Lively Lady - history and technical specification

Lively Lady was built in Calcutta in 1948 by her owner S.J.P. Cambridge who had made a study of wooden yacht design during the war. He was assisted throughout the project by two Indian cabinetmakers. Lively Lady had originally been designed for T. Teasdale, a friend of Cambridge', but Teasdale's failing eyesight had forced him to give up on the idea and he offered the plans to Cambridge in return for a charitable donation.

During the construction, parts of the design were changed. Grown frames were considered more suitable for the local labour and facilities than the specified steamed timbers. The planking had been specified as 1" teak, but when the wood arrived from Burma the planks were actually 1"3/8 and that is what was used. The frames were made from Paduak, a considerably steadier timber than teak, which was imported in log from the Andaman Islands. These changes gave Lively Lady incredible strength and stability of construction - so much so that on her return from the circumnavigation her planking was still perfect with not a single seam showing on her topsides.

Her keel was originally supposed to be cast in lead, but none was available so Cambridge re-designed it in cast iron. He wrote about the episode,

"It was made without a wood pattern. An Indian moulder was given a box of moulding sand, six full-size cross sections, a small clay model of what the keel should look like, and told to produce the full size mould. After three days of extreme patience, using only a small 3" trowel, he produced the finest mould I have ever seen. Little or no fettling was required."

Below decks Lively Lady could be described as severe. She has unpainted teak joinerwork and is basic by the standards of yachts today. Narrow settees on either side of the saloon have pilot berths outboard of them and the forward cabin has two built berths. The galley is on the port side and to starboard is a quarter berth with the chart table above it. Severe she may be but, with all that teak, she is solid and trustworthy.

Lively Lady is kindly loaned to The Raymarine Lively Lady Project by Portsmouth Museums, part of Portsmouth City Council.