Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion!

We are delighted to inform members that Endeavour has returned to her summer mooring outside the Peter Boat in Old Leigh where she can be admired once more. Skipper Andy Wood oversaw the short move back to the Old Town on a dull and grey day. Here’s hoping for some sun to show her off to her advantage.
Passers-by can also find out more about her by reading the newly updated information board — see here for more on this!

We are aiming—restrictions allowing, naturally— to offer more trips than ever to members (see here) and really getting the best out of her this year.

As always, a great deal of work has gone on behind the scenes to get Endeavour ready to take up pride of place in Leigh once more.

Both batteries had to be removed from the boat and tested by Anglia Batteries. One turned out to be defective, but it’s not too bad, as they’d been on there for ten years!

New member Andrew Lewis has transformed Endeavour's skiff  from a very ugly duckling (left) to a beautiful swan (below right).

The skiff is what we use to get from the shore to Endeavour (and back!) when the water's up, and she was, to be blunt, a bit of a state, but with some hard work from Andrew, she’s now looking lovely!

Before she could return, Andrew and committee members Alan Barttram, Chris Burls and Rob Everitt checked Endeavour's mooring, discovering it was full of mud. This necessitated quite a lot of digging out, which was every bit as filthy as you would imagine, but worth while as the volunteers were able to remove some big chunks of metal and concrete that could have damaged the boat.

While they were at it, they installed a new, longer mooring rope for her bow. This will make it easier for the crew to lift Endeavour’s mooring chain.

When Andy Wood joined the Trust in 2016, he brought an amazing amount of experience from his career on tugs, including a new method of de-masting Endeavour and getting it back up. Andy introduced a metal lever and a winch which meant just two people could lower and raise the huge mast quite easily.  Low bridges were more easily navigated, and allowed Endeavour to get under Tower Bridge and other bridges up stream as far as Windsor, where we've enjoyed many ADLS events.

We'd lowered the mast at the end of 2020 when Endeavour came back from St Osyth and covered her up in Leigh marina for the winter.  

After varnishing was complete, we decided to erect the mast in early June. The process relies upon a 'snatch block' that is anchored at the bow. The winch wire runs through this block and onto the forestay which is fastened at the top of the mast.

The winch is then used to haul the mast upright, and a huge bolt is inserted to keep it there. As the winch took up the strain, the snatch block failed miserably, and broke apart with a rather alarming 'bang'! Fortunately, nobody was injured, and apart from the block being obliterated, there was no damage, but we were lucky.

Andy had a spare block, and the following day the mast was up and in position!

We'd lowered the mast at the end of 2020 when Endeavour came back from St Osyth and covered her up in Leigh marina for the winter.  

After varnishing was complete, we decided to erect the mast in early June. The process relies upon a 'snatch shackle' that is anchored at the bow. A metal line runs through the shackle, to the top of the mast. The winch is attached and hauls the mast upright, and a huge bolt is inserted to keep it there. 

As the winch took up the strain, the shackle failed miserably, and broke apart with a rather alarming ‘bang’. Fortunately, nobody was injured, and apart from the shackle being obliterated, there was no damage, but we were lucky. Andy had a spare shackle, and the following day the mast was up and in position!

Alan Barttram has also been busy re-serving the mast and gaff cables. Alan describes 'serving' as a process where you wind a layer of a thick string called 'spunion' around steel stays and shrouds to stop wear at mastheads and to cover where metal has been spliced together.

Once this is done, you coat it with Stockholm Tar, a form of pine tar, to preserve it. It’s a mucky job, but a necessary one, and it’d been a while since we’d last done it.

Meanwhile, Chris Burls got to work repairing our mast ring, which had split. The ring secures the leading edge of the mainsail to the mast while still allowing it to be raised and lowered.

As you can see, there’s a lot of work that goes on that most probably don’t give much thought to, but all essential to getting Endeavour shipshape and Bristol fashion! Unfortunately, Endeavour has suffered a minor scuff down her port side where she was rubbing against the marina wharf, but just needs some paint. The jobs never end!

Do go down and have a look!