IBTC News
From Portsmouth to the Golden Hinde
Jack Jones was one of the first students to join IBTC
Portsmouth; coming to study here in July 2015, only 3 months after the College
opened in April of the same year and before the move into Boathouse4.
“I’d felt an affinity with all things wood since my teenage
years. This gradually led me towards wanting to become a boatbuilder; to me it
is epitome of carpentry and wood craft. The whole process of using a natural
material to create a vessel with all the curves, lines and profiles requires a
rewarding level of expertise and skill.
To go further and make something that isn’t only usable and efficient
but is also pleasing and beautiful to the eye is, to me, more than a job of
work. It is a project where you and the whole team are immersed and can enjoy
the journey and the end result together.”
Jack worked hard during his year at IBTC Portsmouth, but
there was more to his time at the college than just that, “Boat building was a
big change for me as I had previously been a site carpenter and it presented
totally new ways of working and new problems that I had to work through. I made
a lot of friends who came from all backgrounds and who all had different
reasons for wanting to become boatbuilders. I am still very much in contact
with all of them both professionally and socially”
Something that really stuck with him were the words of the
then instructor Jim Brooke-Jones, “We are not engineers, nor are we artists. We
are the grey area in between.”
After completing his studies, Jack worked for two years in
the team restoring HMS Warrior, the 1860’s iron-clad warship in Portsmouth
Historic Dockyard, “The lead Shipwright, Sam Fletcher, and his team taught me
and showed me that my learning had only just begun in this industry. They
inspired me even more to be a Shipwright.” After that he moved on, “I then
worked in Flensburg Germany on a racing yacht restoration and a short while
after on Golden Hinde in London where again I was lucky enough to have Lead
Shipwright (Toby Millinder) and team that would pull me aside to show me new
tools, techniques and the ways of Shipwrights. On Golden Hinde I analysed and
made assessments of timbers in situ, restored and reconstructed iroko carvel
planking, did hull window and door fitting and joinery, made elm deadeyes,
completed plank and timber repairs, made and fitted thresholds and participated
with regular up keep and maintenance
of a working dry dock.”
You can follow Jack and see images of some of his projects
on Instagram - Jones_shipwrights
03/12/2020
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