Name White Rose

In 1899, WHITE ROSE was built in Barrow by the Ashburner Brothers as a gaff cutter. She was originally a 30 foot cutter of 6 tons, carrying just under 700 square feet of sail. Before long, she was lengthened three times, doubling her tonnage and bringing her to 39ft 6ins overall. With this increase in hull size came more sail, so that in her final form, the Ashburners raced her with two jibs, a gaff topsail and a mainsail totalling 900 square feet. The Ashburners, both in their sixties by then, raced her themselves and were invincible in local races. Shortly after 1914, Thomas Ashburner died and WHITE ROSE was sold. Her new owner removed the keel in 1916 to take advantage of the inflated price of lead. In 1918, WHITE ROSE was sold again and not sailed again until 1925. She was then raffled, being in a decrepit state and was won by a local yachtsman, Dr. Coffey. She was refitted, but with an iron keel. She re-entered the local racing scene and won most of her races. In 1928, WHITE ROSE won the record for the passage from Douglas to Piel Island. In 1943, Dr Coffey sold WHITE ROSE for 1 shilling to Jack Taylor, who used to help crew her. She was then laid up until 1949 at Millom. She was bought and restored but with a more modern sailplan of a 450 sq. ft. mainsail and 150 sq. ft. jib. In 1973, WHITE ROSE won the North West Veterans and Old Gaffers Race. In 1987, Fred Rollinson sold her for £1 to the Furness Maritime Trust which became the Dock Museum. In 2007 she was craned inside the Dock Museum for a conservation programme, completion is planned for 2009. The intention is to display WHITE ROSE looking as she did in her heyday in the 1910s. On 24 April 2007, WHITE ROSE moved inside the Dock Museum, to the bottom floor. In November that year, phase one of her conservation started with: removal of paint, removal of interior (and storage) to enable inspection of frames and apron, removal of mild steel fixtures, removal (and storage) of rudder for inspection of shaft, removal of deck (and storage), cleaning of interior timbers by hand and sealing of all timbers. The following year, in November 2008, phase two continued with the structural stage. Work included removal of the deck, replacement of the rotten wood in the stern post with seasoned Cumbrian oak (as the original) and replacement of some metal frames with wood. The final phase was undertaken in 2009 and saw the project completed and WHITE ROSE safeguarded for future generations