Scotland presents its initiative on collaborating with Edel McCarthy and the Scottish Maritime Museum, with the aim of restoring Scotland’s nationally important vessels. The restoration projects include the renovation of the 1884 Vagrant, the oldest known yacht created by renowned Scots boat designer William Fife. It is thought to be the oldest surviving Clyde-built racing yacht.
According to the Herald, the twenty-two-year-old Edel McCarthy from Paisley, will join the museum’s Scottish Boat Building School in Irvine to learn traditional and modern boat building skills over the next three years and will play a key role in the restoration projects.
Moreover, she will also take part in the restoration of the William Fife-built 1932 Golden Orfe Tender, a motor yacht that would have once been used to ferry passengers to and from a moored vessel. It was rescued by the museum from the Isle of Wight three years ago.
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Ms McCarthy will have various posts in the project, from helping restore and maintain historic vessels in the Scottish Maritime Museum’s national heritage collection through to community skiff building projects and commercial work.
The vessels that are to be restored, also, include MV Spartan, the only surviving Scottish-built ‘puffer’; MV Kyles, the oldest Clydebuilt vessel still afloat in the UK; Sy Carola, possibly the oldest seagoing steam yacht in the world; and the three masted open sailing boat of 1819, Lady Guilford, which is thought to be the oldest surviving Scottish-built boat.
Additionally, another vessel will be ‘Katie’, an example of a Zulu inshore line-fishing skiff and Dodo, a small sailing dinghy built in a Glasgowtownhouse bedroom in 1896 by Walter Bergius who went on to found the firm that developed the Kelvin marine engine.
The University of the Highlands and Islands is one of the first institutions in Scotland to provide a modern apprenticeship in boat building and repair, the Herald highlights.
David Mann, director of the Scottish Maritime Museum commented
We have been a passionate advocate for this much-needed Modern Apprenticeship in Boat Building and Repair contributing to the major consultation during development.
