A.M. Dickie Tarbert 44 ft Bermudan Ketch Motorsailer 1936 - Commissioning Project

The fine vessels designed and built by the Dickie family at the beautiful Loch Fyne fishing port of Tarbert were infused with varying degrees of unmistakable Scottish fishing vessel DNA married to strict yacht quality discipline learned at Fairlie by yard founder Archibald M. Dickie; the motorsailer TUNNAG (Gaelic for duck) is both no exception and a very fine, and authentically preserved example. The ingredients are all there: a bold sheerline bookended by a proud bow and sweetly curved canoe stern; astonishingly stout construction specifications; bright finished teak topsides and superstructures topped by a wheelhouse in which the amateur yachtsman could feel like a master mariner for the weekend, in command of surely the smartest little ship in the anchorage, or retire to a Pullman carriage interior in a quality of carpentry that few yards could match. And not to forget a pair of masts raked at just the right angle for an air of jauntiness, capable of carrying a fair spread of canvas. There is nothing quite like TUNNAG in offering such vintage pre-war chutzpah and yet modern practicality. She has recently received a completely new teak deck laid by one of best of present-day craftsmen and requires post-refit commissioning, including servicing of her trusty and economic Gardner engine, to have her ready for the season.

- This is a provisional set of details
- Some new specs to be added in coming weeks

2018-2021 AT BUTLER & CO., PENPOL, CORNWALL
- New 1⅜ in / 35 mm teak deck
- While old deck off, some replacement and all necessary repairs to oak deck beams
- Existing covering boards and toerails retained
- 1 x frame replaced aft
- Samson post replaced
- Graving pieces and epoxy sheathing repairs to aft coachroof
- All keelbolts replaced like for like in wrought iron
- Topsides wooded and bright refinished
- Bronze stanchion bases re-bedded
- Cable steering system serviced; 1 x pulley replaced

TUNNAG was launched on Monday 6th April 1936 – christened, according to the Campbeltown Courier, by Miss Margie Dickie – for 30-year-old James Ross, youngest in an apparently incredibly successful dynasty of Paisley drapers. In the years running up to the Second World War TUNNAG and Ross became particularly active members of the Royal Scottish Motor Yacht Club, taking part in their various ‘musters’ including handicap races, and possibly predicted log competitions. In their first season together they won the club’s Closing Muster on the Firth of Clyde, from the Gareloch to Arrochar at the head of Loch Long.

Intriguingly, a newspaper report of the Tarbert Yacht Club July 1938 races reveals that TUNNAG had a little sister, the sailing keelboat TUNNAG BEAG (little TUNNAG) in which James Ross raced against yacht designer and builder John Bain's SILVER TASSIE and Miss Dickie's MOTINA. What became of TUNNAG BEAG, we wonder...

In June 1939 TUNNAG finished 5th in the RSMYC’s prestigious ‘Field’ International Gold Cup event, 156 miles of fresh breeze pursuit race endurance test from Hunter’s Quay and back via an extraordinary course that nowadays would thoroughly test any modern club member, and their yacht. Round Ailsa Craig to a clockwise circumnavigation of the Isle of Arran leaving Holy Isle to port; round Little Cumbrae to port and through ‘The Tan’ to Garroch Head at the bottom of the Isle of Bute; up Loch Fyne to Tarbert; then back down, leaving Ardlamont to port; through the Kyles of Bute and via Toward Point to Hunter’s Quay.

An amazing final fling before war clouds gathered. TUNNAG was Admiralty requisitioned for the Second World War, becoming part of the 'Clyde Minor Vessels Pool' at Greenock, and is believed to have been a tender to a degaussing (de-magnetising) range.

As managing director of high-end house (including working with Charles Rennie Macintosh) and yacht outfitters, cabinetmakers and upholsterers Wylie & Lochhead of Glasgow, TUNNAG’s second owner from the summer of 1947, James K.M. Wylie, knew a thing or two about fine carpentry using the best of materials. His uncle, Robert Wylie, had been one of the most prominent of Victorian and Edwardian Clyde yachtsmen: a loyal client of GL Watson for a legendary series of racing yachts named VERVE, and a favoured contractor in fitting out of many of Watson’s most famous racing and steam yacht designs. Not surprisingly, TUNNAG became VERVE OF RHU in James Wylie’s ownership from c.1948 to 1950, latterly the 'Commodore Vessel' for Clyde Corinthian YC regattas when Wylie became Rear Commodore.

Ownership transferred in May 1950 to Captain (both British Army, and Royal Flying Corps in World War One) Edwin Ferreira; of Portuguese descent, from Windermere, north west England, but with a strong Clyde connection revealed in the boat's change of name to ALWILDA OF RHU - after his mother, a Lobnitz of Clyde shipbuilding fame, and his sister. The boat enjoyed a long period of stability under Ferreira into the late 1970s, which must in some way account for her remarkable authenticity. And one imagines his motor engineer training would have been employed in the 1965 re-engining, replacing the original Ruston & Hornsby diesel with the present Gardner unit.

It's less clear where ALWILDA OF RHU was moored and used during Ferreira’s 27 years of ownership. Early membership of both Brixham (where Ferreira owned Coastal Freighters Ltd.) and Mounts Bay Yacht Clubs, and an address briefly at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, strongly hints initially south coast of England. Then, from the mid-1950s his membership only of Scottish clubs – Clyde Cruising Club, Royal Highland Yacht Club (Oban), and Western Isles Yacht Club (Tobermory) suggests she must have returned to her original home waters. In April 1957 the Oban Times announced ALWIDA OF RHU as the first yacht of the year to moor at Oban.

On purchase in 1977 by Essex farmer Vernon S. Harvey, TUNNAG (renamed in 1979) moved to England’s east coast rivers and is thought to have been berthed at Heybridge. In 1986 ownership transferred to precision engineer Chris Cracknell of Poole whose treatment and preservation of the wooden vessels he owned was legendary. TUNNAG enjoyed 14 years of family use in his care.

Since 2002, in four ownerships TUNNAG has been south and south west of England based and in current ownership has received a new teak deck among other recent work by Ashley Butler at Penpol, Cornwall, detailed above.

©2025 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

- 1½ in / 38 mm Burma teak planking
- Alternate double oak frames and steamed timbers
- Planking bronze and copper fastened
- Topsides teak splined
- Caulked below waterline
- Pitch pine stringers and shelf
- Long iron keel with internal lead ballast and canoe stern
- Wrought iron keelbolts (2021)
- Galvanised iron floors
- Oak rudder (2003)
- 1⅜ in / 35 mm traditionally laid teak deck direct to deck beams (2021)
- Teak superstructures
- Wheelhouse with raised trunk cabin aft
- Teak wheel with cable steering
- Tiller steering from aft cockpit for al fresco sailing

GENERAL
- Low varnished teak bulkwark aft, raw teak capped
- Raw teak toerail forward
- Bronze guard rail stanchions and bases
- Boarding gates port and starboard
- New teak deck (2021)
- Varnished teak superstructures

FROM AFT

AFT DECK
- Stainless steel pushpit
- Samson post
- 4 x Bronze fairleads port & starboard
- Galvanised mooring cleats port & starboard
- Bronze rudder head; iron tiller

AFT COCKPIT
- Varnished teak coamings faired forward to aft cabin trunk
- Athwartships bench aft
- Raw teak sole grating
- Companionway to aft accommodation
- Double doors and sliding hatch in aft cabin trunk

SIDE DECKS
- Bronze headsail sheet travellers port & starboard at rail
- Panama fairleads port & starboard; associated galvanised mooring posts
- Mushroom vents and Sampson port & starboard at steps to foredeck

AFT CABIN TRUNK
- Double doors and nicely raised/ angled sliding hatch to aft accommodation
- Bronze ports port and starboard
- Bronze mizzen chainplates
- Sheathed and painted roof
- Mizzen mast position
- Raised trunk over steps aft from wheelhouse; bronze port

WHEELHOUSE
- Glazed doors port & starboard
- Main entrance to starboard with athwartships raised sliding hatch
- 2 x Wipers
- Sheathed and painted roof
- Air horn
- Bronze mushroom vent
- 2 x Vents aft
- Port & starboard nav lights

FORWARD DECK
- Vent cowls port & starboard immediately fwd of wheelhouse
- Athwartships stowage box/ bench immediately fwd of wheelhouse
- Butterfly skylight over
- 4 x Davey & Co. deck prisms

MAIN MAST POSITION

FOREDECK
- Generous deck spaces
- Raised teak forehatch with bronze light
- Galvanised mooring cleats port & starboard
- Sampson post
- Previously used galvanised bowsprit bitts
- 4 x Bronze mooring fairleads
- 2 x Bronze bow rollers
- Muir HR 3500 24 V Windlass
- Horizontal chain gipsy & warping drum
- Stainless steel pulpit [To Be Confirmed]

GROUND TACKLE
- 25 kg / 55 lb Lewmar Delta bower anchor [To Be Confirmed]
- 30 fathoms / 55 m of 7/16th in / 11 mm chain
- Fisherman kedge anchor and warp

SUMMARY
- Accommodation for up to 8 in 3 cabins, all with full standing headroom
- Fitting out is in traditional style: mostly mahogany; contrasting light painted surfaces
- Teak sole

WHEELHOUSE
- Accessed by doorway from either side deck
- Main entrance to starboard with athwartships raised sliding hatch
- Forward facing settee starboard aft
- Small folding table
Companionway aft to port to aft accommodation
Helm position to port forward
- Traditional ship's wheel
- Lifting helm seat
- Gardner engine panels
- Steering compass in chromed binnacle
- Ship's electrical isolator panel
- Sailor VHF Radio set
- Sailor 66 TS SSB receiver set
- Neco NM69 Autopilot
Companionway forward to starboard to forward accommodation
- 1 x Deckhead lamp
- 2 x Bulkhead lamps

DOWN TO FORWARD ACCOMMODATION

MAIN SALOON
- 2 x Athwartships settees to port
- Athwartships drop leaf saloon table
- Settee to starboard; lifting back makes a Pullman berth
- Lockers to port and starboard
- Clock and barometer
- Butterfly skylight in deckhead
- 1 x Oil lamp
- 2 x Bronze opening ports

SLIDING DOOR FORWARD TO GALLEY
To Starboard
- L-shaped counter top
- Stainless steel 1.5 sink
- Mixer tap & seawater tap
- Fridge
- Plates, cups, and food lockers
- 1 x Deckhead lamp
- 1 x Bronze opening port
To port
To Starboard
- Taylors 2 burner gas hob with oven and hot plate
- 1 x Deckhead lamp
- 1 x Bronze opening port

FO'C'SLE
- Sea bunk and berth under, to port
- Stowage under
- 2 x Banquettes
- Access forward to chain locker
- 2 x Opening ports
- 2 x Deckhead lamps
- 1 x Bulkhead lamp
- Forehatch in deckhead

AFT ACCOMMODATION
- Down 6 x steps from wheelhouse to lobby
- Engine room access door forward
WC Compartment aft to port
- Jabsco manual sea toilet
- Ceramic wash basin
- Shower head/ mixer tap
- Lockers
Door to aft cabin

AFT CABIN
- 2 x generous single berths
- Lockers under
- Hanging locker
- 1 x Deckhead lamp
- 2 x Bulkhead lamps
- 4 x Opening ports
- 5 x steps to aft companionway and cockpit

RIG
- Bermudan ketch rig
- Keel-stepped pine single spreader main mast
- Main boom
- House stepped pine single spreader mizzen mast
- Mizzen boom
- Stainless steel standing rigging
- Terylene running rigging
- Main sheet with Tufnol blocks to jam cleat
- Mizzen sheeted to 2 x period bronze cockpit winches

SAILS
Cream polyester, lightly used
- Mainsail
- Mizzen
- Roller furling genoa
- Jib
- Steadying sail

CANVASWORK
- Main and mizzen boom covers
- Covers [2012] for:
- Wheelhouse, skylight, hatches, aft cockpit
- Overall winter cover [To Be Confirmed]

MECHANICAL
Engine space under wheelhouse, accessed from aft lobby
- All round access for maintenance
- Gardner 3LW 47 hp 3 cyl diesel (1965)
- Gardner U2 2:1 reduction gearbox
- 3-Bladed fixed propeller
- Max speed 8 ½ knots
- Economic cruising at 7 knots @ c.1 Gal / 4.5 L p/h; less if motor-sailing

ELECTRICAL
[To Be Confirmed]
- 24 V for domestic and engine start. Both systems separately switched and interchangeable
- 4 x 12 V domestic batteries
- 4 x 12 V Engine start batteries
- 2 x 12 V Windlass batteries
- Sterling battery charger
- 55 A engine driven alternator charger
- 240 V Ring main
- 240 V Immersion water heater run from shore power

TANKAGE
- 110 Gal / 500 L fuel in 2 stainless steel wing tanks
- 200 Gal / 900 L fresh water in 2 tanks
- Pressure water pump system
- Hot water tank
- Stowage for 3 x gas bottles [To Be Confirmed]

OTHER
- Webasto Air Top Evo 5500 central heating [To Be Confirmed]

NAVIGATION
[To Be Confirmed]
- Danforth Constellation steering compass in binnacle
- Navman 5500 GPS plotter
- Neco NM69 autopilot
- Lowrance Elite 5X echo sounder
- Brass clinometer, clock and barometer

COMMUNICATIONS
- Sailor RT144B VHF radio telephone
- Sailor 66TS SSB Receiver

[To Be Confirmed]
- Nereus gas detector and alarm
- 2 x smoke alarms
- Fire blankets in galley and engine room
- 4 x manual fire extinguishers
- 2 x Jabsco electric bilge pumps
- Manual stirrup bilge pump
- Manual whale bilger pump
- Foghorn
- 2 x Lifebuoys
- Gillioe Firth radar reflector
- Seago inflatable danbuoy
- Seago inflatable horseshoe buoy
- Trem security throwing line

- Warps
- Fenders
- Boathook

'1959s' courtesy of Alastair Burn-Murdoch