Pet
PZ 211: A 1903 pilchard driver from
Porthleven at present based in Penryn near
Falmouth.
Owned by Ann and Ray Rowe and built
originally in Porthleven in 1903 for Richard
Henry Thomas, who was born in 1863, as a Class
II lugger or Pilchard Driver, Pet’s first
registration number was PZ211.
Richard died
at sea in 1909, and Pet was sold by his
widow to
Henry
Johns of Mevagissey in 1910 and Pet started
working out of that port, changing her
registration number to FY129.
In 1917, she received her first engine of
8 h.p.
She remained in the hands of the Johns
family, commercially fishing until 1961, when
she was sold off to Commander Rutherford on the
Helford for private use.
(A
retired shipwright by the name of Ron Rashleigh
recently contacted Ann and Ray by phone,
following an article printed in The Falmouth
Packet on the re-launch of Pet. He worked on Pet
after she was sold from Mevagissey to Commander
Rutherford of Port Navas. Another phone call was
from the grandson of the original owner!
He put us in contact with his sister, who still
lives in Porthleven, Florence Eddy (married
name) who is now aged 82. These two very
interesting phone calls filled in some key parts
of Pet's history)
After
laying on the Helford for some years, William
Arthur (Arfy) Treneer bought her in 1966.
She was repaired, re-rigged and
re-registered FH376 and returned to commercial
fishing, including oyster dredging.
She
was de-registered and sold off in 1976 to an
unknown buyer.
She was briefly re-registered again and
re-named in 1992 as the Lady Linda FH607.
No
longer under sail, and having a wheelhouse and a
100 h.p. motor fitted, it was at this stage that
Ann and Ray acquired her in 1993.
It was their intention to totally rebuild
Pet stronger than before and give her back her
original appearance of 1903, to be once again a
sailing lugger.
The
rebuild has been a long and arduous job, as Ray
has been doing all the work himself (with
Ann’s help at weekends and holidays).
After 8 ½ years, Pet was re-launched on
9th August 2002.
She still needed about 2 more tons of
ballast before she could be sailed.
At this stage, no engine will be fitted
in Pet.
She is a pure sailing vessel.
Ann and Ray
took her for our first sail on Sunday 25th May. They
were thrilled with the way she handled and left
her anchored in Falmouth for a few days, then
sailed her back to the pontoons at Challenger in
Penryn. They were fitting their bunk
forward and a couple of temporary bunks in the
main saloon so that they could attend the
Cornish Lugger Regatta at Looe in June, and
also
have some time sailing her through the summer
before starting the full interior fit-out during
the winter.
At anchor in Falmouth 
Pet
made her
debut at the Looe Lugger Regatta in June
2003, which coincided with her centenary.
Here
we see Pet under sail, courtesy of Martin Heard,
who was crewing on Eileen at the Looe Lugger
Regatta. This shows Pet sailing past the 60ft
tunnyman La Nebuleuse
Here
Pet is
about to overtake Eileen. Not bad
considering they had not yet built the mizzen
topsail or the light weather mizzen staysail.
Her
dimensions are 32’6” length, beam 10’2”,
draft 5’, weight 9 tons (approx).
Rig;
Dipping Lug foresail, Standing Lug mizzen.
(The
MBLA sincerely thank Ann and Ray for providing
all this information and wish them every success
in their exciting venture)
1.
Pet in Mevagissey harbour 2. 1924(white flash on
bow) 3. paint-up on the beach at
Mevagissey circa 1930 4. Henry Johns on
board circa 1930 5. On beach for a survey
before re-build 6. work started 7. deck
laid with 4" x 2" Iroko 8. replacing
planking, 10. extra frames, stringers and a
keelson were added for extra strength 11.
traditional caulking materials,12 to 19.
re-launch & various shots of Pet afloat
before the masts were stepped.
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