A trio of veteran north-east shipbuilders have completed a seven-year labour of love to construct what may be the last fishing vessel of its kind.
Johnshaven men Tom Ritchie, Richard McBay and Lloyd Coates began work on the Sea Venture in 2008, and have now finished the 28ft clinker boat.
The trio hope to put the boat to sea for the first time next week.
Yesterday Mr Ritchie said there was virtually nobody left with the skills to create a vessel of its style.
Clinker-built boats were once commonly used by north-east fisherman, and Mr Ritchie and Mr McBay learned the craft as apprentice boatbuilders in the 1960s.
Gourdon-born carpenter, Mr Ritchie, 75, served as an apprentice at Joseph Johnson and Sons, in Montrose, before turning to the construction of nuclear power stations.
He said: “We were time served boat builders back in the 60s. We were brought up by the sea in Gourdon and Johnshaven and it was all we knew.
“You served your apprenticeship and you learned the skills.
“We just did the new boat bit by bit. It has taken a few years now because the guys were working when we started it.
“It is quite a big achievement. She is probably the last clinker-built boat that could ever be built in that style.”
The completion is all the more important because the vessel survived a potentially devastating boat house fire, before she was moved to Johnshaven harbour.
“The workshop and the boat went on fire about four years ago. The boat got scorched,” Mr Ritchie said.
“We were kind of despondent, but we just thought ‘let’s get cracking, let’s get something done, and got stuck into it.
“That is her ready to go now. She is a big wide boat for taking creels. She is beautiful.”
Mr Ritchie said the boat building expertise of Mr McBay, 70, had been vital to the success of the project.
“This was an entire design that Richard came up with himself,” he said.
“He didn’t do it to plan, he did it with his head, using his knowledge and how he felt.
“It is pure skill – one that is dying out and that is a shame.”