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A Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter is a specialist style and design of single-masted cutter sailing boat, developed for the needs of speeding pilots to larger ships entering and leaving the Bristol Channel. The design has been described as the best sailing boat design ever, for being both highspeed, higly manouverable and yet easy to handle by just two crew.

Background

Cutter

When used to refer to sailing boats, a cutter is a small single-masted sailing boat, fore-and-aft rigged, with two or more headsails and often a bowsprit. A cutter's mast may be set farther back than on a sloop.^[1]

Bristol Channel

The Bristol Channel is one of the naturally most dangerous shipping lanes in the world, due to its huge tidal range of 13 metres (43 ft)^[2] - second only to Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada^[3]^[4] - hiding constantly shifting sand bars and rocks.

Even today there are no road or rail crossings of the Bristol Channel so direct crossings are necessarily made by sea or air, or less directly by the road and rail crossings via the River Severn estuary. The Channel can be a hazardous area of water because of its strong tides and the rarity of havens on the north Devon and Somerset coasts that can be entered in all states of the tide. Because of the treacherous waters, even today pilotage is an essential service for shipping.

As Bristol developed as a regional trading and financial centre, and as coal exports and the metal making industries rose in the South Wales Valleys as local sources of metal-ore rock quickly dwindled, the volume of shipping into and out of the Bristol Channel rose quickly. Owners, who didn't want to loose valuable ships or their cargos, had need for local knowledge of the wind, tides and underwater dangers.

Pilots

Most early pilots were local fisherman who undertook both jobs, latterly licensed by the local Harbour Master to operate within their jurisdiction. Until post-WW2, pilots were generally self-employed, and the quickest transport meant greater income. Local legend suggests that the first official Bristol Channel pilot was barge master George James Ray, appointed by the Corporation of Bristol in May 1497 to pilot John Cabot's Matthew from Bristol harbour to the open sea beyond the Bristol channel. In 1837 Pilot George Ray guided Brunel's SS Great Western, and in 1844 William Ray piloted the larger SS Great Britain on her maiden voyage.^[5]

Designs and performance needs

As most fishing boats were purposefull heavy working boats built for capacity of haul and stability, and filled with fishing equipment, those who operated as pilots needed a new type of boat. Early pilot boats were developed from single masted fishing cutter designs and twin masted yawls, and latterly into the specialist pilot cutter.

Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters are generally seen as the most successful fore and aft rigged boats built during the age of sail. Speed was of the essence, and ease of handling - the more crew, the lower the profit. But the key in the Bristol Channel was also a need for manouverability with a low draft, and given the nature of the currents and speed of the local tides.^[6]

Preservation

Today, only 18 original cutters are believed to survive:

Alpha
Baroque
Breeze
Cariad
Carlotta
Cornubia
Dolphin
Frolic
Kindly Light
Letty
Madcap
Marguerite
Marian
Mascotte
Olga
Peggy
Raider
Vivacious

References

^ Kemp, Peter, ed. (1976). The Oxford Companion to Ships & the Sea. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 221–222. a small, decked ship with one mast and bowsprit, with a gaff mainsail on a boom, a square yard and topsail, and two jibs or a jib and a staysail.
^ "Severn Estuary Barrage". UK Environment Agency. 31 May 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
^ Chan, Marjorie A. (2003). Extreme Depositional Environments: Mega End Members in Geologic Time. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America. p. 151. ISBN 0-8137-2370-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ "Coast: Bristol Channel". BBC. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
^ "History of Pilot Cutters". Annabel J. Retrieved 2009-06-04. ^{[dead link‍]}
^ "Cutters". BCPCOA. Retrieved 7 July 2013.

External links

Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Owners Association

[Kemp76-1] Kemp, Peter, ed. (1976). The Oxford Companion to Ships & the Sea. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 221–222. a small, decked ship with one mast and bowsprit, with a gaff mainsail on a boom, a square yard and topsail, and two jibs or a jib and a staysail.

[2] "Severn Estuary Barrage". UK Environment Agency. 31 May 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-09-03.

[3] Chan, Marjorie A. (2003). Extreme Depositional Environments: Mega End Members in Geologic Time. Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America. p. 151. ISBN 0-8137-2370-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[4] "Coast: Bristol Channel". BBC. Retrieved 2007-08-27.

[5] "History of Pilot Cutters". Annabel J. Retrieved 2009-06-04. ^{[dead link‍]}

[6] "Cutters". BCPCOA. Retrieved 7 July 2013.

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@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ===Bristol Channel===
+{{main|Bristol Channel}}
-The [[Bristol Channel]] is one of the naturally most dangerous shipping lanes in the world, due to its huge tidal range hiding constantly shifting [[sand bar]]s and rocks. Even today there are no road or rail crossings of the Bristol Channel so direct crossings are necessarily made by sea or air, or less directly by the road and rail crossings of the River Severn estuary. The Channel can be a hazardous area of water because of its strong tides and the rarity of havens on the north Devon and Somerset coasts that can be entered in all states of the tide. Because of the treacherous waters, even today pilotage is an essential service for shipping.
+The [[Bristol Channel]] is one of the naturally most dangerous shipping lanes in the world, due to its huge [[tidal range]] of {{convert|13|m|ft}}<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/severnpositionmay2006_1508223.pd | format= PDF | work= UK Environment Agency | title= Severn Estuary Barrage | date= 31 May 2006 | accessdate= 2007-09-03 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070930155720/http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/severnpositionmay2006_1508223.pd |archivedate = 2007-09-30}}</ref> - second only to [[Bay of Fundy]] in [[Eastern Canada]]<ref>{{cite book | title= Extreme Depositional Environments: Mega End Members in Geologic Time
+| first= Marjorie A.| last= Chan | coauthors= Archer, Allen William | pages= 151 | location= [[Boulder, Colorado]] | isbn= 0-8137-2370-1 | publisher= [[Geological Society of America]] | year= 2003 | url=http://books.google.com/?id=b3_1Ry0gDqEC&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=bristol+channel }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2005/07/04/bristolchannel_feature.shtml | title= Coast: Bristol Channel | work= BBC | accessdate= 2007-08-27 }}</ref> - hiding constantly shifting [[sand bar]]s and rocks.
+Even today there are no road or rail crossings of the Bristol Channel so direct crossings are necessarily made by sea or air, or less directly by the road and rail crossings via the River Severn estuary. The Channel can be a hazardous area of water because of its strong tides and the rarity of havens on the north Devon and Somerset coasts that can be entered in all states of the tide. Because of the treacherous waters, even today pilotage is an essential service for shipping.
 As Bristol developed as a regional trading and financial centre, and as coal exports and the metal making industries rose in the [[South Wales Valleys]] as local sources of metal-ore rock quickly dwindled, the volume of shipping into and out of the Bristol Channel rose quickly. Owners, who didn't want to loose valuable ships or their cargos, had need for local knowledge of the wind, tides and underwater dangers.