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The Nautical Museum is located within the tidal range at the entrance to the Silverburn River. The former boatyard, in-filled in the late 19th century, is routinely inundated and during spring tides water levels can rise sufficiently to contact the keel of the Peggy and has done so since she was abandoned there around 200 years ago. Even more seriously, during high rainfall and tidal surge events the Peggy is at risk of partial immersion. Over that period the cumulative effect on the Peggy of periodic contact with saline water and extremely high relative humidity levels in an exposed marine location is now so significant that Manx National Heritage ('MNH') must move the yacht from her boathouse to enable essential conservation work to the vessel.
The Peggy is a rare 18th century vessel of such international significance that she is included in the National Historic Ships UK Register¹ (see following extract).
PEGGY is a clinker-built open vessel with fitted sawn frames. She was built for George Quayle of Castletown, Isle of Man, in the form of a small working boat with six oar holes and was schooner rigged with a bowsprit. She was one of three similar vessels built for the Quayle family between 1789 and 1793. There was some confusion over which of these vessels survives today, not least because two of them were named PEGGY, one referred to as 'new Peggy', and the third was named NEPTUNE.
Her first owner, Captain George Quayle (1751-1835) was a member of the House of Keys for 51 years and, during the wars with France from 1793, he was an officer in successive Manx forces raised for Island defence. He was co-founder of the earliest bank in the Isle of Man and also an enthusiastic inventor and traveller.
PEGGY was discovered in 1935 in a walled up cellar in Castletown. This was built for her by Captain Quayle and she lay there more than 150 years. In 1941, when the Bridge House was sold by the Quayles, PEGGY was presented to the Manx Museum together with the boathouse. The museum was opened in 1951. At some point, the cellar entrance through which PEGGY used to pass into the harbour was walled in.
Upon her discovery, PEGGY caused considerable interest among maritime historians. She was surveyed, measured and plans were drawn by Naval Architect P.J. Oke on behalf of The Society of Nautical Research. PEGGY and all related documents were examined in detail in 1967 by Doctor Basil Greenhill, then Director of the National Maritime Museum, as part of his investigation into the vessel's provenance. The resultant paper, published in 'Mariner's Mirror', is the most accurate and thorough assessment of the vessel. He concluded that the existing PEGGY is the one built in 1791.
It is likely that PEGGY was one of the first vessels to be fitted with 'sliding keels', the forerunners of the centreboard. Three in number were fitted through her keel. An enthusiastic letter to George Quayle from his brother Thomas in the summer of 1791 has survived and discusses a meeting he had with the sliding keels inventor, Captain (later Admiral) Shank. While the vessel's present keel is not original and is not formed to have sliding keels, the original keel, with three sliding keel slots, has survived and is stored in the loft room of the boathouse.
There is evidence of extensive early alteration to PEGGY'S structure. A portion of the gunwale was largely removed and an additional strake, topped with a new gunwale, was fitted. The six oar-ports were plugged and the five original thwarts were removed and replaced with three new thwarts, at a higher level to suit the extra strake, but in different positions to the originals. The transom was likewise altered and increased in height. Alterations were also made to frames and floors. Greenhill
¹ http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/1125/peggy
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suggested that the combination of alterations turned a relatively light, fast, pulling boat into a heavy, pure, sailing one.
Further structural repair work was carried out during the late 1940s when PEGGY was repaired by local craftsmen. This involved the replacement of the keel, stem post and two planks, all of which were damaged when she lay on her starboard side. She was placed in a support cradle in advance of the museum opening to the public in 1951.
PEGGY's form and rig are contemporary with similar shaped vessels of the late 18th century, used in Manx waters and the Irish Sea as well as on the eastern seaboard of the USA, north of Boston. Craft similar to PEGGY were used by Captain Cook's ships RESOLUTION and ADVENTURE. PEGGY had a relatively mixed usage. A record exists for 1796 when she attended a regatta on Lake Windermere and took part in races on the lake. She also visited Liverpool on family business, sometimes with passengers and cargo – on one occasion carrying a phaeton - and even smuggling French brandy. However, there is some doubt about her cargo carrying capacity. Greenhill commented that if PEGGY were fitted with the raising and lowering gear for three sliding keels there would be little space for cargo. There is also evidence that at one stage she was armed and she is currently equipped with eight cannon - six 1 foot long, mounted three a side and two slightly longer as stern chasers.
Source; John Kearon, Advisory Committee, March 2009
PEGGY is a vessel that evokes a period at the forefront of Britain's maritime history. Given her provenance, age and the fact that the majority of her original structure has survived, PEGGY must be viewed as a unique source of information pertaining to small vessel structure and form of the late 18th century. Furthermore, vessels built during this period would have been entirely hand formed.
From the conversion of the felled tree to the launch of the boat, hand-tools dominated, yet it was a time of great impending change with the dawning of the industrial revolution. While some alteration and repairs were carried out on the vessel, she is predominantly original. Her mixed usage too, cargo and passenger carrying, fishing, and experimental in the context of sliding keels, is relevant and is supported by documentary evidence. PEGGY is one of very few 18th century wooden boats that have survived to the present time. Contemporaries would be the French Admiral's barge of c.1796, known as the Bantry Boat, the vessel used as the model for the Atlantic Challenge gigs. In the UK, the closest associated small vessel in age would probably be the ZETLAND, the oldest lifeboat, of 1803. Another would be the late 18th century clinker pulling and lug sail boat, known as the GREEN BOAT. Formerly owned by Lord Newborough and now in the collection of Merseyside Maritime Museum she is of similar vintage and largely unknown but, like PEGGY, a unique survivor. These vessels, each formed of wood yet very different in their structures and usages, share a common trait. They have each survived either through chance, by being largely ignored and stored indoors for most of their existence, or by being appreciated for what they were and, in consequence, cared for. They are collectively rare examples of everyday functional vessels of their time that are now individual unique representations of small wooden boatbuilding at the beginning of the industrial revolution. PEGGY is still in the locality where she was built and sailed.
She is unique – a rare surviving example of a small well-built wooden vessel from an era when plans were seldom, if ever, drawn of such vessels. This makes her existence even more valuable in a maritime technology context. The fact also that PEGGY was used in an experimental context as a 'test bed' for sliding keels has considerable significance, particularly when considering that the inventor, Capt Shank, was in contact with the Quayle family and expressed admiration for George Quayle's understanding of the principles involved. The now common centreboards used in most small and medium sailboats are testament to the original idea and its linkage to PEGGY
In preparation for her relocation the inadequate timber support cradle built for the Peggy in the 1950's has been removed recently and she has been re-supported by a new steel display cradle. The
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new display cradle has been designed to be part of a larger kit of parts which collectively forms a rigid transportation cradle to prevent damage from deformation during lifting and sliding. Once all preparatory works are complete in the boatyard the transport cradle will be assembled and the vessel can be slid out into the boatyard before being lifted by crane onto transport in Bridge Street.
The current application for planning and building regulations approval is related to the enabling works which will facilitate the removal of the vessel from the Nautical Museum. The late 19th century infill and retaining wall occupies what was formerly the boat yard and for which documentary evidence suggests may have included a “trolley way”. Until recent documentary research of the Bridge House Papers was commenced there has been no prior knowledge or testable theories about how the Peggy was brought in and out of her boat house. It is impossible to remove the Peggy from the boathouse without removal of the fill which will be undertaken under careful archaeological control in order to reveal as much evidence as may remain about the history and development of the site and the operation of the boats kept by George Quayle.
Because of the tight confines of the boatyard it is proposed to clear the yard adjacent to the museum of accumulated salvaged Manx slate and remove mid-20th century masonry block-work to a door at basement level which will enable the removal of spoil directly from the boatyard by conveyor to the yard for processing by archaeologists and then disposal. It is hoped that this work can be completed by the end of March at which point it is intended to introduce temporary access measures to enable the Nautical Museum to be reopened for the 2014 season. The Peggy is scheduled for removal from site to a new, temporary, location for conservation during autumn 2014.
MNH has consulted with its retained specialist Structural Engineer with respect to the integrity and stability of the surrounding boatyard walls which all predate the infill by some 100 years and are founded on bed rock. On advice from the Morton Partnership, particular care will be taken over the method statements for excavations in the vicinity of the south wall internal addition (purpose unclear) and the west-wall in terms of the depth of foundation. MNH will continue to have access to specialist structural engineering advice if needed during the progress of the works and has retained a Health and Safety advisor to work with the archaeological contractor and their advisor on safe systems of working.
A decision about how to treat the excavated area following removal and relocation of the Peggy is not possible until completion of the archaeological excavations and any exposed archaeology or historic features can be assessed.
Wherever possible and safe to do so MNH will retain public access during the regular visitor season (April to October) and provide interpretation of on-going works and its understanding of the history and archaeology of the site as it is revealed.
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