Royal Diadem being sailed off Tynemouth by NFHT and NEMT members Gordon Brown and Mick Dawson
2010 Outside the Workshop on a cold November Day – 28th in 2010. She was the second coble on the Tyne to be fitted with a mast. The mast for Peggy was made some years earlier – please see the photograph at the foot of this post. The first thing to notice is that the mast is not stayed and it is raked well aft.
The masts for both cobles were made from telegraph poles by Fred Crowell when he used to run the only slipway suitable in the North East of England for the restoration of such vessels.
The photos of Fred at work are from 2007 and he appears to be working on masts and boom for the seine netters Rachel Douglas and Favourite. * After reducing the width of the poles using a saw to give them a sqare section, he used a draw knife to make them round again.
The masts in cobles were set forward to give a less cluttered space in the working area when fishing and had to have a lot of rake so that the mainsail set more towards to the centre when sailing.
* The mast for Peggy was made about the same time as one for Royal Diadem II and both after the spars for Rachel Douglas and the Favourite were made.
