Early History of the Guillemot

The Guillemot was built in 1939 here in Seattle at the Edison Technical School. The Edison School had a shipbuilding program for young men who had finished high school and were looking for further training in the trade. The Edison School still exists as part of the South Seattle Community College.

In 1936, the school hired James Chambers to be their Instructor. He was a Scottish boatwright who had come to Seattle around 1910, and who had worked at a number of boatyards in the area.

Every year, the Edison school built one or more Project Boats. The Guillemot was the 1939 project. She was built for James Chambers, the younger, who was the son of James Chambers the Instructor. At the time, the younger James was in his 20s, and he lived on board the boat from 1939 until 1945 with his wife. His nickname for her was "Duchess", and so the boat was launced as the Duchess - a name she kept until 1990.

Since the boat was being built for his son, the family often worked on the boat themselves on weekends (after school ws out). We recently made contact with Scott Chambers, son of James, grandson of James, who loaned us a number of incredible photos of the Dutchess under construction. Scott makes incredible half-hull models of sailing vessels (http://www.halfhull.com/. Thanks for sharing these family photos with us, Scott.

Here she is with most of her planking on, before the cabin has been added.



In this picture, you can see the cabin as well as the round porthole in the forward cabin





In this photo, you can see James Jr on the right, his wife on the left, and James Sr in the center.


Here's a shot of her transom just before she was launched. Considering that she is flying a flag and has clearly been varnished, I'm guessing that this was on Lauch Day.

More on her history later

Mea culpa. mea culpa. I have not posted anything on the Guillemot blog since October. Perhaps I have been lying in a hospital bed after a tragic accident? No. Perhaps I joined a religious Order whose precepts frowned upon the internet (Thou Shalt Not Blog)? No. Maybe the Gullemot sat forlorn and forgotten throughout the entire winter? No again. We have been boating most of the winter. Sad to say, it all comes down to the fact that I am a lazy slob. Several of you have pointed my deficiences out to me, with varying degrees of tact. My beloved has mentioned it to me more than once, and her elbows are sharper (or at least nearer) than the rest of my friends. I will try to rectify this and catch everyone up on the adventures of Guillemot