Below, the pic and advert  was the old G.H. Marine. Mark Urry's firm.  They are no more,

see advert for Newsons  Boatbuilders beneath!

The new GH builders!

Newson Boatbuilders

This link will take you to the new builders of the Golden Hind

Click here to go to the new GH website.

The Evolution of the G.H.

The Golden Hind started as a 28ft 6inch, single chine cruiser.  The builder was Hartwells, The furniture company that turned their hands, very successfully, to boatbuilding, they had been building Eventide 24's and 26's for  a few years. 

It was natural that they would want a larger boat on similar well proven lines and turned to Maurice for a 28 ft version, the new GH 28.  This was about 1963/4.  She was single chine, Marine Ply and most were sheathed with Cascover.  Many are around today in great condition, a few sadly are not, as with any wooden boat, if freshwater is allowed to penetrate into the structure, they will soon suffer.

We are indebted to Norman Henwood, owner of 'Cirra' for many a year, for saving these pages,

and to Mike Hoban, present owner, for scanning and sending them in!

These pages from Y.M. were also saved by Norman.  Priceless!

Of course it was not long before an even larger version was offered , the G.H. 31.  The first ones of this mark were also single chine.

The Golden Hind 31,  as produced by Terry Erskine, who of course started working at Hartwells!

Detail of previous page.

Anyone got any more of these for the other GH's?

Above are scans of the GH31 leaflet produced by Terry Erskine.  Our thanks to Warren Stevenson for these!  the boat featured in the leaflet is 'Cricket' and  belongs to Brian in Malta!

The Ketch on the last page of the brochure is James May's 'Le Corbeau' of course! the other two Ketches known are Warrens 'Safrel' and 'Charisma', registered in the USA, seen in the UK in 1997, but though to be now in the Netherlands.

We are indebted to Robin for this scan of a page from a magazine of the day, with a description and sketch of the 31.   From a 1980's advert.

These two old adverts were scanned from 1970's Y.M.s

  Got any other leaflets we can add?  Send a scanned image please, not the original unless you wish us to scan it for you....

 Mark Urry has been in touch to say this drawing below is his later version with the slightly modified rig etc, to obtain the 'Ocean' certification.  Thanks Mark. 

The GH "MK2" was coined by me, long after Terry stopped in 1982.  I re-designed the rig plan and ballast to get rid of the weather helm often present and to get the design through the RCD with a cat 'A' rating (as I did, drastically for the GH26 to get cat B).   The 26 was very badly out but the redesigned one I sold and subsequently sailed in a gale on Southampton water went like a dream with just a single finger holding the tiller.  Mark Urry   (Must have read my articles on Weatherhelm! John)

Skentleberry  built only  one  GH31 hull (no deck) with engine fitted, for Alan Solly to fit out.      He completed it to the re-designed  drawings done by Alan Pape for Skentleberry, and it became 'Fallow' on your site.  The re-design included leaving out the centreline cabin-top kingplank, many less, and slimmer beams, which, personally, I never thought looked right.

After that, Colin Skinner had the moulds and had a hull, 251, in a friends garden for many years.  I don't know if it was ever completed.  I bought the moulds and did GH 252, 'Moonlight' for me (subsequently sold and re-named 'Bella Sophia', then re-sold and reverted to 'Moonlight').  I then built 253, 'Katie Louise' for Barry Marshall to complete, 254 'Kepple', for Richard Hare, 255 'Running Mate', complete with wooden mast and "one woman" quick mast lowering system, for Henk & Ineke Sweers in Holland  (they have lots of bridges to negotiate).  The last was 256,  mine, (un named at present), which is here in France.  I then sold everything to Newsons.

Nice to see the GH still going strong.  I'll try to remember to send a photo when (probably) the latest GH 256 eventually touches the water instead of sitting in my garden here in France.  Mark

So how many were built?

James May writes and tells us that, in the old Golden Hind Journal for  July 1995, Terry Erskine states the numbers built as:-

GH28'6 = 15  We have now had it confirmed that there were indeed 15 built by Hartwells.

GH31's = 235 (inc Colin Skinner of Armada yachts, Golden Hind No. 251).  We also know of one GH 32, 'Right E. Oh' built in timber. The number of Ketch rigged boats is now in doubt, Terry said 3, but we might have 4?  Not sure how many were single chine either... 

Mark Urry, one-time professional builder of the GH, built 5 and still has Sail number 256 awaiting launch from his garden in France!

GH26's = 11.    'Athaena', Number '0' also classed for a time as a GH 26 because   at one time thought to be the plug for the mould, she was timber and also appears on our pages.  We now know she was built as an 'Athaena' design, the copy of the Eventide.  Add the extra chine and you have the GH26.  There was a lot of correspondence between the builder, Mr Solly, and Terry, as he developed the GH26, thus the connection.

GH34, at least 1, 'Jua' in steel.

GH39's = 6.

YM write up of 39.

Gulf Stream 42's = 6.

Levanter?

Also after this date Terry may have produced more GH39s in Malta....  Terry was seen in the French canals by the crew of the WW 'Dougaljo', he was on his way to the UK, many years ago. He was on his way home to hang up his chisels!

Help us fill in the gaps. Thanks to Mark for filling in loads!
 

The GH 26.

Above are 4 scanned pages of the GH 26 brochure produced by Terry Erskine.  These were kindly scanned and sent in by Liz and Martin Tate owners of 'Lady of Lockerley'.  She was later extensively repaired by Mark Urry.

I met Terry when he introduced the GH 26, he told me that he had approached Maurice for a drawing for a smaller GH as prospective owners were asking for a smaller version of the GH31 he was building.  He gave me a leaflet, which I still have and will reproduce here.  (see below)  It shows a single chine 26ft boat with a stepped cabin top, 1660lb keel and looked every bit like an Eventide.  She was in fact the 'Athaena' design, which was produced for 'Bruce Roberts designs' about this time.  She was a disguised Eventide, simply by altering the cabin top profile.  Something that more than one Eventide later had, an altered cabin top!  Roberts simply wanted to fill a gap in their portfolio of the day I expect. 

We thought  that Terry produced one boat to this design, to make the GH26 mould, but, contrary to common held belief, this was not the case and the Athaena was not made into a GH but was simply given the sail number   GH 26 Number '0'.  'Athaena' was built,  not by Terry, but by Mr Solly.  There was a lot of liaison betwixt the builder and Terry, and thus the use of the GH sail number  I suspect. The real builder, or rather his son, Jason, has been in touch.  Incidentally Jason has sent pics of another boat his father owned, the GH31 'Fallow' He built this from the   hull made by Skentleberry. We will now reclassify her as a MG design in her own right, though you can  still see her on this page and she is featured in Newsletter 9.  I will add details to an entry for 'Athaena' on the 'MG Other designs' page.

You can see the measurements are identical to the Eventide 26 and Athaena!

This leaflet dates from 1978, the prices on the right from 1981

Also I have a later GH26 leaflet that I unearthed in my collection.  This one has more of the story.  When Terry launched the first GH26 he was alarmed at it's lack of sailing stability.  He had to reef in a force 4.!   If you look at the photo on the coloured GH26 leaflet above you will see it was reefed when the photo was taken.

Terry told me he took her back to the yard and filled the hollow keel trough with ballast!  He then weighed that out and that became the final ballast weight, 2352lb, as can be seen on the covering spec sticker on the later GH26 leaflet.

Just as in the Eventide before, the boats were perhaps slightly overbuilt and under ballasted.  Maurice would have been the first to admit he never got it right all the time.  My Eventide has  extra ballast too! (now 2240lb)

Above is the modified sheet I have, showing the increased ballast.  If you look though, the keel weight is still shown as 1660lb in the text! (Same as an Eventide 26!)

The GH 26 write up from Y.M.

See more of her in our newsletter No 9. 

1974 GOLDEN HIND 31’ CUTTER (pictured in Florida USA)  We know this boat now belongs to Mr Nulty, who once owned the Eventide Kittiwake.  We understand she is now based in the UK or on the continent, but not sure how she crossed the Atlantic.  One day perhaps the owner will be in touch.  He sails in company with the Barbican 'Red Dawn' sometimes.....

Sadly since these pics were taken John the owner had decided to swallow the anchor for health reasons, the boat was sold Autumn 2007 and the new owners have signed up!

34ft Maurice Griffiths/Bruce Roberts Golden Hind in steel. 6 years old in good condition. Junk Rig Schooner, fully equipped for long distance cruising.

Jua was for sale till recently, but Kathy and Roger have written to tell us they are finding time to sail her and so we are hoping for some nice fresh pictures to add to the pages!  They are now living halfway up a mountain in Spain, but not far from the sea!  sadly for them, they have now sold her.

 A slightly better pic of Jua...        

This is the brochure view of the 34!

From Kathy and Roger May 05.. 

'The name 'Jua', comes from Tanzania!  It is Swahili for ´sunshine´ and  as our intention was to bring her to sunnier climes, we so named her'.

'Jua' was sold and is back in the UK, we are waiting for the new owner to be in touch.  October 2007, welcome to Owain!  Jua is now berthed  in Brighton.

She now has her own page - click here to go there  We understand she may be up for sale shortly, July 2006.... Yes sold!  will the new owner come forward and show off their lovely craft! October 2008 Richard, the new owner,  has joined us.

Got a name anyone?  She was recently sold we believe.  Yes she was!

Thanks to Dave Mann, he believes this is 'Downalong' an early 28ft version.  Reported to be in 'good nick' sadly Dave did not get in quickly enough to buy her, we hope the new owner comes forward.  Was owned by 'Fishtank'  ( see Forum) and moored in Bristol.

I spoke to them in spring 2004 as they waited in the Roach for the Havengore, see the newsletter article about the London river Cruise!  Note Radar and self steering vane!  We want to read the logs Robert!  Send them in.....

By the way, we love the built in anchor light!

When the fittings are stripped, the cabin top and deck stripped off to reveal good timber, John will know more how much he has to do..    I see several years hard work, but as all the fittings, nearly, mast sails, rig, motor and all are there, just need refurbishing,  it will take several thousand pounds to restore what will be worth over 10k at the end...  Just a hell of a lot of time and work! Every weekend and some!  Well worth it in the end!

A footnote now, the boat was just a bit too much for John to take on, nowhere to put it and all the rest, but another of our group, Mike has stepped in and taken over. all credit to john for saving her in the first place and having the sense to pass the painter to Mike!  She now has a page on the Restorers section.

The last pic on the left was of Cirra in the 1970's from a former owner.

 'Safrel' was built 1976 by Terry Erskine at Stonehouse; I understand that only three ketches were ever built - of the other two, 'Le Corbeau' is based at Glasson Dock, and I understand that 'Iris', (maybe now 'Charisma', is in Holland, but could be back in the USA.)  

 We bought 'Safrel' in 1999; there followed a two-year re-build, during which we did very substantial structural woodwork (see the 'Nadir' picture), and also re-sheathed the deck and coach roof, built a navigation space, fitted a new engine (Beta 38 bhp), cooker (Taylor's paraffin), upholstery, instruments, a navigation space, and a huge list of other stuff.  We re-launched in May 2001.I intended 'Safrel' to be our ultimate cruiser, and she is; she never puts a foot wrong, and gives a great feeling of security. 

The rig can be handled from the cockpit, (we have added stac-pacs and lazy jacks since the pictures were taken), the engine is smooth, powerful and very economical for its size, and the accommodation is extremely comfortable and easy to live in.  She is also by no means slow;  she has a 36-foot mainmast, and carries 563 sq. ft. of working sail (with the option of a mizzen staysail if we feel inclined), so is adequately canvassed for most conditions.

All the best, thanks for a very interesting site,

Warren Stevenson.

Portlock.

We look forward to some more pics, we might move all of these onto a page of her own if we are promised some words and more of these excellent pics!

She was built in 1968 by Hartwells of Plymouth, as a sloop with a Sabb inboard diesel. Somewhere along her life she acquired a cutter rig and a 30 hp Yanmar!

Here she is on her new mooring is in Ilfracombe.  , Devon.

here are three of us in a partnership with equal shares in 'Imshallah' and it seems to work well as this is our second yacht together. She is presently moored in Ilfracombe, where she is already drawing approving looks and this is before we start to renovate and restore her to our standard.  I will keep you updated from time to time,  

We now know her as 'Lady of Lockerley' and the new owners have enrolled with us. They are keen to speak to owners of other GH 26's so why not give them a mail..   liztate at doctors.org.uk

We are very excited to have discovered your website as my husband and I have just become the very proud owners of a 1981 Golden Hind 26 called 'Lady of Lockerley'. She was the last of the 11 to be built and we understand that the guy who commissioned her had to go and collect her from Terry Erskine himself before the administrators arrived! We bought her from a couple who knew the original and subsequent owners and apparently she has been as far as Finland and Russia in the past.

I have  attached a couple of pictures taken shortly after her re-launch last week. We would love to find out more about the other 10 GH 26's and any other Golden Hinds out there and maybe even arrange to meet up in any are nearby....

Thanks for all the good work!

Best wishes

Liz  and Martin
 

 GH 31 'Cricket' from Brian in Malta. 

If you fancy a break in Malta sailing her, Brian is offering her to members...  terms to be arranged.  Contact Brian on:-

   barrakka2003 at yahoo.com

With cheaper flights to Malta now Ryan Air are going there, it could be a nice holiday....

Within minutes Gilles has registered and we are able to give this GH a name 'St noeud'!

Thanks Gilles.  Her home port is in  Quebec, Canada.
 

The owner's son is sailing it as his Father is ill, he has just joined us, welcome Merijn.

'My father is  ill and I feel it is my duty to keep the GH31 in the family', nice thought!

Merijn Tinga

GH31
 

James May, the owner, sent in these pics, they were taken by Christine Spreiter  spreiter at mac.com

They are reproduced by kind permission. www.classicmaltspics.com,

'Hindsight' GH 31 allegedly, though she looks to be single chine and thus I wonder if she is a 28.5 ft version. A member is having her surveyed, Jan 08, so we will soon know!

 robwyn at highclerevillage.com

'GoldBeater' GH 31 snapped by Warren in Fowey, July 2005.   Note the slightly unusual upper rigging, any others got these extra diamond spreaders, and why?  We have now, December 08, heard from Mark Urry. He was responsible for the diamond spreader addition to take out the excessive forward mast bend.

 "I knew the original owner and I converted her to a full cutter rig with the aim of her going trans-Atlantic.  The original MG "cutter" rig had just single crosstrees and single "sloop" lower shrouds.  The mast will bend forwards at the attachment of the inner (staysail) forestay so, strictly speaking, should be restrained at that point from aft.  It was "got around" for simplicity by not putting the inner forestay too high up, having a relatively short mast and less powerful staysail and accepting that the mast stiffness was adequate.  Disadvantage? Apart from wondering how much your mast is bending in a blow, smaller less powerful staysail, a real disadvantage if you want to roll away the genoa in a blow. The Genny doesn't set well as a heavy weather sail so you can't beat so close to windward, is not snugly inboard thus reducing the yawing moments and helm loads and can't be self tacking."  "I have now converted several 31's to cutters and designed the rig for my GH26 customer, all with diamond jumpers  and have committed to them on my GH255.  For those not familiar, they stand out as a pair at 45% either side of the fore-aft line."

I think I prefer the slightly higher inner forestay, 3/4 up and the intermediate shrouds, better setting staysail and easier to roll genoa.. but it is another way....  John

Though built in 1981 she was totally rebuilt in later years to a very high standard by Mark Urry.

This sorry mess is what happens to a GH if you are unfortunate enough to be ashore next to a building that catches fire!  This is from David in Canada.

The pic on the left is what she looked like before the fire.! 

Best of luck with the restoration, it will be worth it!