Donald Young on Boatbuilding

Well, he was a professional Yachtsman. When he was young, he did all sorts of odd things like he started an apprenticeship at White’s Shipyard, but I don’t know why he left. He only stayed there about 18 months I think, and of course he used to ride a bike to get there (laughs) and he used to tell stories of how the bike broke down sometimes but he was such a … what would you call it … such a broad man that he could do anything really. He could do all sorts of things as well as boat building, which was his main occupation.

he could do all sorts of things as well as boat building, which was his main occupation, although he went yachting in summertime always with bigger yachts, but they didn’t get paid in them days like they get paid nowadays. He was lucky if he got £5 per week which I know money was much more valuable back in the 1920s, but £5 didn’t go very far and mother spins a tale, or she used to, that when he managed to get 10 shillings a week more, life became much easier (laughs).

He worked for the same man summertime and then I think he paid him a little retainer during the winter and father did his own boatbuilding and boat maintenance in a little yard in Fishbourne, which is no longer there.

Lisa: And what kind of boats was he building?

Only dinghies and I don’t think he built many of those really. It was repair more than building. There was a big Marsh in Fishbourne in those days and this Marsh was full of houseboats and one thing and another, and he had a old yacht he’s bought from somewhere with two great tall masts and that was in there and he set it up as a houseboat to try and make a bit of money.

That was in the Marsh. Well, the Marsh had been filled in long ago and I don’t know what happened to all the little boats that was in there. Father’s was falling to bits anyway, so I think she just stayed there and got covered in the mud.