Tuesday 13 April 2010

Victorian Outriggers

This is a neat rigger design that I noticed on a skiff made by Salters of Oxford in 1887, now under the hammer at the Turks aution.
The fore and aft stays are hinged so the rigger can be swung inboard for ease of storage and transport. The middle stay is simply bolted in position when the rigger is extended.
Bidding is getting serious ahead of the end of the sale tomorrow. This skiff, lot 10, has reached £250, and all the other pretty boats are attracting competition. The star of the show, Dame Nelly Melba's pleasure boat Verity, stands at £27,000 and the iron-hulled steam launch Cygnet at £12,000.
Buyers are competing for boats with a ready market on the super-rich Thames, and to my surprise both Viking longboats and the repro-medieval Peterboat were snapped up right at the start. Apparently re-enactment groups were fighting each other for them.
The oddities are, by and large, sticking. My favourite, the Hallstatterseeboot, languishes at £10, and no, I won't be buying it either because I cannot think what I would do with it. But someone has offered to pay £110 for this Crocodile Canoe. Mad.

7 comments:

doryman said...

A clever person could remove the croc and have a fine boat there... Wish I lived on the other side of the pond when this kind of thing happens. Been drooling for weeks.
doryman

Chris Partridge said...

The croc head could be easily removed, but there are lots of similar, non-croc canoes in the sale with no bids on at all so I suspect people actually want those eyes and teeth. Admittedly, if you have a small lake, or own a tourist resort or something, the croc canoe might be fun for the kids to use.

O Docker said...

I think the croc head could be very useful in salt water locations for scaring away sea monsters, which I believe was its original purpose.

Chris Partridge said...

The thing has just been knocked down (or whatever the equivalent is in an online auction) for more than £600. Insane! But not as insane as the Swan Boat which has already reached £2,350 in extra time! Recession? What recession?

O Docker said...

I think you underestimate the real hazard sea monsters pose in estuaries and seaside locations.

The bidders are wise and know very well what they are about.

Chris Partridge said...

And which sea monster does a Swan scare away, pray? The Great White Vole? The Labrador of the Deep?

Chris Partridge said...

Goodness, the swan boat has gone over three grand....