THE
FIRST TIME I heard about the Minesweeper was when a friend of mine,
Nick StClare called me.
"Camden,
I'm thinking of buying a boat. Will you come and check it out with
me?"
This
was summer 2002.
Nick
had recently come into some money he wanted to invest, and he knew
I'd been crew on The Yankey in Manhattan.
"Ok,"
I said, "Where's it at?" "Greenwich." "How
much?" "Ten Grand. All wooden, ex-minesweeper." I was
expecting something interesting.
We
got there about 11 o'clock on a nice summer morning, and eventually
found the Minesweeper tucked away behind an Industrial estate on
Deptford Creek. We were greeted by Rainer Cole and Nick Chow who
showed us around. The story was that they'd got some friends together
to pool money and resources, salvage the vessel which had been
abandoned on the river, and turn it into a venue. Their project had
been stalled for the past two years and the members had drifted away,
so they were thinking about cutting their losses and passing it on to
someone else. We were impressed. It's the kind of shipbuilding you
don't get anymore on that scale - 110ft long, 21ft wide with a draft
of nearly 6ft. Price: £10,000.
Flashback
to summer 1954 Poole, Dorset.
Jack
Bilson is getting worried. The hull is completed - triple carvel
construction larch with several thousand hot copper rivets holding it
fast, each one hammered in by hand by two men – one outside the
hull, one inside. But the ship still didn't have any engines. Jack
went back to the office, and called Geoffrey Bone at Ruston &
Hornsby in Lincoln.
"Mr
Bone, I suppose you know why I'm telephoning you. I can't complete
construction of the rear deck of M2706 until we get those engines.
Our launch date was scheduled for 17th June, it is now Monday the
17th of May."
Geoffrey
took a puff on his Capstan cigarette and sat back in his chair,
"Jack, how much are the Royal Navy paying you for this ship?"
Jack
made a face, "Geoff, I'm looking at a pile of bills from the
foundries, from the British Electricity Authority..."
"These
Paxman's are customised for each vessel, they have to be balanced
with one another in a twin-screw configuration - that takes time, if
you want it done properly."
"Half
a Million pounds, Geoff. Half a million."
In summer 2002
Nick StClare was chewing it over. 10 grand was all he had, it was a
big project, the back end needed alot of work, he didn't think he
could do it on his own, and Nick was the kind of guy that liked to do
things on his own - his way. On top of all that, his father advised
him against investing in a wooden boat. He backed out. Towards the
end of the summer I got a call from the other Nick, Nick Chow. They'd
decided not to sell after all. They were thinking of getting someone
in to live aboard and revive the project in return for a share in it.
Did I know of anyone? At that time I was being egregiously ripped off
by a landlord in Shoreditch. "Well, yes. Me. I might be
interested." "Yes? I hoped you might say that. Ok, think it
over and write us a letter laying out a proposal." The proposal
was accepted, so I went over to Deptford Creek again to look the
Minesweeper over in a different light. How was I going to finish the
rebuilding? and how was I going to make it livable in the mean time?
To be
continued...
