Barry with the booklet
He asked if he could get a copy of the booklet, and we of course told him that he could keep the original. Barry was very happy with that. In the booklet was also a list of previous owners of Runagate, which also made Barry very happy, as he had been trying to make such a list. We told Barry that Runagate had been registered with Lloyds, and that we had all this information. We promised to send him that information.
Barry told us that he plans to sail Runagate (on motor) to Littlehampton on the south coast of England, where the Hillyard shipyard is still in operation. According to him there are still some people over there who worked with Hillyard's at the time when Runagate was built. He would like to talk to these people to get their advice on how to restore Runagate, as he is afraid that maybe he will be doing things wrong, thus making it impossible to do it right again. He wants to go there this summer. The only thing that he is afraid of is crossing the mouth of the river Thames, with all it's traffic. I advised him to go maybe 10 or 20 miles further out into the North Sea, as it won't be so busy then. He wants to make the journey in short stages, only in good weather, as the boat needs re-caulking and leaks above the water-line.
At the end of our talk Barry told us that his secret dream is to sail Runagate to Australia, to the country where her first owner went. After a second drink we left Barry who was holding his booklet very tight.
And that now is the story of the search for Runagate. She is in St. Peters Marina in Newcastle, in the north of England, and is owned by Mr. Barry Pittman who loves her and intends to treat her right.
John, Mike and I think that it is important to stay in contact with Barry. Mike will do this. After returning to Holland I printed out the information that I have from Lloyds Register and sent this to Mike, who has sent it on to Barry. Mike also is now and then sending an email to Barry, who is answering him.
We don't know of course how things will develop, but it would be very bad if Runagate will be lost to us Shutists. Maybe we should be thinking about helping Barry in some way. The one thing that we are afraid of at the moment is Barry sailing Runagate to the south of England. Graham Bolger has told us that transport by road would cost about £600 Sterling (about $US 1.200 or Aus $ 1.450 ) That isn't a lot of money to my mind, and it's better spending this money, than maybe losing Runagate at sea, and with Runagate, maybe Barry too.
I have some copies of the booklet that we gave to Barry, and also of the information from Lloyds Register. Further I have these booklets and a lot of photo's on my computer, so anybody having a CD disc, or USB-stick can get a copy of this. (The total of these files is about 600 MB)
So that is "The Search For Runagate" right up to date. I am now open to any questions, Ideas or opinions on what, if anything, we should do next to preserve this very Important piece of Nevil Shute's life and history.
Runagate