A.F. Theriault and Doug Rosborough's Privateers
Anyone touring the A.F. Theriault & Sons (AFT) shipyard today might find it hard to imagine that just 30 years ago the yard was busy participating in the last building boom for traditional wooden yachts. Aluminum, composite fibreglass, carbon fibre and steel are the materials you'll see being used at the yard today where construction of modern trawler yachts, catamarans, fishing vessels and patrol boats continues at a brisk pace. Behind all this success and boat building technology lie years of solid experience with the traditional building material of the Maritime Provinces - wood. It was this depth of experience with wooden vessel construction that brought the yard to the attention of James D. Rosborough. Known as Doug, Rosborough was a Halifax based designer and boat impresario. Working from his office in Halifax, Rosborough designed and had built almost a hundred small wooden sailing yachts in the 1960s and 70s. By taking advantage of the relatively large number of yards in Nova Scotia still working in wood, Rosborough was able to deliver his romantically styled yachts to customers from Canada, the USA and Europe.
The 1960s were a time when many people were dreaming of casting off for distant shores. The first wave of world cruising books had been published in the 1930s and many people had read of expoits of the little Nova Scotia schooner Cimba or similar voyages to the exotic islands of the South Seas. This was the background that created a market for Rosborough's Privateer series of ketches and schooners. The first boats Rosborough sold were not new at all but were refurbished Newfoundland fishing schooners. However, the by early 1960s stock of these boats was pretty much exhausted. Turning to new construction Doug connected with several small yards throughout the province. The largest number of these boats was built by the A.F. Theriault yard in Meteghan River. Gus Theriault had started the business just before the outbreak of World War II and the yard was busy building commercial vessels in wood, from small lobster boats to large offshore draggers and scallopers. Doug's boats, while they had a romantic "piratical" appearance, were constructed in the tried and true methods well known to local builders. Some of the yachts were constructed with expensive imported woods like teak and mahongany, others utilized the traditional woods of Nova Scotia such as oak, pine and spruce, it just depended on how much the owner wanted to pay.
The lead man at the Theriault yard on these boats was Russell Theriault and even today he fondly remembers some of the adventures they had in getting these boats ready for their sometimes eccentric owners. Boat builders like Russell are intensely practical men who are used to dealing with the realities of the sea. With a gentle sense of humour Russell and Doug would have to explain the more mundane realities of boat construction to tone down some of the owners more impractical ideas. Having a wooden schooner or brigantine built is not the sort of thing that attracts people of a conservative character. First you need the imagination and more than a touch of the romantic and, of course, you need the money. Being able to translate these client's dreams into practical seagoing vessels was what Doug Rosborough was able to do. And he was only able to do this because he had access to yards such as A.F. Theriault where skills for the wooden boat building were part of everyday life. The Privateer ketches and schooners may have looked exotic, and to the eyes of some of the shipwrights at AFT, perhaps just a little strange, but their construction was a matter of applying the skills the builders had learned from the previous generation. The early 1970s were not that far removed from the days when schooners and square-riggers were built in countless Maritime yards and sent all over the world. While visiting the A.F. Theriault yard we recommend taking time to visit Yarmouth's excellent Museum to gain an appreciation of the depth of the areas shipbuilding heritage.
By the late seventies inflation was on the rise and orders for the Privateer ketches, schooners and brigantines became harder to come by. By the time Theriault's launched the last of the wooden ketches in 1979 they had built 30 vessels for Doug Rosborough ranging from 30' to 65'. Even though few people today are looking for boats of this type the experience gained by the AFT was to become the backbone of their later successes as builders of large expedition trawler yachts and catamarans.
All photos courtesy fo A.F. Theriault & sons
Setting up the frames.
Ready for planking.
The tried and true construction methods and materials were the same as Theriault's had used on over a hundred fishing vessels.
All the rigging was made in the shop. Here the sparmaker is turning one of the masts.
The masts and spars were all solid wood mostly from local woodlots.
Gleaming with fresh paint Rattlesnake is ready for launching.
With everything set and flying on her scaled down Barkentine rig the Rattlesnake looks ready to let loose a broadside. She actually carried a couple of swivel guns.
A 45' Privateer ketch ready for sea-trials.
Note: For the full story of the Privateer yachts read "Confessions of a Boatbuilder" by James Douglas Rosborough, Nimbus Publishing 2000
A couple of other notable books on the early days of yacht building in Nova Scotia are "The Southseaman" by West Martyr and "The Saga of the Cimba" by Richard Maury.
