Watch Leo Goolden as he brings back the 47’ teak-planked TALLY HO to the glorious gaff cutter she was when launched over a hundred years ago in England. This vessel, designed by Albert Strange, lies under a shed in Sequim, WA, that Leo built next to the shop/apartment he rejuvenated—helped out occasionally by Poncho the parrot and Brian the dog.
The backstories, and there are many, can be found on Leo’s website, his Facebook postings, and on the Albert Strange Association’s TALLY HO pages.
In addition, Leo wrote a piece on TALLY HO for SOUNDINGS Magazine – “Tally Ho, Adventure! The Quest to Put a 1927 Fastnet Winner Back on the High Seas”.
November 16, 2019 – Episode 60: Carving Sternpost / Cutting Rabbet
Leo and returned volunteer Rowan cleanly cut the purple heart keel and sternpost down to a much more refined shape. The adze work continues to improve, while it’s clear they still spent a ton of the last two weeks just pressing the grinders and power planes to the centerline. With all-new frames and shapely, stout centerline, TALLY HO is really starting to look like a blossoming new boat rather than an in-progress old one.
John Stephen says:
Really enjoying your posts on Telly Ho guys. An amazingly difficult project in my humble opinion, but I take my hat off to you all and wish you well from Otaki NZ.
John McCarthy says:
Can anyone advise how many men would have been working on the original TALLY HO at
any one time? Also, how long would it have taken back in 1912 to have built something like TALLY HO?
Andy Reynolds says:
See WoodenBoat #270, 271, and 272 for the 3 part story of the schooner Ernestina, later Ernestina Morissey. She was built in Essex MA in around 3+ months from November of 1893 to launch on Feb.1 1894. !06 feet on deck, 114 feet overall, constructed in much the same fashion as the Tally-Ho. No mention is made of the size of the crew, but the Essex yards made largely fishing boats , and were the source for many of the fastest and most seaworthy boats of the era of fishing under sail (and oar, since the fishing was largely done from dories carried and launched from the decks of the “Glousterman” Schooners).
I have a feeling there were more shipsaws around then, as well as boat and shipyards and skilled craftsmen of all sorts. All powered by steam at that time, but the days of commercial sail were drawing to a close by then, because of steam power, and internal combustion was about to make steam obsolete.
Tally-Ho was built in England, a small island nation with the world’s mightiest navy, and a dependence on the sea for food and trade. Their nautical tradition runs very deep and to this day, there is still a tradition of boatbuilding that values the designs and techniques dating back to the age of working sail.
Leo’s mentor Luke Powell, who he has visited and featured in some of his videos is one of the “keepers of the flame” of that tradition, still building massive, heavy, deep-keeled and plumb stemmed English Channel Pilot Cutters, with a level of craftsmanship that probably exceeds the standards of the 19th Century. His work has also been covered by Woodenboat, and is worth checking out…like Leo’s, his work is impeccable, and inspiring!
John McCarthy says:
Thanks Andy. I saw the episode where Leo spoke to Luke and showed off one of his beautiful
Pilot Cutters. Craftsmanship indeed..