad, no sea, down to 1.5 knots, tide turns in 2 hours, touch and go if we can make Padstow before the predicted blow comes through -

(another update expected as ship approaches Hartland Point) 

From Rob Salvidge.

Midday 28^th May

Ship is past the Holms and making good progress, although the Westerly winds are already brisk and a stopover in Padstow is maybe looking optimistic – however the sun is shining and lots of little jobs are being done to keep the ship tidy, including a good wash out of the bilges with nice clean Bristol Channel seawater!!!! – Very good for things after a winter of sitting in the harbour.

08.00 am 28^th May

Matthew locked out of Bristol at high water this morning in company with a motor cruiser and the rather splendid Looe Lugger White Heather.

Matthew is bound for a Maritime Festival in Calais and the plan is to try and get there by next Wednesday, but there’s a bit of a gale force south Westerly expected to brush the tip of Cornwall over the next 24 hours, so Skipper Ben Jones will probably have to seek shelter in either Padstow, or maybe further up the Devon Coast in Clovelly.

Ben has a stout crew of 7 on board – Sacha Hall is number 2 and is an extremely seasoned west country sailor having for many years been the sailing master on board the west Country Trading Schooner Kathleen and May. Lou is a veteran of a few brisk Matthew trips, across to France and up to London, whilst Colin (cross eyed) Coombes is a stalwart Matthew Volunteer who’s constantly checking things and making sure nothings banging around. Derek is a veteran sailor who’s done several offshore trips on board Matthew and has his own boat based in Plymouth – Lizzie is a little terrier around the place, Andrea is new to the ship, but everyone likes her and she comes highly recommended from a stint on board the replica frigate “Grand Turk” – Benedict joined us for a nice sunny cruise down the channel last weekend and is really getting into things, so they should all have a good time and hopefully won’t have to enjoy Cornish hospitality for too long before heading out across the channel for the Moule Frites and Burgundy!! 

Check back here for daily log updates…

EARLY SEASON NEWS

By the end of April, lots of Bristol sailors are getting a bit frustrated because not only has the weather been dreadful with a mixture of freezing, wet and windy conditions to try us through the winter, but also the necessary lock gate works at Cumberland Basin seem to have been dragging on for evert. We had to cancell a proposed shakedown just before Easter as a vicious North Westerly Gale whopped the West Country -  so we took a brief window on 16th and 17th to get out of the harbour and sail the Bristol Channel. In all honesty it was more of a drift as the massive high pressure which has been keep the volcanic ash cloud drifting above us, also means lightish flukey winds for the moment. No matter it gave us a wonderful opportunity to set lots of sails, play with them, work out any rigging lines that have ended up in the wrong place after the winter refit and generally enjoy each others company in glorious weather on board our wonderful ship. So for the those who saw us passing Clevedon piere and were wondering about the sail configuration - we set -  a Sprit sail; a course without bonnets on the fore mast;  A main course without bonnets and a top sail on the main mast; a Trysail between the main and the mizzen; and the Lateen sail on the mizzen.

So six sails and at the height of the afternoon breeze we managed to coax just over 2 knots of boat speed! Doesn't sound very impressive, however taking advantage of the tide too, we were able to virtually circumnavigate Steep Holm under sail - in fact some of our number went ashore in the dinghy as we were sailing so close and gracefully past ,  and that would have been a respectable performance in such conditions during Cabots time. On such a day hundreds of years ago, a merchant ship might have left King Road on the morning ebb and made it as far as the safe anchorages in Bridgwater bay before continuing their passage west over the next few days. In fact even with such sedate boat speed and making good use of our strong tides, a passage to Southern Ireland could be acheived in maybe 4 days, which was quite satisfactory.

So we had a marvellous day, checking out also all our safety equipment, drills and routines and switching on the engine to head for home off Weston as the Volcano ash induced ruby red sunset started to form.

There was hardly any moon so as it got dark and we entered the River Avon, this wonderful winding route took on its most mysterious mantle - the lights of the Suspension Bridge drew the usual admiring remarks from those on board who were River Avon at night Virgins and the orange glow of  Bristol harbour came into view.

The only down side to the whole adventure was a close encounter with a submerged lock gate top as we passed through the into the Cumberland Basin on the level, as we call it (tidal height 9.6 metres, so no need for an actual locking in process)

For reasons yet to be fully understood, only one leaf of the lock gates was opened for us and there was a strong outward flow of tidal water, which forced us to collide with the lock gate - the damage is confined to two of the clamps - or exterior frames -  which are a distinguishing feature of the Matthew -  not really designed for negotiating modern marinas and docks with lots of sticky out low down pontoons, sills and bollards etc - 

we've raided the piggy bank, bought some nice new oak and the damage will be repaired on the slipway in Bristol this coming week.

Still waiting for final confirmation, but this week we also expect to tie up our summer sailing programme which should include a trip to France in a few weeks -  check back here often for more of the captain and crew musings.

2009 VOYAGES - These were mostly local to the Bristol channel but were nevertheless very exciting. Ben Jones said it was "very exciting" to skipper the ship to Sharpness, meaning that it was a bit blinking scarey to be swept up the River Severn on one of the highest tides of the year with the current swirling along at up to 8 knots! He did actually say it was a "bit blinking scarey" later on in the year when he was at the helm as the Matthew got hit by lightning whilst crusing around Cardiff Bay during her sojurn in South Wales. Less dramatic in some ways was the trip down towards Lundy with a small crew on board to rendezvous with a BBC film crew who joined us in Ilfracombe. Star presenter Dan Snow was among them and we had a very pleasant day under sail as he told stories of Drake and Frobisher for a new documentary series about the great "Masters of the Sea". The highlight of the day was the hour or so we were joined by a helicopter from Castle Air which buzzed around and by all accounts got some really spectacular shots of the ship. Ben Jones and our on board medic/rib skipper let their hair down on the return journey by indulging in a spot of waterskiing, the only let down of the whole trip was drifting into Lynmouth Bay for a possible overnight anchor stop but discovering that the Fish and Chip shop was closed!

Rob Salvidge took the helm for the voyage to Cardiff for their August Bank Holiday festival - it was a long old slog as the weather on the Friday preeceeding the bank holiday weekend was alarming and biblical. Great clashings of thunder and lightining, huge black squall clouds a confusion of wind and waves and that was just in the harbour in Bristol. It was a tentative crew that set out at midnight and ghosted down the River Avon hoping that the dramatic drop in wind speed would continue acropss the channel and not too much of a battering would be experienced. As it happened we took our time and the crossing was fine, we were just all exhausted even before the festival started but we had such a huge and excited crowd of people on board that it was well worth the effort. By all reports the following weekends festival in Barry was also a warm and wonderful affair and we've still got a few days out sailing ahead of us for another BBC thing. This time the presenter is the ledgendary traditional sailor author Tom Cunliffe. Even if you've never been to many of the ports on either side of the English Channel a leisurley browse through his seminal Pilot book takes you past every awkward rock and tricky navigation beacon and into ther teeniest of French quayside bars or tucked away taverns this side of La Manche. 

2008 Sailing Programme - Matthew had plenty of good sailing during summer 2008 and fortunately managed to dodge the worst of the unseasonal gales. We had a storming cruise along the Cornish Coast past Lands End and the Lizard during the early part of of the season - sailing into Salcombe in the dark was fun and dodging Royal Navy ships on excercise going into Plyumouth was also interesting. But the highlight of our summer was the trip to Brest where we experienced close quarters manouvering during the night time parades of sail that was quite extraordinary. Hundreds of sailing vessels out on the water in the pitch black and all trying to enter the harbour to thrill thousands of spectators at the same time -  or so it seemed.

We entertained thousands of people on board and had some wonderful sailing to and from the lovely port of Douarnanez.

Isles of Scily on the way back was wonderful too and we did the polite thing and stopped at many other pretty places on the way back like St Ives and Ifracombe.

Bristol has been a bit blowy during the later part of the year, but we had a good trip up the Severn to Gloucester and also a nice run across to Cardiff for the Bank Holiday festival at which we are always made very welcome.

2008 Sailing Programme - Click here for a write up about our latest adventures

2001 Channel Voyages - This year the Matthew ventures forth once more, taking paying passengers for the first time as she makes her way towards Portsmouth for the Festival of the Sea

1998 Return Voyage - In 1998 the Matthew crossed the Atlantic again to return home to Bristol via France

1997 North America - After the trans-Atlantic trip, the Matthew toured Newfoundland and down the coast to Boston before wintering in Toronto

1997 Atlantic Voyage - The voyage for which the Matthew was built, the recreation of John Cabot's discovery of North America

1996 Sea Trials - The maiden voyage to London and back and trips to Ireland and France