"GOSPEL SHIP."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 204, 30 August 1933, Page 9

"GOSPEL SHIP."

I THE NEW YSABEL.; BUILDING ON WADE. VOYAGE TO HOLY LAND. RACE ACROSS TASMAN. "Gospel Ship Ysabel Hearing Compl't'n. All Visitors Charged 3d Each," reads the notice that invites the traveller on the Whangaparaoa Road to slither down a steep bush track, push through two farm gates, plunge into a morass, and climb over a style, to find, amongst the tress on the banks of the Wade River, perhaps the strangest craft that an amateur bbatb.uilder ever planned. She is 41ft long, square of bilge, and rigged as' a barquentine, and will be, according to her builder, Air. L. Beavis, the winner of the next Tasman race. With few tools, but lots of faith, Mr. Beavis started the building of the Ysabellast January. Hβ had an axe, a "saw and a plane, and later made a chisel out of an. old file. Until recently, when he found a broken section of a carpenter's rule, he did not know accurately the dimensions of his vessel, having measured everything by the span of his: fingers, but ehe is so truly designed that when the props are taken- away she will balance on the keel. . i Texts on Timbers. Keeping his Bible handy while he worked, Mr. Beavis has written or cut on every timber in his yacht a crisp Gospel text, and the figurehead he is carving represents an angel holding an open Bible. Angels cut out of galvanised iron will pivot as windvanes on each masthead. ■ . - '

i 1 In the rigging of his yacht, Mr. Beavis intends to follow as closely as possible I the plan of the original Ysabel, which, j before she became an Island trader, was ' the Melanesian Mission yacht Southern ■Cross.- The foremast will carry four square sails, foresail, upper and lower - topsails • and top gallantsail, with five jheadsails setting on a ten-foot jibboom. 1 The mainmast, 20 feet high from the deck, and the mizzen slightly shorter, will both carry fore-and-aft sails, while ■ three staysails will setbetween the main and fore masts. In all, the Ysabel will have between 4000 and 5000 square feet of canvas. The ballast will be packed clay, asphalted on top to make the floor of the cabin. Hand-driven Screw. Many different kinds of timber are represented in the vessel. The planking, of which there are three skins, with a total thickness of two inches, is of rimu, kahikatea and kauri from the local mills. The frames and keel include pieces of totara, kowhai, puriri, manuka and pbhutukawa. The stem, a heavy limb of kowhai, with a graceful natural curve, was cut by Mr. Beavis in the bush, as also were most of the frames, some of which still have the bark on them. . . ■ For auxiliary power, Mr. Beavis intends to install a hand-propelling gear of his own design, driving a propeller carved out of wood. He considers that in calm weather this will drive her at between 3 and 4 knots. Lone Voyage. Although there will be at least a dozen sails to handle when they are all set, Mr. Beavis intends to navigate the Ysabel single-handed. This he does not think will be difficult, as he has had considerable experience in sailing vessels having served as a seaman in the old'Ysabel under Captain Ross, as well as in the Huia, Maroro and E. K. Sterling. i After competing in the Tasman race, he intends to make his way to Pa esJine, to witness the impending fulfilment of Biblical phophecies. As was \ foretold, the Nazis in Germany are dnvjn- the Jews back to the Holy Land, explains Mr. Beavis. "Germany will be punished, of course, «'henth e prophecy are fulfilled, but wonderful things will 1 come to pass in Palestine.