SY Gondola
 Gondola on Coniston Water.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | Gondola |
| Owner | National Trust |
| Operator | National Trust |
| Launched | 1859 |
| Recommissioned | 1979 |
| Nickname(s) | "The lady of the lake" |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Steam yacht |
| Installed power | Steam |
| Propulsion | Propeller |
| Speed | 11.7 knots (13.5 mph; 21.7 km/h) knots |
| Crew | 3 |
| Time to activate | 1.5 hours |
The steam yacht Gondola is a Victorian screw propelled, steam powered vessel currently used as a pleasure cruiser on Coniston Water, England, operated by the National Trust. Gondola is thought to be the inspiration for Captain Flint's houseboat in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons.[1]
Sailing
It is still possible to cruise the northern part of Coniston Water on the steam yacht Gondola which makes regular trips from Easter to the end of October from Coniston pier. She sails from the pier five times daily from 11.00am. She makes an anti-clockwise voyage down the western shore of the lake, turning at Park-a-moor and steams northerly up the opposite shore to Brantwood where it is possible to disembark and visit the home of the once poet laureate to Queen Victoria, John Ruskin.
History
Gondola was first launched in 1859 and carried on working until the First World War when she was laid up during the war. After the war she was converted to a houseboat and stayed in that form for many years, slowly disintegrating. She finally succumbed to nature and in the 1960s during a violent storm, she ran aground.
An attempt to restore her in the 1970s was met with financial difficulties, however with support from the local community, fund-raising by National Trust staff and donations and sponsorship from large companies, funds were raised enough to complete a hull survey to assess the damage caused by the storm and to see whether a full restoration, preferably back as a working passenger yacht, was feasible. The survey was disappointing, the hull was seen to be down to 30% of its original thickness (it being constructed of fine quality wrought iron of just 1/8th of an inch thickness.) Even if the hull had been in good condition, the Department of Trade would have never registered her as working vessel, her hull plates needed to be a minimum of 1/4" (6mm) thick.
Vickers boat builders in Barrow-in-Furness were approached and asked to make their own survey to see what could be done. After their survey they reported that a new hull would be required, the superstructure would have to be replaced in its entirety and if it was to be steam powered again an engine and boiler would have to be sourced from somewhere. However the wrought iron gunnel plate (the curved edge of the ship were the deck meets the hull) was in excellent condition and could be used as a template for the new hull to be taken off, saving the expense of making a new one in steel, and also providing an accurate datum point for the draughtsmen to work off for the new hull design. The barley-twist wrought iron handrails and railings were also found to be in excellent condition. Vickers quoted £400,000 to rebuild her. They were instructed to proceed with work and funds were again raised for Gondola from the same sources as before.
The boatyard had to repair the wreck with only a few surviving parts. It was initially unknown as to what she was to be powered with. Steam power was the preferred method of propulsion, but the size of engines, the type and size of boiler, their configuration and the necessary ancillaries were also undetermined.
A local engineer, Roger Mallinson of Windermere, was approached. He had just completed a restoration of his own 45' vintage steam launch, Shamrock on Windermere. He sourced appropriate cylinders and constructed a suitable engine. A boiler design was found belonging to the Blaneau Ffestiniog Railway in Wales. It was a locomotive type as specified by the Furness Railway company and was a suitable size. Locomotion Enterprises, Gateshead were instructed to build the boiler.
The hull was made as an engineering exercise for the apprentices at the boatyard. All the parts finally came together, and in 1977 the hull was transported in three parts from Barrow to Coniston, where she was properly constructed. Over the next two years she was fitted out with boiler, engine, superstructure, first and second class saloons, decking and all the fittings associated with a ship this size. Her engines were rebuilt by Roger Mallinson, the cylinders being re-used from a steam crane.
In 1979, she was launched by the granddaughter of the first master of Gondola, Felix Hamill. She floated to her intended lines and sailed her second inaugural voyage since 1859, exactly 120 years later.
Specification
The vessel is powered by a two cylinder 90 degree "V" steam engine, which has a slip eccentric reverse system and is a double acting slide valve arrangement. The steam boiler is of a locomotive type, with 90 inch and a quarter steel tubes passing through the barrel. From her launch in 1859 she has been coal fired. First she used an all copper design used by the Furness Railway Company on their locomotives, this supplied steam to her engines at a maximum of 80psi (pounds per square inch). Around the turn of the last century she was equipped with an all steel boiler supplying steam at 100psi. The boiler and the engines were taken out when she was laid up and converted to being a houseboat. When she was re-launched in 1970 an all steel design was again specified, although this time rated at a maximum working pressure of 150psi. she still uses this boiler today. From 20 March 2008 however the firing of Gondola became a lot more green; she is now fired on Blazer Logs, these commercially produced logs are made from compressed sawdust and burn very efficiently, giving off little smoke and when smoke is given off its sulphur content is negligible.
The cylinders exhaust to atmosphere after first passing through a silencer. The draft induced by the steam is used to draw the heat and waste products of combustion through the boiler and up the funnel, and so draw more air into the furnace, a force draft system. However now the ship is using a different fuel to fire the boiler a flue damper has also been fitted to produce a finer tolerance of control in the firebox; using less fuel to produce more steam, and hence greater economy. The engines produce a maximum of approximately Template:Auto Nm of torque at the prop shaft and this turns the 36" diameter propeller at a cruising speed of approximately 150-160rpm giving a hull cruising speed of 7/8 knots (9.2 mph; 15 km/h) knots and a maximum hull speed of 11.7 knots (13.5 mph; 21.7 km/h) knots at 240rpm (at this speed, although just four knots faster than cruising speed, the engines use 60% more steam).