The Pentridge Cruiser

By Paul Blanksby of Helensburgh Men’s Shed

John Bucknell. Ace wood-carver, teller of martini-dry jokes, and always up for a story over a cuppa and an Anzac or two. A few years back, JB brought his bedraggled pond yacht into the Men’s Shed. This little boat, about 50cm long, made of timber and various bits of tin, had been made by an inmate at Pentridge Prison in the 1960s and gifted to six-year-old John through his father, William, a warden at the gaol.

But now? Oh dear. The mast and rigging were askew, the steering was missing vital parts, and the sails were limp and tired.

With John’s memories of sun-filled days at Coburg Lake and how the yacht had once been, and assistance from the Pentridge Museum Trust, we at the Shed restored the little boat to its former state.

We used string from an old sugar sack, eyelets from a rescued mailbag, pillowcase cotton for the sails, old galvanised iron for the rigging ‘bowsies’, and rescued copper from a gutter for the steering gear – we even matched the paint that adorned the