Swift and other boats like her were built for racing on the rivers Gannel and Camel in Cornwall and was probably built sometime between 1890 and 1910 in Padstow.
These gigs were long, narrow and lightly constructed. They were predominantly family owned and raced, sometimes with a young child being employed as cox to steer the boat, in order to keep crew weight to a minimum. Prior to the Second World War there would have been many local regattas to compete in.
Little is known about Swift’s pre 1950s history: we know that it was owned by Arthur Hamilton Hawkey, a blacksmith and general engineer in Wadebridge. Despite the fact that one of Arthur’s sons, Harold , was responsible for cataloguing, researching and locating these pre-war gigs, none of the older generation of Hawkeys can recall anything about the boat.
Swift was brought to Newquay in the 1950s by Richard Gillis after finding it in store in the rafters of Brabyn’s yard, Padstow. Tommy Prior, a local joiner and carpenter, carried out some work on the boat and Dick Gillis, a Newquay chemist and author then tried to use it on the River Gannel, though with little success.
Following several other unsuccessful attempts to use it, Swift was placed in the care of Newquay Rowing Club who donated it to the Museum in 2003, where it was restored.
If you are able to provide any further information on Swift we would most certainly like to hear from you.
Dimensions:
Length: 6.7m
Beam: 0.8m
Draught: 0.25m
