The 1796 voyage

To Windermere and back

The one trip we know about in Quayle’s own words.

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.

The 1796 voyage to Windermere, as a sketch map.Drawing: our own, simplified and not to scale

In 1796 she went to a regatta on Lake Windermere and raced there. National Historic Ships UK

To reach the lake she was taken overland from below Ulverston to Newby Bridge. MNH statement of significance, 2021

She may have raced against the yacht Margaret, now shown at Windermere Jetty. National Historic Ships UK

Follow the voyage

Pick a step to read what happened.

All six steps are shown below.

Step 1: Castletown to the Lakes

In 1796 she went to a regatta on Lake Windermere and raced there. National Historic Ships UK

Step 2: Over the land

To reach the lake she was taken overland from below Ulverston to Newby Bridge. MNH statement of significance, 2021

Step 3: The regatta

Quayle wrote that her long bowsprit and sliding keels had already caused a ‘scisme’, a split, among the lake’s freshwater sailors. castletown.org.im

He added that Captain Heywood’s boat was the second best on the lake, and modesty stopped him saying which was first. castletown.org.im

Step 4: A gale on the way home

Coming home in very rough weather, with tide and gale against him, he thought about running for Liverpool or Wales. castletown.org.im

Step 5: Keels down

Instead they put down the sliding keels, which let them keep going and reach Castletown Bay. castletown.org.im

Step 6: Home

He wrote that without the quarter cloths they would have gone to Davy Jones’s locker, and without the sliding keels they could not have carried enough sail. castletown.org.im

A 19th-century painting of Castletown harbour: sailing boats with tall masts moored below old stone buildings and the towers of Castle Rushen, under a pale sky — Castletown Harbour, painted by William Leighton Leitch.Picture: William Leighton Leitch, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped and resized)

Other trips

She also went to Liverpool on family business, sometimes with passengers and cargo, once carrying a phaeton. National Historic Ships UK

National Historic Ships UK says she even smuggled French brandy. National Historic Ships UK

But it doubts how much cargo she could carry: the gear for three sliding keels would leave little room. National Historic Ships UK

Next: lost and found →