Fleetwing
(ex Seagull)

Seagull Design : Published 1912

Back From The Dead
Sam Hicks has sent in the above photograph of Fleetwing, the boat he has spend the last five years restoring. Built in 1913, Fleetwing is one of the oldest surviving Harrison Butler designed yachts. Memory was built the year before, and Argo the year after. Although of historical value she'd had some difficult years before Sam took her on, with a succession of owners making an initial enthusiastic purchase, only to then realise she was “more of a project” than they could realistically cope with. That said, previous owner Paul Goold made a commendable effort to sort her out. In 2015 he had Fleetwing under a tent in the Heritage Marine boatyard in Essex and work on her was progressing steadily; the floors had being regalvanised and fixed back in. He hired a professional boat surveyor to look over her hull and came up with a schedule of work, which is when Paul kindly sent in the below 'before' photograph of Fleetwing. However the project stalled, the batton then passing on to Sam. You can read about Sam's successful completion of the project (in 2024) here .

Under Restoration in 2015 at the Heritage Marine boatyard, Essex
(Photograph kindly sent in by Paul Goold)

Schoolboy Adventures
In the Spring 2015 edition of the HBA Journal, Edwin Danson wrote an article  about his adventures as a schoolboy aboard Fleetwing in the 1960s.
I've yet to pin down exactly when the name Seagull was dropped, but in my 1924 Lloyd's register she is already listed as Fleetwing.

 
An old photograph of Fleetwing from
Cruising Yachts, Design & Performance
by T Harrison Butler (Fourth Edition)  

Fleetwing Statistics
Built : 1913 by EL Woods & Newstead in Cantley
LOA : 20' 0" + Bowspit
LWL : 18' 0"
Beam : 7' 0"
Draught : 4' 0"
Displacement : 3 tons TM
OGA Boat Number : 0641

Fleetwing Custodians & Home Ports
Sam Hicks (2019-2024-...) Maldon, Essex, England
Paul Goold (2015-2019) Heritage Marine Boatyard, Essex
Dominic Stevens (2014) Herritage Marine Boatyard, Essex
Hugh Barrett (?-2014) Herritage Marine Boatyard, Essex
J Frost (?-1993-?) East Coast, England
JF Brown (1971-1974-?) Dover
Dr PH Garrard (1970) Dover
JF Brown & S Dyer (1961-1969) Dover
JF Brown & G Fish (1960) Folkestone
Executors of AH Dean (1959) Folkestone
AH Dean (1952-1958) Folkestone
RR Allison (1950-1951) Dover
Surgeon Comdr AC Rusack RN(ret) (?-1936-1949) Dover
AT Springall (?-1924-1934-?) Gt Yarmouth
NR Suffling (fist owner)

Fleetwing Links  
• The Boatman magazine, 1995, March, Page 38
• Map Cap Voyage by Edwin Danson, in HBA Journal N° 72, Spring 2015 

Another Fleetwing ?
The following account must refer to a different wooden Harrison Butler boat also called Fleetwing as the length and owner detail conflicts with that in the authoritative Lloyd's Registers. Information on this 'other Fleetwing' welcome.

Terry Bridge (Pictured) wrote the following in September 2011,
“I joined the Princess Royal Sailing Club in 1962 and sailed in a 26 foot Harrison Butler designed cutter rigged yacht owned by Laurie Caldwell and skippered by Jack Baxter . The yacht, Fleetwing, had a bowsprit and an open cockpit with the rudder hanging over the stern. After sailing Fleetwing for several seasons, Jack Baxter and I altered the boat by removing the bowsprit, cutting the stern off and added about four feet by putting a counter stern on to the back of the yacht to lengthen her to 30 feet. We also added a self draining cockpit and changed the rig from cutter to masthead rig. All this improved the yacht's performance immeasurably. We sailed Fleetwing till Laurie sold her about 1972”.

Page last updated : October 2024

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