Apologies to all. In the second sentence of this long email I referred to George Cuthbertson turning over C&C design responsibilities to Bob Ball. That should, of course, be *Rob* Ball. I don't know why I did not catch that error sooner!
Rob Mazza On Sat, Jan 2, 2021 at 12:27 PM Robert Mazza <robertlma...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > Perhaps now is a good time for a quick update on the Marine Museum of the > Great Lakes at Kingston and the drawing collections. As JohnKelly and > others have been discussing, the museum holds the drawing collections of > George Cuthbertson, from the early drawings of his youth to 1973 when > George handed over design responsibilities to Bob Ball and the C&C Design > Group, of which I was a member from 1969 to 1985. (I have been a member of > the Board of Directors of the Marine Museum since 2012). These drawings > were graciously donated to the museum by George himself. George also sat > on the Board of Directors of the museum for a number of years. In the early > 2000s Tim Jacket generously donated a large portion of the C&C drawings > dating from 1973 to 1996 to the Marine Museum. These drawings had been > acquired by Tim and Tartan Marine when Tartan purchased the assets of C&C > Yachts in 1996. A couple of years after Tim's initial donation of drawings, > I dropped in on Tim and Tartan to further explore their dusty mezzanine to > look for more drawings, and found about 30 rolls that Tim was unable to > deliver in his previous trip north. These, incidentally, included the > *Evergreen > *and Mega drawings, among others. Although I catalogued these drawings > prior to delivering them to the museum, subsequent events may not have > allowed all of them to be entered into the computer system. I still have > about 10 rolls of drawings that I picked up from Tartan, and about 15 rolls > that I received from Rob MacLachlan at South Shore before he closed his > operation. Unfortunately, time constraints and challenges at the Marine > Museum have prevented me from cataloguing these drawings (as I think > JohnKelly pointed out, cataloguing drawings is an exceedingly tedious > undertaking!) In addition to the Cuthbertson and C&C drawing collections, > the museum also holds George Hinterhoeller's drawings, graciously donated > to the museum by his son Richard Hinterhoeller. The other sailing > collection the museum holds are blueprints, photos and drawings by the > early 20th Century Canadian yacht designer TBF Benson. Of Course, the > museum also holds about 40,000 ships plans, including the > entire archives of the Montreal naval architecture firm German and Milne, > as well as the archives of Canada Steamship Lines and all the shipyards > with which they were associated. Needless to say, the total drawing > collections of the museum are massive! So that's the background on the > drawing collection. > > With regard to the Marine Museum itself, I'm sure everyone is aware that > the museum was evicted from their waterfront property (that property > included the historic dry-dock) in 2016 when the Canadian Federal > government of the day sold our property to a private developer. That > individual took advantage of a provision in our lease agreement with the > government to insist we vacate the property in 120 days. The City of > Kingston eventually provided storage space for the archives (including the > drawings) and artifacts, as well as a small "store front" office location > for the museum in Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, site of the 1976 Olympic > sailing events. Our fortunes increased significantly last year when a > generous benefactor donated enough money to the museum to allow us to buy > our former property (including the dry-dock) back from the developer who > had done nothing with the property over that three year period. Our plan is > to repair the damage done by three years of vandalism and neglect, and at > least move our offices back on the property this spring (Covid permitting). > In the meantime the museum's sailing and C&C collections were further > enhanced last year with the bequest of the legendary *Red Jacket * to the > Marine Museum by the late Peter Milligan. In addition the Museum has agreed > to accept a 1949 Greavette Int'l 14' Dinghy and a 1965 McCutheon built > Kirby III Int'l Fourteen. Both are in immaculate condition. There is a long > term plan to expand and enlarge the museum over the next 5 years, as well > as the possibility of acquiring another Museum Ship to occupy the dry-dock. > In the meantime, the museum is in the process of upgrading their website ( > https://www.marmuseum.ca/). Our goal is to provide a virtual (and > eventually a physical) home for the Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame, (which > is managed by the Marine Museum, working with Sail Canada), initiate a web > based Register of Historic Canadian Sailing Craft, and make the > Cuthbertson, C&C Yachts, and Hinterhoeller drawings more easily accessible > online. However, these upgrades to the website are being undertaken with > talented volunteer labour, so will take time. When I recently asked > Michelle Clarabut, the Museum's Program and Education Manager ( > https://www.marmuseum.ca/about/our-staff), for an update on the website, > Michelle replied: > > *What I can say at this point is that Mike is working hard on the Ship > Lists section and the transfer of the remainder of the Museum's online > database (main one) from Queen's (University) in-house as is. Once that is > complete and Ship Lists are up and working, we'll be turning to the main > database search functionality and aesthetic, the end game - to ultimately > be able to provide visual thumbnails of drawings etc and the ability for > the public to order copies. This should then help significantly with > searches. This is going to be a long process when coupled with the fact > that I also have other priorities, but I wanted to share that it is in > progress. Mike has been extremely patient through it all and is working > very hard to set up with a much improved search function which should > resolve the issues and frustrations that I believe are expressed. * > > So, things are moving in a very positive direction with the Marine > Museum and the drawing collections, all-be-it, sometimes slower than we > would like. However, I cannot overestimate the Marine Museum's commitment > to the legacy of George Cuthbertson and C&C Yachts. The Museum organized > the C&C Yachts Reunion and Conference in 2012, and mounted the New Age of > Sail exhibit in 2015. The latter focussed on the huge growth in sailing and > boatbuilding in Canada with the transition from wood to fiberglass in the > 1960s and '70s. It was at the Gala Dinner celebrating the opening of that > exhibit that the Honourary Co-Curators of this exhibit, George Cuthbertson > and Bruce Kirby, were inducted into the Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame. A > reworked version of this exhibit, that will obviously include Cuthbertson & > Cassian, *Red Jacket*, and the creation of C&C Yachts, will be the first > exhibit in the reworked museum galleries when we move back into our former > site. > > I apologize for the length of this email, but hopefully it provides an > update on the Cuthbertson and C&C Yachts Collections at the Marine Museum > of the Great Lakes at Kingston. > > And I have to join the chorus of "thank yous" to Stu for this > extraordinary online venue allowing communication between C&C owners and > sailors. > > Rob Mazza > > On Wed, Dec 30, 2020 at 9:35 AM JohnKelly Cuthbertson via CnC-List < > cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > >> I actually use 4 different databases >> Mine >> Excel Museum database 1 >> Excel Museum database 2 >> Queens university Database of Museum >> >> Sorry, that link was for the Queens one only >> >> I’ll see if I. An find an online link fir the museums internal database >> but it might be down at the moment since they are in transition >> >> I can send you a link to my personal database ( so incomplete :-) if you >> wish >> >> JK >> >> >>
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