Missing Muscovy Duck

A Muscovy duck (known as Quackers) who, for the last few months has come to regard himself as a member of Shamrock's crew and expects to be regularly fed has been missing for a few days. Normally he is waiting on the grass outside the boat shed for the first crew member to arrive or if he is a bit late will ether appear in the open boat shed door or peck at the door just to let you know that he is there. On one occasion when he was later than normal he appeared on the quay and made it clear to the crew working onboard Shamrock that he wanted feeding. The crew hopes that he reappears soon or has found somewhere else where he gets fed on a regular basis.

Tabernacles

Shamrock has two tabernacles, a main and a mizzen, into which her respective masts are fixed and have a pivot near the top so that the masts can be lowered to pass under bridges.

Main

The main tabernacle consisted of two oak cheek boards 11.5 cm (4.5 in) thick and 25 cm (10 in) wide, of a length to stand 1.07 metre (3 ft. 6 in) above the deck and reach down 1.52 metre (5 ft) to each side of the keelson, to which they are through bolted. The upper part of the boards are through-bolted to the for­ward (for’d) main cargo hatch beam. An oak cross­ piece, or cleat rail, is bolted on the fore edges of the cheeks 0.9 metre (3 ft.) above deck level with an iron mast band above it. Both cheeks are bored through their sides for a 5 cm (2 in) diameter steel pin upon which the mast pivots.

Main tabernacle

Mizzen

The mizzen tabernacle is of similar construc­tion, with 10 cm (4 in) thick cheeks which stand 0.9 metre (3 ft.) above the deck. The cheeks are bolted one each side of the keelson and to the forward (for’d) side of beam No.8, which also support the forward end of the deckhouse.

Mizzen tabernacle

Base bolted to the keelson.

The crew is quite happy that no low bridges that require lowering the masts have been encountered on any of Shamrock trips to date and hope it stays that way.

Quiet Boat Shed

With skipper Shaune away recovering from his successful hand operation, the visitor season is at its peak and with “Shamrock” being open for visitors most days the only work being carried out on the boat is the occasional pumping out and salting of her bilges. Plus, of course, keeping her shipshape for the visitors. The crew has noted that the boat shed seems remarkable quiet except for the couple of occasions that Shaune has managed to get a chauffeur and made an appearance. Nevertheless, many other little jobs are getting done in and around the shed.