A century behind a wall
How a boat in daily use ended up sealed in her own cellar, and how she was found again.
The Peggy is a real boat, built in Castletown in the Isle of Man. Every fact is in our own words with its source linked beside it. Where good sources disagree, we show each version.
Laid up
At some point the opening she used to reach the harbour was walled up and the ground filled in, cutting her off from the sea. castletown.org.im
When was she laid up?
Manx National Heritage’s 2021 statement says she was laid up in her boathouse around 1810 to 1815. MNH statement of significance, 2021
National Historic Ships UK’s key dates say that when Quayle died in 1835 she was of little interest to the family and was hauled up into her cellar. National Historic Ships UK
The same list says she was walled in with solid masonry in 1851 and forgotten. National Historic Ships UK
Found
She was found in 1935 in a walled-up cellar in Castletown, where she had lain for more than 150 years. National Historic Ships UK
Found in 1935, or 1941?
The key dates on the same page put her rediscovery in 1941, ‘still with cargo on deck which included French brandy’. National Historic Ships UK
The same page gives both years; 1935 is the one most often repeated.
Naval architect P.J. Oke surveyed her and drew her plans for the Society for Nautical Research. National Historic Ships UK
Her plans and photographs were shown at the Science Museum in South Kensington. castletown.org.im
Which Peggy?
She was one of three similar boats built for the Quayle family between 1789 and 1793. National Historic Ships UK
Two were named Peggy, one called the ‘new Peggy’, and the third was Neptune, which is why it was unclear which one survives. National Historic Ships UK
Built in 1789 or 1791?
She was built locally in 1789, together with her own dock and boathouse. MNH statement of significance, 2021
In 1967 Dr Basil Greenhill, then Director of the National Maritime Museum, concluded that the surviving Peggy was the one built in 1791. National Historic Ships UK
Into the museum
When Bridge House was sold in 1941, the Peggy and her boathouse were given to the Manx Museum. National Historic Ships UK
Manx National Heritage’s 2021 statement says the boathouse and the Peggy were bequeathed to the Manx nation in June 1942. MNH statement of significance, 2021
Only her keel, stern post and two planks, damaged where she lay on her starboard side, needed replacing. castletown.org.im
The repairs could not start until 1950. castletown.org.im National Historic Ships UK puts that repair in the late 1940s, by local craftsmen. National Historic Ships UK
The Nautical Museum opened to the public in 1951, with the Peggy in a support cradle. National Historic Ships UK
The museum has a scale model of the Peggy made by John Gawne of Fistard in 1949. Manx National Heritage, conservation
Next: saving her →