John Sherwill crewed by Ben Johnston sailed Cockleshell across the English Channel to Orford, a 7-day, 325 mile trip including stops at Cherbourg, St. Vaast, Fecamp, Le Treport, Boulogne, and Dover during the first week of August 1959.
Having been offered Cockleshell by his mother-in-law Winnie Barber, John immediately said yes, but had a tough choice to make. With no trailer for the boat and high shipping costs his only option was to sail the boat across the English Channel to England. As an experienced wartime Royal Navy officer and navigator (in a T-Class submarine) the passage plan would be obvious to him. With a non-engined open sailing boat and limited daily range stopover ports would be vital for a safe journey and the French coast offered those at regular points north-eastward as far as Boulogne.
John Sherwill’s experience of sailing Cockleshell in all conditions around Guernsey and the neighbouring islands will have contributed to his confidence in delivering the boat to the East Coast of England which he duly did, crewed by Ben Johnston a 20-year-old RAF Cranwell senior cadet whose family lived in Orford. John had met Ben at a cocktail party and invited him to help deliver his 'yacht' across the channel.
For any passage in a small boat suitable weather is vital and fortunately the week that John chose was high pressure and sunny, but with typically low wind strength. Cockleshell excels in those conditions and tracking along the French coast she will have relied on a northerly sea breeze - until sunset each day.
Arriving in Guernsey separately, John and Ben found the boat already launched and just needing victualling for the trip. They fitted the small cabin top that John had built for the 1956 season and this would provide some shelter for their overnight stays en route, where they sometimes arrived after dark because of light winds and foul tide - they had no engine and relied purely on sail power or a sweep oar when needed. As it was for the day's trip from St. Vaast to Fecamp over 60 nautical miles across the Seine Estuary with at times no wind, as recounted by Ben in 2014. An old naval compass in a box was used for navigation and brought on deck to check their heading.
The final 24-hour overnight leg from Dover to Orford across the Thames Estuary was tricky, with very little breeze, a near moonless right, and with no navigational lights a torch was shone into the sails to alert shipping of their presence.
Below - first night arrival - berthed in Cherbourg Saturday August 1st
1961
This time singlehanded, John Sherwill sailed Cockleshell from Ramsholt to Kings Lynn, with fortnight long stopovers at Lowestoft and Brancaster. This followed a job move for John and meant Cockleshell was on the move again and heading to Norfolk and a less than suitable home at Wroxham Broad (1962-1663), before returning to the River Deben just two years later in 1964. There she would remain for 25 years as a keen competitor in the vibrant Waldringfield Sailing Club yacht class. See the history page for the whole story.