Oldest Suffolk boat to be re-launched
What could be the oldest surviving Suffolk-built boat will be relaunched, after extensive restoration, on the first day of Maritime Woodbridge.
In 1877, the Deben pilot Sam Marsh had a new boat built to take him down the river to Rocks Reach so that he could pilot barges up to the quays at Woodbridge. The boat was built by Garrard and Sons in a large shed at the bottom of Brook Street, and named Teddy, after Sam's young son Edward.
The 12ft clinker built Teddy had a very shallow draft, so that the pilot could get in and out of Woodbridge at any state of the tide, and be very easy to row. There is a hole in the forward thwart so that presumably she had a sail, and a mast is shown in old photographs.
Barge traffic to Woodbridge petered out around 1930. After this, the pilots used Teddy for eel fishing, and after the War the Marsh family used her for pleasure rowing.
In about 1950, Frank Knights put the Teddy into a shed on the Ferry Quay and, apart from a trip by road to Maritime Ipswich in 1982, she stayed there until about 2005.
Then Frank gave her to Rob Poole to use for the Butley Ferry, but the 129-year-old hull was so frail that there was no hope of her floating.
Rob brought the dilapidated Teddy to Maritime Woodbridge 2006, and gave her to Robert Simper. He asked Lawrence Hebden to restore her, but specified that any timber replaced had to go back exactly as the original hull had been. This proved to be a very difficult task, requiring great skills, but it is planned to re-launch the Teddy on Whisstock's slip, near the Tide Mill on Saturday September 8 at about 11.30 am. It is hoped she will survive for future generations.
