Name Peggy

PEGGY was built for the Bristol Channel pilot Arthur Case in 1903 at Pill. Tragically, he was drowned several years later when boarding a ship off Nash Point. PEGGY then became a Cardiff boat, later moving to Newport.

She was converted to a yacht at Moodys at Swanwick in the 1920s. By the 1960s she was in poor condition and Alan Savage carried out extensive work, including replanking the topsides. When the Pridie family bought her the bottom leaked, the decks were in a poor state and the mast needed serious attention. The Pridie family enjoyed several years of sailing, patching the bottom as necessary. Originally the hull had been bronze fastened but a previous owner had replaced some planks with ungalvanised nails which caused a reaction with the bronze.

On a return trip from the Scilly Islands a friend mistook a Channel buoy for something else and the subsequent collision broke the bowsprit, split the stem and the topmast came down. They kept the boat afloat for six hours before being towed into Padstow by the lifeboat. Here they met a shipwright, Nimrod Bawden, who fitted a new stem and replaced the planking surrounding it.

The Pridies decided to replank the bottom and by 1981 a fair bit had been replaced. PEGGY competed in the OGA Race at Dartmouth but on the return to Bristol disaster hit again when they sat on a pile and punched a hole in the hull. She was salvaged and it was realised that she needed a major refit.  The boat was replanked and the deck beams replaced. In 1985 she was refloated and the following winter the deck was replanked. Much of the deck furniture had been salvaged and reused. A new hollow Noble mast and spars were added with new sails.

Originally PEGGY would not have had an engine, however she had acquired one at some stage and this was replaced with a similar one that had been a stand by generator. It was marinised together with a second hand gearbox. She was back sailing in 1986.