SUMMER TIME AND THE COTTON IS HIGH
When Nicholson gaff cutter Marigold was relaunched following an extensive restoration in 1992 – exactly a century after she was built – she had some particularly authentic features. All her running rigging was natural fibre, for instance, she had paraffin running lamps and an 1890s cooking stove, her deck planks were laid onto the deck beams (without the now fashionable plywood subdeck) and were caulked with cotton and (admittedly) a polysulphide mastic, but the latter was subsequently removed in favour of Jeffrey’s Marine Glue. And she had a new suit of cotton sails, made by James Lawrence Sailmakers.
As it turned out, the natural fibre running rigging proved a step too far and in about 2000 it was replaced with classic-looking synthetic ropes from English Braids. “It just started to
