Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Lifeboats => Topic started by: Rottweiler on January 23, 2013, 07:18:41 pm
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I know its probably a shot in the dark,but can anyone help me out with any pictures/photos/anything on the Lifeboat Stationed at St.Ives Cornwall in the 1860s please?
I would like to know if possible if she would have been painted all white with a red rubbing strake,or would the main hull be painted in the pale blue of the RNLI. Another need to know,is if the name "St.Ives Lifeboat" would have been painted on the stern,or did station names get added at a later date? I know there would have been a sort of "plaque" with the words RNLI,situated both sides of the bow,but would this have been round,or oval as some of them were?
Thanks,
Mick F
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It depends whether she was an RNLI boat or private. Do you know her designer?
If she was an Institution boat then she would have been blue, white and red (Not a light blue, but a lighter blue than 20th century boats. If you look at contemporary paintings you may find an appropriate shade.)
The earliest photos of lifeboats I've got date from the 1880s, and they had station names then. But they and the boat's name were above the belting. The Institute crest on the bow was always oval, but it is unknown if it was on a plaque or painted directly on the hull. On later boats it may have been a transfer, like the flags on 20th century boats.
By the way, if the boat was built previous to 1859, the crest would read "National Lifeboat Institution", if after that it was "Royal National Lifeboat Institution". Both are available from BECCs.
Andrew
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Thanks Andrew,but as far as the roundels/plaques are concerned I enclose two photos which show that they were not oval!This is why I asked.
The Moses was on station at St.Ives from 1862-1866 and according to Graham Farr, there is no listing as to who built her.
Mick F
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and the second
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They are oval, Mick - it's the foreshortening effect of the camera angle which makes them look round. There's some other photos of Padstow's Arab in Nick Leach's book on Padstow from face on to the plaque showing the oval.
Cheers
Lance
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Hi Mick,
Next time you are in Falmouth pop into theThe Bartlett Library in the Maritime museum there are two type written lists of details of pulling lifeboats you might find the information you are looking for in there.
Regards
John
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And anyway, that photo's not of the Arab - that's the Edmund Harvey, still at Padstow, but a 42ft boat rather than a 36ft boat. They were on station at the same time. In the background is the Helen Peele, the RNLI's only steam tug, that pulled the 42footer.
One thing of note on that photograph - it looks like the name is on a plaque of a different colour to the hull, but this is an effect caused by the varnish over the painted name.
Andrew