Vessel Maintenance Volunteer - Fishermen's Lifeboat Museum, Sheringham

The Fishermen's Lifeboat Museum in Sheringham, Norfolk, is seeking a volunteer to oversee the maintenance and display of the historic Henry Ramey Upcher lifeboat. 

Henry Ramey Upcher is a private wooden rowing and sailing private lifeboat, Registration 2481. She was built in 1894 by Lewis Emery at Sheringham, and was powered by oars and sail.  She was known locally as the Fisherman's Lifeboat and operated as an independent lifeboat with a crew of local fisherman, there being other RNLI lifeboats in service at Sheringham at the time.  Launching was a community effort requiring considerable manpower. 

The vessel was propelled by 16 oars, occasionally requiring two men to each oar.  She could also carry a main lug sail and a mizzen sail.  During her service she was launched 61 times and saved 202 lives.  

Although the Museum have Volunteers keen to man the boatshed on the promenade in Sheringham to show visitors around the boat and adjacent Fishermen's Lifeboat Museum, and tell stories about her build and rescues, we have not found anyone recently with experience of maintaining a wooden vessel (which is displayed in its original boatshed) in good condition.  We need someone who can identify that work which needs to be undertaken by a professional wooden boat builder, that which could be undertaken by local tradesmen and that which could be undertaken with appropriate supervision by volunteers, who in the past have included Naval Cadets from a nearby CCF School Unit. 

Find out more:

https://sheringhamsociety.com/fishermens-lifeboat-museum/ 

https://vimeo.com/768540815