Name Ibis

1.   What is the vessel’s ability to demonstrate history in her physical fabric? Evidence for designs, functions, techniques, processes, styles, customs and habits or uses and associations in relation to events and people.  How early, intact or rare these features are may impact on significance.

IBIS FY519, was constructed by Percy Mitchell, a self-taught naval architect and respected boatbuilder, in a traditional fishing boat style using pitch pine on grown oak frames.  At build, she was one of the largest fishing boats in Mevagissey and one of the first to have engines being fitted with a Rustin and a Kelvin.  She was tight planked with no caulking between the seams which was innovative for the time and is one of the reasons her hull has survived.  IBIS was rigged with a lug foremast and boom mizzen.  Eighteen months later, a wheelhouse was fitted, the tiller was replaced with chain steering, her foremast was replaced with a lighter spar and a tabernacle was also added.  Her planking, keel and garboards are original, although conservation work is required which will mean the introduction of new material. Her hull form remains intact, as does her lug rig and she retains her deep cargo hold.  There have been minor adaptations to the vessel’s fabric in the past, such as the introduction of a steering cabin, which it is intended will be removed to return IBIS as closely as possible to her original specification.  Maintenance work and changes over the years include the installation of a new plywood deck on canvas sheathing which will also be removed to reinstate a traditional deck more in keeping with the original construction.  Her original engines have not survived, with IBIS being fitted with 28 different engines during her life to date.

2.   What are the vessel’s associational links for which there is no physical evidence?

Associations with people or places.  Off-ship research.

Percy Mitchell was one of the best known and most respected Cornish boatbuilders of his era. IBIS was his first major commission and her build is described in his autobiography A Boatbuilder’s Story.  She was built for the Lakemans - a fishing family from Mevagissey - and has strong regional associations to the fishing and traditional boat community across Cornwall.  As one of the biggest luggers working from Mevagissey, her catch numbers were legendary and IBIS is the holder of two fishing records.   She has spent her entire life in the West Country, first working out of Mevagissey, then Mousehole and Newlyn, before moving to Salcombe, Dartmouth and Plymouth.  She has the distinction of being one of the last working luggers to operate out of Looe in the 1980s and, in 1990, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) granted her the honour of becoming a ‘historic fishing vessel’, allowing her to wear her (defaced) registration numbers and letters with pride. During the Second World War, IBIS was shot by a German bomber which is believed to have inspired the fictitious novel Evening Star, written by Ken Sherwood of Mevagissey.  IBIS has taken part in the famous Looe Lugger Regatta which was re-instated by the Cornish Lugger Association as a bi-annual event in the 1990s.  Unfortunately, her original lines drawings do not survive, but her build is well described in Percy Mitchell’s book, along with images of her under construction.  The sign of Percy Mitchell’s Boatyard still hangs on the wall of the cottages that took its place at Port Mellon.  IBIS has been listed on the National Register of Historic Vessels since 2007.

3.   How does the vessel’s shape or form combine and contribute to her function?

Overall aesthetic impact of the vessel, her lines, material she was built from and her setting.  Does she remain in her working environment?

IBIS was built to work as a fishing boat with a deep cargo hold to store catches of pilchards, herring and turbot whilst returning them to harbour. Constructed as a motor boat, she has a different form to earlier fishing luggers which had finer lines aft.  IBIS retains her shape and the distinctive lug rig which is aesthetically pleasing, particularly when seen sailing in her native Cornish waters.  She is currently undergoing stabilization prior to a conservation project, with the aim of returning her to operational use as a sail cargo carrier along the Cornish coast, giving her a heritage use not dissimilar from the purpose for which she was built nearly a century ago.

Sources:

‘A Boatbuilder Story’ 1968 Percy Mitchell. Published by Kingston. Mevagissey. Cornwall

Author:

Barbara Bridgman

23/06/2022