At just 27, Edmund Morgan is helping revive a traditional craft that has almost disappeared from Guernsey.
Having returned to the island just over a year ago, the former architecture student has established himself as a traditional wooden boat builder, combining a background in joinery with a passion for preserving the Bailiwick’s maritime heritage.
Mr Morgan grew up in Guernsey before moving to Denmark to study architecture. While researching historic timber buildings, he developed a growing interest in traditional woodworking and decided to change direction, re-training as a joiner in the UK before completing a specialist boat-building course in Lyme Regis. All with the aim of bringing this skill home.
‘Over the years my passion for traditional woodworking naturally led me into building and restoring wooden boats using time-honoured methods,’ he said.
‘I’ve always been interested in old things, and there’s something about the shape of the boat – especially as a joiner – that always intrigued me, as I struggled to figure out how they were built. Boat building in Guernsey was a huge trade in the late 1800s and it died out probably in about the last half of the 1900s.
‘But the interest in the craft is still here. And there’s a handful of old Guernsey-built wooden boats still around. I’m keen to help bring those skills back alive. I’ve definitely found my passion – I love coming to work.’
Mr Morgan’s latest completed project is an 18-foot carvel-planked motor launch, which he built entirely from scratch for his father, and is now based at Rocquaine. The pair regularly take the boat out fishing.
‘I think the best part is when you reach this halfway point, when it’s equal parts what you started with and what’s new,’ he said.
‘You can see it starting to turn and that’s when things get really exciting. Then, when it all comes to a head and you finally get it out on the water – it’s a nice feeling. Makes all the hard work worthwhile.’
Alongside new builds, Mr Morgan has already completed the restoration of Sport – a boat with a remarkable history. It was found drifting off Port Grat during the First World War with her sailing rig still standing, but nobody on board. As she was not recognised as a Guernsey-built boat, the fisherman who recovered her believed she had come from France. The boat fished around the island for many years, and later survived the bombing of St Peter Port Harbour in 1940 while returning from fishing.
‘The two brothers on board at the time stopped the boat and ran into the Market building for shelter,’ said Mr Morgan.
He pieces together much of his vessels’ histories through conversations with islanders and local maritime enthusiasts.
‘It’s the people who’ve sat in these boats, and the stories behind them, that make them so interesting and worth restoring,’ he said.
‘I think about their history while I’m working on them.’
Sport’s restoration took about four months to complete. Its current owner, Peter Stenner, has been looking forward to relaunching the newly ship-shape vessel.
‘He’s done a great job with her,’ said Mr Stenner. ‘He’s got to be there when we launch. For a boat that’s 130 years old, it’s incredible.’
Mr Morgan’s workshop is now home to two more restoration projects. One is Fawn, built in Guernsey in 1883, and believed to be one of the oldest surviving locally-built boats. The other is Driftwood, built in Sark in 1992.
Mr Morgan hopes to have both vessels back in the water for next summer.
Restoring Fawn involves replacing the keel, rebuilding the oak framework and renewing much of the planking before the boat can be refitted.
The vessel’s owner, James Maguire, said he had sailed Fawn for many years before a deteriorating keel forced him to take her out of the water. She has remained in his garden for more than two decades.
‘I knew the keel needed sorting, but there was nobody doing this sort of work,’ he said.
‘So when I saw what Edmund had done to Sport, I knew he was the right person. Fawn is 143 years old, I bought her in the 1980s when she was decked with a wheelhouse, just a fishing boat. It was in the 90s when I thought to put her back to sail, as she was meant to be. This is a big job, but I think Edmund’s absolutely brilliant at what he does – we’re so lucky to have him here, there really isn’t another one. I’d love to see her back on the water, and I still can’t believe it could be this time next year.’
Mr Morgan and four fellow enthusiasts have recently formed the Guernsey Historic Wooden Boat Association. Their aim is to identify, preserve and eventually restore the island’s remaining historic wooden boats before they are lost.
The group is also researching Guernsey’s maritime history, including the mackerel drifters – small open fishing boats that used to catch mackerel by drifting nets – that once operated from Rocquaine Bay and L’Eree.
One of Mr Morgan’s long-term ambitions is to build a full-size replica of one of those traditional drifters and use it as a charter boat, to take people around the islands.
‘I’d love people to be able to experience a piece of Guernsey’s maritime heritage first-hand,’ he said.
Mr Morgan can be contacted through his website, emorganboatbuilding.com.
‘This was such an interesting job to cover and photograph’
by Sophie Rabey
Before reporter Georgie Rowbrey and I turned up to the workshop I wasn’t sure what to expect, or the extent of the work that was being completed. Was it just going to be minor repairs to current working boats or a full-blown restoration? Discovering it was the latter was exciting, and Edmund was very happy to show us a range of projects of his, both ongoing and completed.
Photography-wise it presented me with some opportunities for some great shots.
I loved the juxtaposition of the raw and weather-beaten boats we saw in the first workshop to the shiny, pristine finished vessel that was due to go in the water that weekend. We get to experience a range of opportunities in this job, but as I told almost everyone in the office, I thought this was one of the best jobs I’ve been to, certainly this year.
Edmund is doing such an amazing job building and restoring these historic boats and I believe Guernsey is very lucky to have someone working locally within this industry with such passion and skill.
I feel that the past few years have been a very exciting time for Guernsey, especially since Covid, we have seen a lot of young talent return to the island – and long may that last.