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VOLANTE
- A HISTORY OF OWNERSHIP .
1870
- Built in the Wivenhoe upstream shipyard by John Harvey and Co, two
years before the disastrous fire which led to the eventual
bankruptcy of the company. Registered number in Lloyd's Register -
87289
1886
- in the ownership of W.F.Cook of St.Paul's Churchyard, London
1887/88
First recorded on Lloyds Register under the ownership of Ebenezer
Gould, 24, Aldermanbury, Lexton, London EC
1891-95
Registered as owned by Mrs Annie M Sanders, of The Cedars, Buckhurst
Hill, Essex, with Racing Flag number 53. Home port- Colchester.
1897/98
Registered as owned by Henry Blake of The Conservative Club, Quay
House, Great Yarmouth. Belonged to Royal Harwich YC, London SC,
Royal Norfolk & Suffolk YC, Yare SC. Racing Flag number 1235.
Home port - Colchester. (NB, The 1901 Census records a Henry Blake
as being a Physician/ Surgeon born in Canada as residing in Great
Yarmouth).
1902/
3 Registered as owned by George Hall of 1, New Rd, Woolwich,
Kent (also owned the Lady Harvey) Belonged to Burnham YC, Erith YC,
Royal Norfolk & Suffolk YC. Home port - Colchester
1907/8
Registered as owned by E.Southgate of The Nook, Brightlingsea,
Essex. Belonged to Erith YC. Home port - Colchester
1908/9
Registered as owned by Charles Lamb of Sydney St, Brightlingsea,
Essex.
1910
No register entry
1913/14
Registered as owned by Roland H. Nelson of Shenleybury House,
Shenley, Herts (also owned the Mavis and the Vega)
1919
Still registered as owned (after the Great War) by R.H. Nelson.
Listed as auxillary cutter with a petrol motor (1 cylinder,
4.5" -4.5") built by Fairbanks, Morse & Co in 1913.
1921/3
No registered owner listed.
1924/5
Registered as owned by Albert Edward Oakley of Warescot House,
Warley Rd., Brentwood, Essex, belonging to Blackwater SC. A new
engine, built by White of Norwich, 4 cylinders, is listed. Home port
- Maldon
1926/7
Registered as owned by E.W.Robey of Aldwych House, Aldwych, London,
and HRH Ward of Warfield, Radlet, Herts, who registered her in
London Belonged to Royal Corinthian YC and Cruising Association. New
engine listed, built by Ailsa Craig Motor Co. Ltd of Chiswick in
1925.
Volante
disappears from Lloyds Register after 1927.
She
was owned by a doctor in Pin Mill, Ipswich sometime up to the mid
1930's, when she passed into the ownership of a Mr.Thurston . She
was then sold to two brothers from the Ipswich area. She was owned
at some point up to 1954 by Mr.T.E. Cook of Ipswich, who sold her on
19th April 1953 for £225. She was described as a
houseboat in the documentation for her sale to Mr.Peter Tunstall of
Ipswich, who owned her and kept her at the Orwell Yacht Club until
his death in May 2003.
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The Volante as she used to look.
The Volante as she is now.
Inside the Volante
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| About Peter
Tunstall
He lived all his life in Ipswich (born 1922, died 22nd May 2003).
He was an electrical engineer, working first for British Sugar, then
British Fermentation Products. He spent the Second World War in the
Army, serving in Egypt, then in Italy.
He took up sailing in 1939, and belonged to the Orwell Yacht Club
from then until his death.
He bought Volante from T.E.Cook in 1953, and lived on her for
several years with my grandfather, Claude Tunstall. My grandfather
then lived on her by himself until the late 1970's when he went into
residential care aged about 90. At that point, my uncle moved back
to Volante, where he was still living when he died. Volante has been
moored at the Orwell Yacht Club since 1953.
Stephanie Fearn
18th July, 2003 |
