At the West Wales Maritime Heritage Museum, which we visited in March, volunteers preserve our maritime heritage for future generations to enjoy and we were able to view the outbuildings where volunteers restore a variety of boats.
The society was founded in 1984 by a group of enthusiasts, to encourage research into the maritime history of the region, to preserve craft, buildings and sites of historical or local interest and to seek to preserve artefacts and records associated with this history. The society aims to retain and encourage the skills associated with all aspects of building, repairing, handling and the use of craft.
It is based in Hancock's Yard at Pembroke Dock, which dates back to 1804, comprising several buildings and workshops with an impressive dock and slipway. The Hancock family ran a boat-building business here from 1921 to 1979 building many commercial craft but they sadly went bust!
The small museum was bursting with information and our guide had researched much of the history and had compiled a document of all the ships built at the yard. One of our members, Christine Kinsella, was even able to find the boat on which her grandfather had sailed.
A highlight of the museum is the Charterhouse, a Fishguard self-righting lifeboat, one of the first to have been designed with an inboard auxiliary engine. She was built from mahogany strips over elm frames and has been fully restored. In 1920, its crew received bravery awards for their part in the rescue of the crew of the Schooner Hermina in the most dangerous conditions in which the schooner split in two.
Photographs by
Bob Matthews and Sharon Bannister
