Rhoda Mary, schooner, and her builder

“William Ferris built the Rhoda Mary at Yard on the beach near Point and Penpol, near Falmouth, Cornwall.

This is a site one can still visit.

While there is next to nothing left of the yard proper, one can still plainly see outlines of the old quays, docks and dry docks, saw pits etc.
A remarkable relic of pre industrial revolution merchant ship building.
Does this make this site unique in Britain?
Should the site have a conservation order placed on it and if so by whom?

Our interest in the site stems from a long and treasured friendship with Geoff Trebilcock the history of which included his late father commissioning me to paint research and paint
<”Rhoda Mary” and “Katie Cluett”>
A Dispute Settled
You can visit our Print Gallery to see this painting at www.frickers.co.uk/prints

You can add this remarkable, atmospheric picture of the 2 crack schooners “going for it” to your Prestige collection print, order now from this page and pay securely using Paypal http://www.frickers.co.uk/prints.html

The Katie Cluett was built at the nearby Port of Fowey where the Royal Fowey Yacht Club now stands.
At Loe Beach near Feock , near the place Rhoda Mary was built is the grave of William Ferris, her builder and Geoff’s ancestor.
The inscription reads:
William Ferris (shipbuilder) Died 20th June 1921 aged 88 years. Joanna died May 9th 1903 aged 69. Gone but not forgotten.
Gordon Frickers visited the grave with his friend and shipmate of many years Mr. Trebilcock.
When asked what William would make of the attention to his ship after all these years, Mr. Trebilcock a descendant of William Ferris replied “I think he would be very surprised”.
Gordon during his years living at Falmouth got to know several of the Ferris and Trebilcock clan, racing against and sometimes sailing with the late Henry Ferris when they were all members of Restronguet Sailing Club.

Henry Ferris was a delight to be with, very Cornish. My guess is William was not very different to Henry. A former Mosquito pilot, it was said he was so short he had to sit on cushions to see out of his fighter bomber! After the war, Henry became a school teacher, friend of many and very fine helmsman”.

Do you know more on the above subjects? If you do, we would like to hear from you, thanks.

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