She had only 14 feet overall, with a 6-foot 8-inch beam and a 3-foot centerboard. Frames were of straight sawn oak, bottom planking of Va-inch cedar and side planking of 1/2 inch cedar. This was the old Sea Mew; a traditional catboat designed by Frederick William Coeller, Jr. just before the first world war.

He intended her to be a strong, inexpensive, and seaworthy craft suitable for home construction and for use as a trainer in junior sailing programs. Later Goeller added plans for a sloop rig, both gaff and Marconi, reducing the main boom from 15 feet to 13 feet, and adding a 2-foot 9-inch bowsprit for the jib.

This tiny boat, with hard chines and stubby shape, proved to be a good trainer and a good sea boat as well. The design really began to catch on after the war when plans were carried by Rudder. Like most of the plans appearing in the old magazine, the Sea Mew was inexpensive to build, relatively uncomplicated, and just right for backyard builders. Full cost of the boats, even from a professional boatyard, was under $300 in those early years. Requests for construction plans swamped the publisher.

Above: a sloop-rigged Sea Mew with removable
cuddy beats out of the harbor.

Shortly after publication of the plans in Rudder, the Long Beach (Calif.) Sailing Club, under the sponsorship of the local recreation department, had a small fleet of Sea Mews built for its instruction program. Other fleets sprang up in San Diego, in nearby Newport, and in Santa Barbara.

Many of the early Sea Mews were built by the Fellows and Stewart Boatyard on Terminal Island. Those intended for Santa Barbara, old-timers recall, were towed north in strings of four or five by local fishing boats which had off loaded their cargo in San Pedro and were headed back to Santa Barbara. It is believed as many as twenty Sea Mews finally found their way there, beginning in 1923 and continuing through the decade. Some went to the Santa Barbara Yacht Club, for its junior sailing program, when others were intended for individual owners.

All of these original Sea Mews were gaff cats, considered the simplest rig for beginners. And because all boats were built to the same specifications, class racing was common up and down the coast and between competing harbor fleets.

A clever, Davis innovation is a convertible cuddy-cabin top. Held in place by toggles, it can be quickly removed so that the boat can be used as an open daysailer or, with the top back on, cruised by two on overnight trips.

Racing dropped off when optional rigs became more common after 1930. With the new sloop rigs came experimentation with different keels and ballast. Internal ballast, usually cement blocks cast to fit between frames, was adopted early. Some fitted a "boiler plate" fin keel in place of the centerboard; others went to a shoe keel. So while use of the Sea Mew as a class boat for racing declined, its popularity with individual owners continued.

Though most of the early Sea Mews came to Santa Barbara from Los Angeles boatyards, some of the individual orders were filled locally as well. Several of the designs were turned out in the early 1930s at the old Lindwall boatyard. Harry Davis built his first wooden Sea Mew in Long Beach in 1947 and continued to build them after he moved to Santa Barbara. Around 1960, John Hooper built another four, this time using the edge nailed and glued, strip-plank method in place of traditional lapstrake.

A few of the old wooden Sea Mews still survive—some well cared for and sailed regularly; others are on blocks in scattered backyards, waiting for someone who cares to restore them. Some ot the type are reported to have remained active as rental boats into the 1950s, and perhaps into the 60s as well, at the historic Victorian Hotel
Del Coronado in San Diego and in Santa Barbara.

Left: Harry Davis poses before one of his fiberglass Sea Mews, the first of which he built in 1965.

Harry Davis deserves most of the credit for continued attention to the design in California. Davis has been a respected and well-loved boatbuilder in Santa Barbara for decades. He learned to sail in the original Sea Mew fleet under Frank Davenport in Alamitos Bay, Long Beach, in the early twenties. The little vessel — its lines, its sea kindly qualities, and its sailing ability — all left a lasting impression on Davis.

When he turned to boatbuilding as a profession, Davis determined to keep the Sea Mew alive. He built his first one in the late forties. In 1965, the Lark, his last wooden Sea Mew hull, became the plug for a fiberglass mold. Since then, Davis has regularly turned out several boats each year for customers up and down the West Coast.

All of his fiberglass models have been gaff sloops, with 3 foot bowsprit, 12-foot main boom, and a 22-foot solid spruce mast with 3-1/2 inch diameter, tapering to 2-1/4 inches. The boats carry a shallow draft, with a 2-foot hollow box keel containing some 300 pounds of lead. The fiberglass version is somewhat lighter than the original wooden in the keel to match the stability of the old design.

A clever, Davis innovation is a convertible cuddy-cabin top. Held in place by toggles, it can be quickly removed so that the boat can be used as an open daysailer or, with the top back on, cruised by two on overnight trips.

Right: an early modern example awaits the patient hands of a restorer.

The boat is easily trailered and is especially popular with small families because it is stiff, dry, and forgiving. As Bruce McCurdy, a current owner puts it: "With the Sea Mew, I feel in charge. I don't need a crew everytime I want to sail, and I can get underway quickly." McCurdy says his Sea Mew is lively and can often hold her own with bigger boats, especially in light air. He and his young son often take their Sparrow out for day-long fishing trips and overnight cruises along the Santa Barbara Channel. A bigger boat, he notes, would be more difficult to maintain properly.

Another Santa Barbara Sea Mew booster is Ed Lewis, now retired, who acquired one of the little craft as a youth, added a boiler plate fin keel and cuddy, and cruised her extensively along the coast, as far as San Francisco. The boat was incredibly seaworthy, he recalls; handily weathering blows in the Santa Barbara Channel when the only craft out were his little La Tortuga and the Coast Guard.

When I took a Sea Mew out, I discovered she was all I had been led to expect. She was quick to get underway — hoist the main and jib, push off from the dock, and pick up a patch of wind to move easily down the harbor channel. I set off in light air, but she ghosted along readily. I never felt the urge to get out and push or start an outboard engine. In fact, the good old "ash breeze" would do very nicely if you were caught out with no wind.

(click to enlarge)

When the breeze freshened outside the harbor, the pace picked up, but she hardly heeled at all as she bounded joyfully from wave top to wave top. The Sea Mew is not a racer, nor does she point particularly high, but this is a splendid boat for leisure time on the water, alone or with the family. We had three adults in the cockpit and could have added a fourth.

The Sea Mew is now more than 60 years old. Yet it is in a remarkable state of health in southern California. Though Harry Davis is semi-retired, his old shop still has the Sea Mew molds. A new hull was recently finished for a customer up north. For those interested in doing some of their own work, a few old plans can still be found if you ask around, and there are a few older hulls that could be restored to prime condition.

While l was photographing an owner-built Sea Mew recently, an older man came along and stood beside me. He looked at the boat for just a moment, then exclaimed with surprise: "Why, I learned to sail on a boat like that back on Cape Cod Bay when I was a boy." It must have been 50 years ago, but his recollection of that experience was still fresh and vivid. Afine tribute to a lovely old sailing craft.

Bill Anderson, a fiberglass specialist, has taken over Harry Davis old business, including the Sea Mew molds. He can be reached at 325 E. Cabrilio Blvd., Santa Barbara, CA 93101: tel. (805) 965-6696.