Name Maggie Helen

MAGGIE HELEN is an ex-Zulu fishing boat, with official number 161170, registered at Lerwick.  She was designed by John Shewan and built by Hay & Co Ltd. in 1904 at Hays Dock, Lerwick. Her hull was carvel built with larch planking, oak frames and a redwood deck fastened with iron nails. She has a pointed bow, a plumb straight stem and a Zulu stern.  

As a fishing vessel, she was converted to motor propulsion. In 1952 she was re-rigged and renamed LOKI as a yacht with Bermudan schooner rig, then further converted in 1960 as a motor cruiser. She cruised around Shetland and to Scandinavia every summer from 1953 to 1997. A restoration project was partly completed in 2007-‘09, with planking complete but requiring caulking and leaving the vessel as a hull only, with no deck or superstructure.

In the summer of summer 2022, MAGGIE HELEN was rebuilt at the Shetland Museum & Archives in Lerwick, in the very shed where she was originally built in 1904.  The rebuild used mostly available and recycled materials and up to 15 volunteers worked for three months to bring her back to life.