Fairey godfather

Mike Taylor catches up with Jim Pailing, owner of a seakindly Fairey Fisherman motor-sailer, to discuss the restoration and ownership of the 51-year-old Fairey Fisherman Tuan Mac

A skipper shouts: ‘it’s an old converted ship’s lifeboat,’ as we glide serenely past. Our skipper shouts back, ‘oh no she isn’t !’ The eagle-eyed sailor is referring to the Fairey Fisherman Tuan Mac: the giveaway is her voluptuous curved bow and stern, the flapping slooprigged sails doing little to hide her heritage. However, our story originated nearly 80 years ago when Girl Pat, a careworn 75ft trawler, slipped her lines and set sail out of Grimsby: but instead of making for the Dogger Bank and the busy fishing grounds she turned to starboard once clear of the Humber estuary, heading south. Her errant skipper, ‘Dod’ Osborne, and his makeshift crew were beginning an adventure which culminated in their arrest off Georgetown, the tale making headline news in 1936. The…

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Practical Boat Owner (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2015

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