IT could have been the end of the Isabell May if it wasn’t for the love and determination of a Tasman Peninsula fisherman.
Built in Scotland in 1947 and shipped out to Tasmania by legendary seafarer Bern Cuthbertson in 1952, the 35-tonne trawler that had fished under a lot of captains across a lot of seas, was rescued by Sloping Main man Alan Hull.
But when Alan, 62, saw her in Kettering in March this year, he says he was a bit taken aback by her sad appearance.
He had been looking for a bigger boat to buy and saw the Isabell May advertised on Gumtree.
“I had no idea about anything about the boat, where she came from,’’ Alan says.
“She didn’t look like anything that was on Gumtree…. she looked pretty in the advertising.”
Soon Alan wasn’t really listening to the owner’s sales pitch; he was so enthralled by the bare bones of the boat.
“I couldn’t get over how it was built inside. Everything was big, she was made for the North Sea.
“I was leaning into the wheelhouse and looking up on the bow of her and I think to myself – ‘I know there’s a bit to do here but I’m going to have this one’.”
The external planks of the 15m long vessel are Siberian larch with the hull supported by 1.8m by 1.8m English oak frame ribs set .3m apart. She is almost 5m wide and draws 1.8m of water.
A farmer and shearer, fishing is also in Alan’s blood, the Isabell May is his fifth boat, his grandfather and father fished, and his Uncle David Hull drowned while solo sailing a trawler in Marion Bay in 1966.
The big day came when Alan and Parsons Bay slip owner Byron Stacey towed the old trawler behind Byron’s much smaller boat the Fairwind to her new home.
The journey across a windless Storm Bay towing the 35 tonnes vessel from Kettering was not without incident when Alan stepped onto the stairs into the well of the Isabell May, and they collapsed.
“I ended up on my back after a five-foot fall to concrete, so that made it a tough day, but I survived it all.”
The boat was on the slip for five weeks.
“It was too long for a wooden boat to be out of water, she took on some water when she went back in but after a couple of weeks she steadied up.
“It was amazing to watch leaking like little creeks and within an hour she slowed up quite a bit.”
The Scottish built trawler that had spent years crayfishing on the West Coast, fishing out of Dunalley, and scalloping up the East Coast attracted a curious crowd of wooden boat lovers while she was on the slip.
“When they heard about it, they came from everywhere around the state. Three of the previous owners that give up on her came for a look.”
Alan has spent a lot of time and money and injured himself in his quest to restore the Isabell May.
But her hard-working days as a fishing boat are over, he says.
“I’d like to use her as a pleasure craft and sail right up the east coast of Australia once she’s fully repaired.
Meanwhile the work continues, replacing rails and planks and minor leaks.
He said the four owners who had attempted to restore the Isabell May over the last 11 years had one thing in common.
“They all gave up on her. I’m not going to do that.”