Schooner for Charter - William Garden 75' Victory

Additional Equipment:
12 volt battery charger
Dock lines and extra line
Radar reflector
(2) brass kerosene lanterns
Emergency steering system

Complete Steel fittings for yard arm

Additional information:

THe VICTORY is operated as a Chilean flag vessel under 50 tons and less than 65 ft of length. Here this class is called "embarcacion menor" here or "minor vessel".

This class does not require 3 watertight bulkheads as does that of above 50 tons.

The last time she was sailed was to Ushuaia, Argentina in August of 2003, about one year ago.
Since then, I retired during the season 2003/2004 after 50 years of sailing and 13 years of sailing to Cape Horn and the glaciers and fjords of Tierra Del Fuego.

She currently has active approval from the Chilean Navy to navigate overnight with 12 passengers and 4 crew to Cape Horn. We had permission to operate during day cruises for up to 60 passengers, but here we do not have this type of passengers.

The last time she was surveyed and put in dry dock was in 2001, but we are scheduling another haul out in December here in Puerto Williams or in Ushuaia, Argentina, 25 miles West of here.

The decks are of 3/8" marine plywood glued with epoxy glue and nailed with copper nails over 2 layers of 2" redwood planking.

Her copper sheeting was last replaced in 2001 where it was thin or damaged. Re-calking was not necessary.

She is planked inside and outside with 1 3/4" Cypress.

Ribs are double planks of Coihue ( Nothofagus dombery) of 2 1/4" x 3 1/2". Nothofagus dombery is a strong Chilean wood that is very resistant to rot and is used in boat construction here. The keel is also of Coihue.

The construction plans are at http://www.victory-cruises.com/victory_sail_plan.html

Original plans can be obtained from Andrew Price - William Garden Collection Cataloger

mailto:andy.price@mysticseaport.org

Ships Plans Division, MYSTIC SEAPORT, The Museum of America and the Sea

P O Box 6000, Mystic CT 06355-0990

Tel: 860.572.5360

http://www.mysticseaport.org and http://www.mysticseaport.org/research/ru-splistofcollections.htm

These plans were donated to the Mystic Seaport Museum by William Garden when he retired.

Catalog # 96.198 / Design # 282
SAND LARK
designed by William Garden
60’ x 50’11” x 19’4” x 7’8” topsail schooner

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Plan Description of Plan Scale Date
No. on Plan
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1 Sail plan, deck plan and cabin arrangement 1/4”=1’ Aug 1953
2 Perspective drawing from 41’6” away
58 degrees off luff of starboard bow; eye level is 2’ below lwl.
3 Revised cabin plan 1/4”=1’ May 1956
4 Revised sail plan, deck plan and cabin arrangement, 1/4”=1’ Nov 1963
bow framing
5 Construction plan and details 1/2”=1’ Nov 1963
6 Lines & offsets 1/2”=1’ Dec 1980
7 Lines & offsets-OBSOLETE 1/2”=1’ Nov 1963
8 Sections as noted Nov 1963
9 Plan of spreader, section at yard, masthead 3”=1’ Feb 1962
10 Topmasts, mainmast cap & foremast cap 3”=1’ Feb 1962
11 Sail plan including sail and spar dimensions 1/4”=1’ Feb 1962

William Garden

William Garden was born November 5, 1918 in Calgary, Alberta. His family moved to Oregon in 1924 where he started school, but by 1928 they had relocated again to the Montlake District of Seattle. In January,1935, upon graduation from high school, he enrolled at the Edison Boatbuilding School where he learned new construction for both sail and power; then went to work for Andrew's Boat Company on Portage Bay, not far from his home. His next project was construction of his schooner GLEAM which he sailed throughout the San Juan Islands, around Vancouver Island, and along the coast of British Columbia when time permitted.

In 1940 he formed a partnership with another builder, Dave Leclercq, at an old mill site on Portage Bay. They built five sailing yachts before closing shop in 1942 to work at established yards building boats for the war effort. At the age of 24, with 51 boats designed (mainly work boats, tugs, trollers, and sardine boats) he was drafted into the US Army and sent to the Adak Ship Repair Base in the Aleutians. As he described it "I was the only man in the Army employed in what I liked doing". Discharged in the spring of 1946 as a Master Sergeant, he returned to Seattle and spent time putting GLEAM back into commission and designing halibut boats, trollers and the 30-foot cutter BULL FROG. That summer he and his longtime friend John Adams took a two month holiday cruise with GLEAM to the north British Columbia coast and back around Vancouver Island (one of his later cruises was documented in the April 1951 issue of YACHTING, "Beachcombing the Goose Islands"). In the fall of 1947 he was licensed as a Naval Architect and in the following year took in additional design work on fishing boats, yachts and when time allowed, RAIN BIRD, which was to replace GLEAM as his boat of choice.

In 1951 he moved his office from the old boatshop site on Portage Bay to the Pacific Fishing & Trading Co. building on the ship canal in Ballard; then in 1954 the office was moved to Maritime Shipyards with a participating interest in the yard. This partnership produced several yachts, work boats, pile drivers, etc. Bill and N.A. Phil Brinck worked together on miscellaneous projects through the mid 50's, and in 1956 Brinton Sprague, a mechanical engineer and Bill's good friend and mentor joined him for several years, his expertise providing a major contribtion to the firm. A 1957 article in Marine Digest detailed 62 boats in construction valued at nearly 2 million dollars and another 12 on the boards. In 1959 the design office was moved from the Maritime Shipyards location to a new building above Lockhaven Marina overlooking the locks and ship canal traffic. For a time he gave serious thought to relocating to New Zealand in order to provide a more ideal location to raise a family, and Victoria, BC was chosen in 1968 as an interim move while projects in process where completed. Later a nearby island was purchased as an interesting location for design offices. Shops and a self-sufficient island home were established in 1969 and from then until the present he has operated from this location. His recent projects have primarily involved yacht designs, the largest being 231 feet in length. For information on individual designs or for an index of all the designs held at Ships Plans see links to the Index to William Garden Collection at http://www.mysticseaport.org .

The VICTORY carries loose ballast consisting of 12 tons of lead, steel and large stones.

She has no signs of hogging is in excellent shape.

Her ribs are of Coihue (Nothofagus dombery) and the hull is Cypress (Pilgerodendron uviferum) from the Guaiteca islands in Southern Chile. This is considered one of the best Cypress woods. It is stronger and more rot resistant than oak.

The fore and aft cabins are made of very resistant Chilean Redwood (Fitzroya cupressoides).

If you have no knowledge whatsoever of the reputation of Chilean shipwrights as a whole, of their skill and attention to detail, please see below:

The Chiloe Island Shipwrights (Chilotes) are some of the best and are sought after from many countries.
I used the same shipwrights which laid the VICTORY's keel and was very happy with their work and knowledge.

Was she rough-built through and through? Not so much in the sense of workboat vs. finished yacht, but in the sense of were corners cut? Wood not sufficiently seasoned? Components not properly bedded? Stock not pre-drilled for fasteners?

No, she was built exactly to the William Garden plans as a fine yacht.
The owner of the ship yard in charge of the original construction of the VICTORY, Guillermo Rios of Chinquihue, (5 miles from Puerto Montt, Chile) was known throughout the area for his fine work.

Is she well ventilated in such areas as the forepeak and transom?,

Yes. Although she has tight interior 1 3/4" planking she has ventilation at the top of the ceiling between each frame just below the decks and all wood was well seasoned.

During the 18 years from her launching her timbers, planking, decks, cabin houses, etc. have been all well maintained and wood replaced where necessary.

Mold and rot have been continually maintained. Wood was used in her construction such as cypress and Redwood which is very resistant to rot. Her deck does not leak at all.

She was taking on about 2 gal day of water, but at present it is almost negligible.

She handles well and is very well balanced, light on the helm and stable fore and aft in terms of pitching. She has no shortcomings for a seaworthy boat. She is very fast in heavy winds, but slow in light winds.

Her running rigging was completely replaced in 1990 including new Douglas fir box hollow masts to replace the Chiloe Island Manio solid masts.

The original decks which are still in place after being repaired are made of 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 redwood over 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 cypress. They were made to hold a good deal of weight (16 tons of cargo). The boat is a replica of a New England cargo schooner of 1870.

I fought to stop up the leaks in the decks for about 10 years, when I read an article in wooden boat about using marine plywood glued with epoxy glue over the decks. This was nailed with copper nails and painted with epoxy paint. The decks and cabin houses which we also did have not leaked since!

The original William Garden plans were very carefully followed. The interior is my own invention done over the years a little bit at a time, by one of the original shipwrights who later stayed on with me for 10 years.

The stem, stern post, deck beams, and Samson post are made of cypress wood.

The hull was covered first with tar saturated felt, then copper nailed with copper nails.

I have never had any ship worm problems with the hull.

Stainless steel bolts were used on the plates bedded with a mixture of talc, paint and window putty which works great!

Galvanized steel square shanked nails were used as fasteners for the hull planking. some replacement planks use 7 inch copper nails.

The five Dacron running sails like in the photo above are 4 years old. The standing rigging and box hollow Oregon pine masts are 14 years old and are in good condition with no rot. The running rigging is about 5 years old and in good condition.

We have been in 50-70 knot storms for up to 48 hours with the present rig with no problems.

Three of the 6 cabins cabins have port holes and 3 cabins have sky lights.

When the boat was first launched in 1986, she had only 3 cabins and we added 3 more doubles and one small single cabin. She sleeps 16 persons in bunks.

There is a hatch on the stern cabin roof to remove the motor. There is a hatch on the stern cabin floor for access to the motor.

All safety equipment has been tested and approved by the strict norms of the Chilean Navy. This must be renewed every year.

Is she seaworthy?

Captain Ben writes:

The first big storm that I got into with the VICTORY was a "Suraso" (strong south wind) going North from Puerto Montt to Valparaiso with all the running sails up (about 160 sq. mts.) and no reefs. This was 5-10 miles off the coast south of Talcahuano, Chile in 1987.

I had 4-5 crew aboard and told them to come up and take the sails down. The only one that came up was Efrain, the first mate and the others said they were too seasick. I SAID, IF THEY DIDN'T, THEY MIGHT DIE, BUT THIS MADE NO DIFFERENCE! :-) It was impossible to take the sails down and the wind continued rising to about 45 knots. The wind lasted about 4-5 hours, as I recollect, and we saw other boats sending out distress signals.
The "Victory" was way over her hull speed at an estimated 12 knots during most of the storm with the main boom dipping 2-3 ft into the water!

The second major storm was a 45 knot nor'wester with lots of rain which heaped up 7 meter waves. We were in this one about 3 years later in that same area. We asked for help, but the navy said it was too dangerous to come out to help us. We lost a cross tree during a jibe when the foresail gaff swung over too hard . One brave crew almost went overboard when he went forward to tighten a loose foremast stay. I had water up to my knees a lot of the time at the helm. After over 48 hours it finally died. I told myself I would never be captain again after this, but later found myself doing tours of Cape Horn!

The VICTORY is located in Puerto Williams, Chile, just 25 miles East of Ushuaia, Argentina. (By Cape Horn) We have sailed her up and down the coast from the Northern tip of Chile to Cape Horn and she is very seaworthy with her heavy ballast and broad beam.

See Maps of Tierra Del Fuego area