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Meet Peter Matheson, inspired by The Aegre to build the Stroma Yole, American Lady in Glasgow. See a video made by two of his volunteer helpers (link below) plus latest pics of progress on the boat and a page added to website about the cooker aboard The Aegre.

The boat being built in Glasgow nearing completion.

American Lady, the Stroma Yole being built on Clydebank in Glasgow by Peter Matheson, is nearing completion. Sadly she didn’t make it to the Portsoy Scottish Traditional Boat festival this year. But progress is good with a number of recent helpers. Most recently Peter commented, “That’s the wash strake done. A bit of tiding up and some paint and varnish work and then put her outside for the rigging.”

While Peter was inspired to build American Lady after reading The Voyage of The Aegre, American Lady is not a direct replica of The Aegre, but similar in many ways. Double ended, she has been built in a similar way, clinker planked, by eye, with sawn frames. She’s slightly longer, and beamier. She’s built more heavily too, in the way of a Stroma Yole, to carry heavier loads in the seas of the Pentland Firth.

Her deck arrangement is different too. The Aegre was fully decked with a curved whaleback from stem to stern, of 3/8 marine ply, with a 2 ft square cockpit aft and 2 ft square hatch immediately forward of it. American Lady has a laid deck, with a small cockpit aft for the helmsman, then a larger cockpit running forward to the mast, with wide side decks (see above). An engine will be fitted in the cockpit.

Forward of the mast Peter has built a small doghouse that will give sitting room below, and house a cooker, a berth or two, and a toilet.

The rig will be similar to that of The Aegre, a standing lug mainsail, inner staysail and jib on a bowsprit.

For more photos and explanation visit the website page that records the building of her here .

Now, meet Peter Matheson, in a short video made by two of his volunteer helpers, Murray Morrant and Emily Thorpe, available on YouTube here

Hot food and drinks aboard The Aegre?

Also new to The Aegre website is a page about the cooker we built and used on The Aegre. Back in 1973, being in the far north of Scotland, we were far from well stocked ships chandlers with shiny chrome-plated all gimballed yachting stoves. So we improvised and built our own. It was based on a single burner Primus and proved (near) indestructible. Hot food and drinks in the worst of weather. You can read all about it, and the pros and cons, here.

Now, have another look at that short video introducing Peter Matheson. It’s worth watching a few times. Here

Thank you for your interest.

Nick Grainger

Inspired by The Aegre, the Stroma Yole being built on Clydeside in Glasgow by Peter Matheson is expected to be at the Glenglassaugh Scottish Traditional Boat Festival at Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, 27-29 June 2025.

The boat, named after another American lady (Peter’s wife), still awaits completion of the deck house, engine and sailing rig. Time is running out for Peter who relies on volunteers to help. “With one volunteer I can do the work of three” he says, “No experience required” . Peter is building the new boat, American Lady, at Clydeside Traditional Boatbuilders, Rothesay Dock Clydebank by Glasgow G81 1LX. He’s there everyday and welcomes visitors with a cup of tea and a job to do. Please visit or you can email Peter via myself at nick@nicholasgrainger.com.au

Below, American Lady, as at 25 April 2025, photo by Lorraina Matheson, the American lady’s daughter. Go here for more photos.

Reading The Voyage of The Aegre, inspired Peter Matheson to build American Lady. However American Lady is not intended to be an exact replica of The Aegre. She is a similar size and built in a similar way, but has a different deck configuration, and her heritage is that of a Stroma Yole, rather than a Shetland model, the origin of The Aegre.

However Matheson, looking at the photographs of The Aegre being built in Wick in 1965 (see photos here), says she has the lines of a Stroma Yole. Well I’ll leave that debate to the local experts.

You can learn a lot more about Orkney Yoles here and in a wonderful book published by The Orkney Yole Association in 2021.

So please, if you are anywhere close to Glasgow, please contact Peter and lend a hand with finishing American Lady. Even a day will help.

Many thanks

Nick Grainger

Visit The Voyage of the Aegre home page.

• Wrecked on a coral reef in the Tasman – a reflection on the story of Bill Belcher
• Latest photos and progress on the boat being built in Glasgow

A locally well-known experienced yachtsmen sailed smack into a reef mid-ocean during the Trans-Tasman Single-handed Yacht Race. It was 1978, and Bill Belcher had won the previous race in 1974. But four years later it all went horribly wrong. Luckily he survived, and went on to share his experience in a book. I’ve just re-read, it’s quite a story.

Aboard The Aegre we came oh-so close to sailing onto a reef ourselves at dawn one morning in 1974. Since then I’ve often wondered how things might have panned out if we hadn’t seen the reef ahead just in time.

Of course today with GPS and electronic charts it would never happen – or might it? Things still go wrong. Anyway I think it’s worth sharing something of Belcher’s experience, so if you are out there, or planning to go, or just like sea disaster stories, go to the Lesser Known Inspiring Reads pages of The Aegre website where you’ll find my reflection on Belcher’s account of it all.

Meanwhile in Glasgow, boat builder Peter Matheson has been enjoying the company and assistance of a French student boatbuilder, Eleonor Pichon, for the last month and been making good progress with the decking of the boat he’s building inspired by The Aegre. For the latest photos and commentary on progress go to https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/the-aegre-inspires-a-new-build/

Nick Grainger

Visit the next: Post American Lady to Visit Portsoy

Visit The Voyage of The Aegre home page

• An addition to Lesser Known Inspiring Reads
• Decking underway aboard American Lady
• Nearly sold out – The original printed edition of The Voyage of The Aegre

An addition to the Lesser Known Inspiring Reads pages of The Aegre website is Storm King, the story of an 11-month voyage of Norwegians Simon Jörgensen and Johannes Nielsen from England to Australia in 1889-90 aboard an innovative 30-ft, steel, unsinkable, self-righting sailing ship’s boat.

In no way a crank voyage but a serious attempt to show the shipping establishment of the day that such vessels, replacing a ship’s conventional open boats, could be eminently seaworthy and save many lives. It’s a cracking read of a voyage you’ve probably never heard of. And the original 1890s story is available free online. See https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/a-voyage-across-the-world-in-a-lifeboat-in-1889/

Decking underway – Meanwhile in Glasgow Peter Matheson is now decking American Lady, the Orkney Yole inspired by The Aegre that he’s building on Clydebank.

For lots more photos of the detail and some great wide-angle shots see: https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/the-aegre-inspires-a-new-build/

Nearly sold out – Thank you to everyone of you who has bought The Voyage of The Aegre. Sales have certainly justified the effort of writing it and getting it published.

The original printed edition of The Voyage of The Aegre has nearly sold out. This edition, published by Vinycomb Press and printed in Malta in early 2023, has fold out flaps back and front with maps of the Atlantic and Pacific respectively, and a sewn binding. Freight costs limited it primarily to distribution in the UK, although I did bring a limited number to Australia to be sold as signed copies. At the last count there were just 34 copies left in the UK that could be ordered through bookshops. In Australia I have only about 20 copies left. This edition will not be reprinted.

To minimise freight costs to other countries an Amazon paperback edition was created to support sales online in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries. This edition looks very similar to the original printed edition and has the same content, but without the cover flaps, the maps being one page in at the front and back and has a glued binding. This version of the book is printed by Amazon on demand, i.e. when an order is received, a copy is printed at the nearest location to the buyer, thus minimizing freight costs. This version will continue to be available.

Bookshops outside Britain can order the original book (while stocks last) through the UK book wholesaler Gardners but may incur significant freight costs. An alternative for bookshops outside the UK is to order the paperback book through IngramSpark. IngramSpark will print the book in a location close to the purchaser, on demand like Amazon, but unlike Amazon, they only sell to the book trade. The IngramSpark version is very similar to the Amazon version, ie all the same content but without the fold out flaps back and front and a glued binding. This version will continue to be available through bookshops.

In summary, the original print run of the book is almost sold out and will not be reprinted. If you want one you should order it asap through a bookshop in the UK (who will order it through Gardners), or order it from me directly. The Amazon and IngramSpark versions will continue to be available as a paperback online and through bookshops.

The book will continue to be also available as an ebook and an audio book.

Thank you for your support.

Nick Grainger

See How to buy the book.

Back to The Voyage of The Aegre homepage

Notes on Chapter 20: High and dry on Pago Pago are now available on The Aegre Voyage website. Chapter 20, the final chapter in the book, is about our arrival, stay and eventual departure from American Samoa.

In the Chapter Notes are photos of The Aegre being pulled out of the water and how it all went wrong; more about Somerset Maugham’s novel ‘Rain’; a TV interview that disappeared; what happened to the Barbados rum promised to boatbuilder Bob Macinnes; our leaving Pago Pago; the fate of The Aegre and more. Essential reading if you’ve read the book. These are the Notes on the final chapter. See https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/the-voyage-of-the-aegre-notes-on-chapter-20-high-and-dry-on-pago-pago/

Also available on The Aegre Voyage website are the latest photos of the boat inspired by The Aegre being built at Clydeside in Glasgow by Peter Matheson and his volunteer helpers. See https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/the-aegre-inspires-a-new-build/

For Christmas?

If you are receiving this you’ve probably already bought the book. Thank you for that. If you think a friend might like ‘The Voyage of The Aegre’ for Christmas, it is available as a paperback, ebook and audiobook. The first edition (which has fold-out flaps back and front) will probably sell out early in the New Year, possibly before. There are still copies in the UK, order through book shops, e.g. Waterstones, Shetland Times Bookshop etc, and I still have some copies here in Australia that I’m happy to sign and mail out. The Amazon edition (exactly the same content but no fold-out cover flaps) will continue to be available worldwide.

With the season’s best wishes to you all,

Nick Grainger, December 2024

Notes on Chapter 19: Sailing on to where? are now available on The Aegre Voyage website. After 4 weeks and 1,600 miles sailing under jury rig, we’re approaching land.

But we’re uncertain of our position, have no chart, no anchor, and a rig that’s poor to windward. What were our options? How might things have played out, and what actually happened? In retrospect, might we have made different decisions? A chance meeting 25 years later with someone who was on that coast that night gave me a new perspective that I explore in these Notes. See https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/the-voyage-of-the-aegre-notes-on-chapter-19-sailing-on-to-where/

Plus a progress update and photos on the boat inspired by The Aegre being built in wintery Glasgow by Peter Matheson and his volunteer helpers. See https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/the-aegre-inspires-a-new-build/

Thank you for your interest. If you are enjoying these Notes please forward this to a like-minded person. Thank you!

Nick Grainger 23 November 2024

Recently published on The Aegre Voyage website: Notes on Chpt 18 – Disaster; about the capsize of The Aegre; and more about how we worked out our latitude and longitude without a sextant. Also added to the website are the latest pics and name of the boat inspired by The Aegre being built in Glasgow. Plus another book added to the Lesser known but inspiring books page.

Nick Grainger – 1 November 2024

In this Post: Notes on Chapter 17: Tahiti Sojourn, in the book, The Voyage of The Aegre. Plus a link to the latest photos of the boat being built in Glasgow inspired by The Aegre; and a link to an interview with Peter Matheson, the builder of the Glasgow boat.

Julie and I paused in Tahiti to give The Aegre a refit. In Chapter 17, I tell of pulling The Aegre up onto the beach at Puna’auia and stripping the boat for a complete repaint and re-rig while continuing to live aboard her.

In the Notes on Chapter 17: Why Tahiti is French; How we were unwittingly radiated; The Aegre story in La Depeche de Tahiti; Our neighbours in Puna’auia, Varua and and Bobbes; breakfast with French yacht racing star Alain Colas; plus cruising companions and friends in Tahiti. Go to Chapter 17 Notes

Glasgow Visit: In September, I visited Clydebank, Glasgow, to meet boatbuilder Peter Matheson and see the boat he is building, inspired by The Aegre.

Later on this same morning, Peter, Murray and I visited the nearby studio of Sunny G Radio in Govan, Glasgow, where I interviewed Peter and Murray about the building of the boat. You can listen to this interview here: https://www.mixcloud.com/SunnyG103/book-boat-24-sept-2024/

You can see the latest photos of the boat being built here https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/the-aegre-inspires-a-new-build/

Thank you for your interest and support. A diminishing number of the First Edition of The Voyage of The Aegre book are still available; see How to Buy the Book

Nick Grainger 11 October 2024

Visit the Homepage of The Voyage of The Aegre https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/

In this Post: Notes on Chapter 16, in the Marquesas Islands and then our near-disastrous passage to Tahiti, 700 nautical miles south; progress on The Aegre inspired boat being built in Glasgow and details of ‘Meet the Author’ talks in the Netherlands and UK in late August and September 2024.

In the Notes: The Marquesas – some of the remotest islands on earth; what happened to solo circumnavigator Tom Blackwell? And the fate we so narrowly avoided in the Tuomotu atolls. See Notes for Chapter 16.

Glasgow update from Peter Matheson: I have completed the 10th plank now and… See the latest photos of the boat being built in Glasgow by Peter Matheson, inspired by The Aegre. See https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/the-aegre-inspires-a-new-build/

Meet the author of The Voyage of The Aegre: I will be in the Netherlands and the UK in late August and September 2024, speaking about The Aegre, the voyage and signing books:

• Saturday 31 August 15:30 HISWA te WATER boat festival in Lelystad, Netherlands.
• Saturday 31 August Drascombe Association, Netherlands, time & location tbc
• Sunday 1 September 15:30 HISWA te WATER in Lelystad 15:30, Netherlands
• Thursday 5 September, Glasgow, UK, Peter Matheson’s boatshed in Govan: Clydebank Traditional Boatbuilders, Rothesay Dock Clydebank by Glasgow G81 1LX https://nicholasgrainger.com.au/peter-matheson-and-clydeside-traditional-boatbuilders/
• Thursday 12 September, Ludlow, UK, details to be confirmed
• Other possible UK locations in September: No venues currently, but please get in touch with me if you are interested at nick@nicholasgrainger.com.au
• Lake District 8-10 September
• Derby, 14-15 September
• Cambridge 19-21 September
• London 23-25 September

Maybe I’ll see you there?

Nick Grainger

Home page of The Voyage of The Aegre

Notes on Chapter 15: 4,000 miles in 21 ft, are now available on the website for The Voyage of The Aegre: From Scotland to the South Seas in a Shetland boat.

In the Chapter Notes: More about how we got out of the windless Gulf of Panama, why The Aegre wouldn’t sail west, carrying water for 100 days, our deep-sea fishing secrets, and the landfall I’m proudest of.

See The Voyage of The Aegre: Notes on Chapter 15

Meanwhile, in Glasgow, Peter Matheson, building a boat inspired by The Aegre, reports, “I will have completed the ninth plank by Friday (12 July 2024). I’m fitting the engine seats just now, as I usually fit the engine before I finish the planking. Access to inside the boat is less of a problem then. I don’t have to keep jumping in and out of the boat; at 78 years of age, this has to be a consideration. I’m putting a 16 HP ‘Yanmar’ in the boat. If The Aegre could go halfway around the world without an engine, then 16 HP should be plenty.”

See progress on the building of the boat inspired by The Aegre for more photos

Visit the home page of The Voyage of The Aegre