Whispers in the wood
For someone who loathed woodwork at school, Havelock shipwright Lionel Jefcoate hasn’t fared too badly in a life devoted to wooden boats.
Despite loathing woodwork at school, Lionel Jefcoate has devoted his life to building wooden boats.
Lionel – despite his 85 years – is a remarkably active, agile, bright-eyed gent who looks like he might have stepped straight from the pages of a Dickens novel. He’s something of a traditionalist – doesn’t have a mobile phone or a computer – and his craftsmanship is legendary among the marine fraternity. Always busy, he’s often referred to as the ‘chap who built 57 vessels in as many years’. These range from small dinghies to displacement yachts and launches, and include restorations of historic steamboats, as well as bluewater cruisers that have taken him all over the South Pacific.Paci What these vessels have in common – other than theirth builder – is their wooden construc construction. And he’s built everyeve one of them single-ha single-handedly. He’s alw always preferred working alone.
In recent years, though, when solo boatbuilding became too demanding for his aging frame, his focus shifted to crafting maritime artefacts – sea chests, bowls, jewellery boxes, buckets, tables – often embellished with exquisitely intricate inlays and marquetry.
They are works of art, and I’d argue that they reflect his woodworking skills far more vividly than his boats. They feature an enormous variety of timbers – all the obvious local varieties but also exotics like mahogany, teak, sycamore, beech, ash, oak, elm and many others. Most pieces are finished with French polish or oil.
But what makes the pieces particularly unique – and far more interesting – is the heritage they carry. Many are crafted from timber scavenged/salvaged/rescued from the wrecks and hulks of ships, some built nearly two centuries ago.
There’s a pleasing sense of ‘immortality’ in the idea that the death of a historic ship on a remote New Zealand shore isn’t necessarily the end. Its legacy can endure – albeit in a different form.
BUT TO BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING…
Lionel was born on a farm near Invercargill but never developed an affinity for farming. Curiously, despite zero boating experience, he became besotted with being a boatbuilder.