Weaver - S.S.Davenham ready
*Keywords....   Northwich, River Weaver, Navigation, Waterways, British Waterways, W.J.Yarwood & Sons, shipping, Brunner Mond, Brunners, ICI, Mersey, shipbuilding, shipyards
 

Restoration of the S.S. Davenham

Now to make her ready for sea

Nobody ever mentioned it to me personally, but I realised long before, that Davenham was not well designed for sea, but rather for bashing around the docks. Ballasting was totally inadequate, so that is was not possible to see over the stem when travelling light ship. Coming up-river, the blokes who managed her for Lighterage admitted to "squinting through that egg-'ole". It seemed they could sight the riverbanks through the fairlead holes in the bow plating!!! I promptly found that a large water-valve had arrived mysteriously at the dock, enabling proper ballasting in the forward tank. The after tank was gunned and treated, to use as a 2000 gallon fresh water supply. Brian Brierley arrived with a vanload of 3-phase pyro cable, so electricity appeared all over, floodlights, decklights, cabin lights. Old Yarwood would have hated it. He was an Austerity fan.

The more I looked at the "Pimblotts" -built Marston and Marbury, I realised why the crews loved them. The quarter decks led into a day cabin below a large wheelhouse . This final development was inspired. This is where the nose-picking boat freaks insist that it was not pure and proper on a Yarwoods Packet. Yes, but the plonkers who would moan about it not being original....
1. Would not lift a finger to help me or the Davenham
2. Would not lift a finger to do anything more practical than picking their noses.
3. Could not conceive of her going to sea.
4. Did not have to live aboard her.
So I thought POO to the lot of them, and torched the tin chicken-shed wheelhouse, decked over the full width, reset the wheel and telegraph, and spent six months building a big wheelhouse in Pitch and cedar, mahogany panelled, oak parquet floor and safety-glass windows. They would not let me do woodwork at school, but I made up for it, and it went to sea in a gale. It gave a wonderful "real" feel to the ship, and the shelter-decks kept the rain off. he Masters Cabin below the bridge was perfect. She was utterly, mouth-wateringly gorgeous.

Now the ship is up for sale again I was sorely tempted, but I believe you should never go back. A rule of life. Odd that when I had to sell up thinking it would save my marriage, not one person from within 200 miles showed the slightest interest, although all the restoration work was done. So Stephen and Lisa took it to E.C.Jones' old Brentside Wharf, Brentford, where my first narrowboat was built for BWB.
Wanna buy a boat. A "houseboat" now. And well pricey!!

Goodbye tin chicken-shed.	Bit of scaffolding pipe to support an upper deck	Frame up a bridge and clad in Cedar T&G
Strong framework for bad weather	Looks well balanced	Many old ships built hereabouts had open bridges
Taking shape inside, nice antique binnacle	Roof on just in time for the bad weather	Sam Evans broke a ship at Garston that used to have a couple of these!! Just right
From the air. The ship is moored on Barons Quay
Had a completion open day in town, which raised a lot of interest		and at Anderton Lift when boaters were demonstrating about reopening the Lift, with Wincham.
The end of an era
Saddest day of my life	A Google Earth satellite search revealed Davenham moored on E.C.Jones' Brentford Wharf
From a ForSale ad.,2005

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