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Halcyon's Days - Classic Boat Magazine
Sunday 1st July 2007
Classic Boat Cover - July 2007
5 page article featured in Classic Boat magazine - July 2007
Halcyon's Days
Built for a captain of industry and sailed by a sea school in Tall Ships races, Halcyon is reborn as a luxury charter yacht and heading for Norway. Peter Willis went for a sail
Getting the hang of a boat is often made easier if you can fine some specific, significant detail to focus on and, so to speak, work out from. Halcyon, being a large boat with a long varied history offers a wide choice.
But let's start with the green-and-black marbled slab behind the stove in the saloon. It's one of the most recent installations, as is the stove itself. It was chosen with care by Halcyons present owner, Andrew Armour, and is, he tells me 400 million year old piece of Kirkstone slate from the Lake District". Andrew would know this sort of thing - he's a geophysicist (he made his money in oil exploration in Norway).
As we set sail out of Milford Haven he points out the various cliffs and rock formations and describes, graphically and fascinatingly, the tectonic movements and continental collisions that created them and the sea-bed beneath us. But there seems a curious logic at work when, later on, we look up at the night sky and he admits, I'm not all that good on stars."
Andrew bought Halcyon about 18 months ago, the result, he says, of a secret lust for a big boat as a business venture - a Med-style luxury charter yacht, but for the Celtic Sea, West coast of Scotland, and Norway". There are, of course, existing charter operations in that area - particularly the West coast - but, observes Andrew, They're based on ex-working boats, or replicas of them, not a gentlemans yacht'." Halcyon is that alright: 95 foot long (28.9m) and 85 tons, she was built in 1929 for Sir Samuel Turner, the industrialist who founded Turner & Newall
Andrew's search began in late 2005. Broker Peter Gregson of Wooden Ships took him first to look at Mascotte, the Bristol Channel pilot cutter - great but not right for me". Then Peter took him to Gloucester to look at a couple of boats. One was the unfortunate Johanna Lucretia. The other was Halcyon, and it was love at first sight. She was tired, sad, dingy, a bit damp - in fact she was a bit of a mess. But I could see through all that."
Thus Andrew, whose current "other boat' is a 24ft (7.3m) Cornish Crabber, and who started sailing in the Lake District at the age of 10, with an open canoe to which he added a sail, became the owner of Halcyon. Her previous owner turned out to be David Fletcher, who set up the Atlantic Challenge gig races. He'd had her for 13 years, having brought her from a Welsh Farmer, who'd got her from an Australian adventurer (he imported bulldozers into Australia as spare parts to avoid the import duty on complete bulldozers") who had seen her for sale in Calshot, around 1988, by the Warsash School Of Navigation. He picked her up for a song - £35,000. It's said that there was a huge row, and someone lost there job over it - she'd been refixed the year before for £30,000 - but the contract was signed."
Halcyon had been bought by the school (from Mme. Renault, of the French car family) 30 years previously as a "temporary' replacement for the Moyana, which sunk off the Scilly Isles following the first Tall Ships Race in 1957. The school interpreted "navigation' very broadly; it included seamanship and what would now be called "the social skills required to live together in a confined environment'. So Halcyon would go cruising, ot take part in Tall Ships races, with a dozen cadets, stacked in pipecots three deep in the fo'c's'le, plus two senior cadets in the lazarette, plus a master, first, second and third mates and a bo'sun distributed between two existing, and surviving, cabins and the saloon, which was converted into two further cabins.
We're constantly being hailed by chaps who come up and say "I used to sail on her in 19-whatever,'" says Andrew.
The name Halcyon - it's the Greek for kingfisher - was chosen by Sir Samuel to commemorate the St Ives fishing boat of that name in which he was taught to sail by fisherman Dan Paynter. He subsequently bought the boat and re-presented her to Dan as a wedding gift, renaming her Mamie, after Dan's bride, and keeping the name Halcyon for his new boat.
Built by JI Thornycroft, Southampton, in teak on oak, Halcyon was described by The Yachtsman and Motorboating, 31 August 1929, as A wholesome and comfortable type of seagoing yacht".
Her refit last year at Tommi Nielsen's Gloucester Docks yard revealed the hull to be in remarkably sound condition. The timbers were wonderfully solid - none had to be replaced," says Andrew. They did discover, in the course of surveying her, that at some stage an additional 4in (10cm) of lead had been added to the keel.
The engine was lifted out and the aft floors repaired - the others had been done by David Fletcher - before pitch was poured into the bilges to create a straight run across the frames. A new engine, a Perkins l3Ohp diesel, was installed.
The hull was re-sheathed in copper sheeting. They took the old copper off," explains Andrew in admiration of the yard's work, and plugged 60,000 nail holes. Then they put the new sheets on, with another 50,000 nails. It's what they do!"
The deck, teak on ply, appeared sound and indeed was, but a warning signal was given when one of the deck beams fell on the heads of two of the yard's shipwrights. The cause proved to be non-bronze screws, used, presumably during her 1964 restoration, to fix the subdeck to the beams. Other beams were similarly affected, though to a much smaller extent - just small areas of rot around screws.
The choices on offer were either a new deck (six-figure sum) or, for a lot less, Richard Ayers, Halcyon's surveyor, proposed saving the existing planks and subdeck, fixing them with new bronze screws and plugging them (the deck never previously had plugs - it was all secretly nailed to the frames).
Richard also recommended pulling both the masts - again they were found to be generally OK, apart from a little rot around the mizzen. The masts and spars were stripped down and re-varnished, and the metal fittings re-galvanised and repainted. The standing rigging was replaced in new galvanised wire and all the running rigging and wooden blocks were also replaced. The original hydraulic windlass was re-galvanised and restored. When the time came to re-step the mainmast, a little ceremony was arranged at Nielsen's and for good luck Andrew placed a 1929 sovereign under its heel (CB223).
Halcyon still has her original 12ft sailing dinghy, restored and carried on deck, with the original davits; she's also equipped with a modern and practical RIB.
Other equipment includes a new generator, new navigation systems and new electrical and plumbing systems (We plugged all the skin-fitting holes, 26 of them, and put in 13 new ones - we can't get it down to fewer than that."). There also a blown-air central heating system - If we'd been going to the Med, we'd have opted for air-conditioning, but we're going north." The galley has a new electric hob and oven (no gas on board) plus an ice maker, Miele washing machine and tumble dryer and a water maker.
The original Burma teak panelling in the cabins and saloon was retained and refurbished. In the saloon, a hanging locker has been removed to improve its proportions. This is, in effect, the heart of the ship, a spacious, airy room with its glass skylight - and cosy at night when we get the stove lit. An eight-seater dining table barely obtrudes, occupying a benched alcove of its own. The table is a fun toy, too - it can be slid forward or aft to improve access to the benches, and its pedestals incorporate a gimballing mechanism so that it can be levelled when the ship is heeling.
Andrew also proudly draws attention to the glass cupboard, elaborately fiddled to protect its contents, and to the widescreen entertainment system, concealed behind a teak panel. On a shelf behind the table is a fine chrome clock and barometer, which was presented to Sir Samuel by his colleagues in 1937. It was returned to Halcyon by his grandson, Christopher Bateman, who presented it to Andrew at the mast- stepping ceremony.
Immediately forward of the saloon is the galley, domain of André Daniels, the ship's chef. This part of the ship also contains crew's quarters, right in the forepeak, with its own heads and shower, plus two new twin guest cabins, also teak-panelled, which have their own heads and shower.
Abaft the saloon, off the short stretch of corridor leading to the companionway are two en suite cabins - master's (double) to starboard and VIP (twin-berth) to port.
Ascending the companionway, we come up into the deck house, a comfortable spot for out-of-the-wind relaxing on its upholstered benches. At its forward end is the original chart-table, now more of an electronic nav station. Old photos show the deckhouse has been remodelled from time to time, at one stage having side doors. Now the doors face aft, connecting conveniently to the steering position.
The ship's wheel and an array of instrument displays are ranged around or within a small declivity in the deck, not really big enough to qualify for the name of cockpit.
Nearby, on the afterdeck, Andrew points out a couple more examples of Tommi's (or his staff's) handiwork: the rebuilt hatch leading to the skipper's quarters - and a circular cover for the lazarette. He's full of praise for the attention to detail displayed by the yard, and its resourcefulness. Tommi noticed these glass lampshades in the deckhouse, very vulnerable and prone to getting broken. He took a mould and cast a set in acrylic. And there were the original washbasins - they were cracked and I was looking to get them replaced, but Sarah at the yard knew somewhere and sent them away to be re-enamelled."
Clearly, Andrew and Tommi are two of a kind, with a near-obsessive attention to detail. Notice the chairbacks in the saloon, with the Halcyon name and kingfisher logo carved into them, echoed on the linen and towels. It all reinforces the effect of being aboard a five-star boutique hotel.
This, though, is a hotel that heels and lists, though not very much, most of the time. Being a big boat - it's easy to forget, but she's as long as a Thames barge - she's steady and stable. The sensation of sailing is softened by her size; she can thrash, for sure, but a careful management of the sail plan will keep things within the comfort zone of most charter clients. We did, incidentally, ask if there were photographs of Halcyon with full sail set but it turned out there were not. Being a ketch, her rig offers a selection of sail plans to suit most conditions without hoisting every rag.
And Halcyon, by deliberate choice, has very little in the way of mechanical assistance for managing sails. When we hoisted the main, everyone on board, including chef and owner, was called on to sweat and tail the halyard. Halcyon's charter publicity advertises the option of being hands-off, but it's to be hoped that at least some of the charter party want to be hands-on. Otherwise they'll be missing out on a major part of the experience, and the boat will be doing a lot of motoring.
Robert Hickman and Annette Corder constitute the permanent crew. Both ex UKSA, they were recruited early on in the refit - Good oil industry principle," says Andrew, get the ops crew involved in building the platform." Robert has already been researching Halcyon's history. They make a good team, effortlessly bridging the navigational and hospitality roles, he skipper, she pretty much everything else apart from cook, a role fulfilled, at gourmet level, by André, the chef.
We headed out from the dock, one of André's mouth-watering mega-sandwiches served on deck to keep us going, and made our way down the beautiful Milford Haven waterway, and out to sea. Just a short, afternoon jaunt, out to the offshore island of Skokholm, famous for its birds, and back, but enough to revel in the purposeful, striding motion of this big yacht, and to get a feel for the idea of her heading up beyond Scotland, past the Shetlands and on across the North
Sea towards the fjords of Norway. It promises to be a magnificent adventure, and Halcyon, with her beautiful but at the same time no-nonsense lines seems just the boat for it.
We've decided to spend the night at anchor, and pick a sheltered spot near Dale. It's beautiful, and deserted. A sense of utter peace and wellbeing descends, which in due course is enhanced by an exquisite three-course dinner from André, and a few bottles of wine; and, as there's still a nip in the evening air, a chance to bask in the warmth of the stove.
I sleep in the VIP suite, on a broad bunk, beneath a soft cloud of duvet, and wake to a sense of motion and the muffled thrum of the engine. We're on our way up the Haven in search of diesel. Ironically enough, considering Andrew's background and the fact that we're in the UK's main oil-terminal port (not that it obtrudes much on the scenery) this is proving hard to find. Halcyon is simply too big for the fuel pontoon in the dock. The option of ordering a delivery by (road) tanker has been considered - she can take 1,300 litres - but they pump it under pressure, and her filler-pipe is too small to cope.
Andrew's phoned around and has tracked down a supplier, Dale Sailing, at Neyland. So we're enjoying a 7-mile chug up the waterway in the low, early morning sunlight. André is dispatched to make some bacon butties, which inevitably arrive just as we dock at the fuel pontoon. There's much greeting and shaking of hands - we might almost be in France. Andrew knows this area well and there's inevitably much interest in Halcyon.
Once we've finished, we cruise a little way upstream, then turn around, hoist a sail or two, and head back down towards the dock. Andrew and I find a bench on the sheltered, sunny side of the deckhouse, and chat some more about the yacht. I'm interested to know how much all this has cost. He won't say, but he does tell me Halcyon's insured for £1million. Can this charter business, I wonder, possibly be profitable? Andrew's hoping it will cover the running costs, but you can't realistically expect to make back the capital costs. They just remain tied-up in the boat until such time as you decide to sell her." I get the impression that won't be too soon. Andrew is clearly in love with his new boat, and for him, I think, chartering is less about her earning her keep, more a way of sharing his delight in her. This year, he plans to accompany her on her cruise to Norway. She will also be fitting in short breaks and corporate daysails, and will be at Cowes Week, where I daresay she'll turn a few heads.
The halcyon, incidentally, turns out to be a bird that was fabled to breed in a nest floating on the sea at the time of the winter solstice and had the power to calm the wind and waves. "Halcyon days' therefore are calm, quiet, peaceful, undisturbed. All I can say is, mine certainly were.