Historic lugger embarks on 1,000 mile voyage for new masts

People lined the harbour walls and pontoons at Newlyn to bid farewell to a historic Cornish lugger as it embarks on a 1,000 mile voyage to get fitted with new masts. Volunteer sailors from the Cornish Maritime Trust (CMT) set sail on an epic six week voyage aboard the 143-year-old wooden Mackerel Driver, ‘Barnabas’ - the only surviving St Ives double-ended dipping lugger in the world.
The ambitious journey, which will also serve as a ‘living heritage’ educational voyage, links four Celtic lands - Cornwall, Scotland, Wales and Ireland - and will go as far as Ullapool in Scotland. There, Johnson & Loftus Boatbuilders will fit Barnabas with two handcrafted douglas fir masts, replacing those which have succumbed to weather and time.
Following a traditional blessing by Reverend Derath Durkin, the historic vessel, sporting flags from all four Celtic nations, once more raised its sails, caught the wind and glided elegantly out of Newlyn yesterday (Friday, April 19) to cheers of ‘Oggy, Oggy, Oggy’ from crowds on the quay. The sight was captured by artist in residence Vicki Norman, painting ‘en plein air’, just as Newlyn School artists would have done when Barnabas was part of the fishing fleet.
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