Name Wanderer II

WANDERER II was designed and build by William Brighton in Great Yarmouth in 1886 as a racing vessel. He also made the sails for her. This 10 ton gaff rigged cutter has been very successful in racing, and won many first prizes for some years before a faster boat was built. She has a clipper bow and long overhang aft; her length overall is 40 ft on deck and 33 ft at the waterline. Her breadth is 9 ft and she draws 5 ft. She is built from yellow pine planking 1¼ inch thick over alternating oak sawn frames and steamed frames. WANDERER II had a small cabin for racing when first built, with a large open cockpit. When the main use changed to cruising, probably shortly after 1900, it appears that the cabin was raised, and extended forward of the mast, with a doghouse added later. These alterations were mainly carried out in teak with oak beams.

WANDERER II was entered in the Lloyd's register by her first owner, John Lee Barber, and she can be tracked until the first World War through her following ownerships. She was owned by the same owner between 1963 and 2017 and underwent some maintenance work in that time. This included the fitting of a new keel (the lead had been used in the war effort), a new deck and rigging. She in now owned by Arthur Hamel, a shipwright by trade, and is undergoing a thorough yet traditional restoration. The work involved will include a new keel, changing some frames, restoring the original counter and restoring the gaff rig as seen in original pictures. She is now out of the water in Cornwall and will hopefully be back sailing in early 2020. WANDERER II is one of the last, and perhaps most successful, of the long keel racing yachts of the late nineteenth century. Her racing successes are described in the literature of the time, including “Broadland Sport” by Nicholas Everitt (1902), and the Badminton Library on Yachting (1894).