Charles Sparrow - VS Designer - RIP
Charles Sparrow was born in the United Kingdom in 1906 but completed his schooling in Sydney after a short period in New Zealand. His coming of age roughly coincided with the Great Depression, when work for trainee and qualified naval draughtsmen were hard to come by. When not struggling to make a living around Sydney during which time he worked in the Drafting Office at Cockatoo Dock, helping prepare drawings
for such ships that were still being built, to working on the Captain Cook at Morts Dock and producing
drawings for mudguards for Holden bodies pre-war, Charles Sparrow, was a keen sailor of small yachts.
"I occasionally sailed in the open 12 footers of the Vaucluse Sailing Club with Mr Sil Rohu. He owned a gun ship in Castlereagh Street in the city and lived on the waterfront at Vaucluse. He knew how water sports appealed to young lads and wondered if there might not be a need for a safe and exciting, easily sailed small yacht, that could be built at home by, perhaps, a boy and his father. Such a boat might be skippered
by one lad with another as forward hand and it would need to be unsinkable and be able to be righted by the crew without help".
Sil Rohu suggested to Charles Sparrow that he might be the person to design such a craft and Sparrow soon produced a preliminary design of a boat which was completely decked in except for a small well, big enough for two pairs of boys’feet. The plan gave the size and shape of seven frames and the tuck and the shape of the stern, and a jig frame. The jig frame was built from 6in by 1.5in planks, slotted at the position of each frame. The slots were cut at different depths so that when the made frames were placed in their allotted spaces, the shape of the hull was automatically fixed and was ready for attaching the keel, chines, planking and so on.
"The first boat built was Splinter and she was built by the members of the newly formed Vaucluse Amateur Sailing Club and was then thoroughly tested. A few minor adjustments were made and final drawings were then prepared for sale. The first boat built to the modified plans was Chum and she was owned by Sil Rohu and was launched in August 1931. Chum is now in the keeping of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
"We showed off the VJ Sparrow at the first Aquatic Show in 1933 in Sydney which was held by Nock and Kirby’s and I still have the small leaflet
which we handed out at the show. It was a very successful exercise, even in a Depression.
Complete details were furnished with each set of plans sold, together with a list of materials covering every single piece of timber in the boat, including fastenings and fittings. At that time the completed boat was expected to cost five pounds seventeen shillings and sixpence and the sails about three pounds five shillings! I donated the plans and the specifications to the Vaucluse Junior Amateur Sailing Club for their use, with any revenue earned to go the Club’s future development of the class (this was at a time when Sparrow was desperately trying to earn enough money to keep himself GA).
We had hoped that boys once they reached the age of 18 would go onto sailing the larger, open boats, that were so popular on the harbour, in all
sorts of sizes. We eventually found that this wasn’t happening so, in 1936, I designed an adult version of the VJ. This was known as the VS oraucluse Senior. She was designed upon the same lines as the VJ but was three foot six inches longer and had a cockpit that was big enough to allow two lads to sleep in it, using the sail over the boom to make a tent.
The VS quickly caught on. Soon after the war 100 of them were built in Sydney and were shipped to Japan for use by the Australian Occupation
Forces. With the growth of the two classes a need arose for a new clubhouse and larger facilities. A site was found in Marine Parade, Watsons Bay,
which is where the Vaucluse Yacht Club now stands. The new club was officially opened by Sir Eric Harrisson (then Postmaster General) on 28 October 1939.
for such ships that were still being built, to working on the Captain Cook at Morts Dock and producing
drawings for mudguards for Holden bodies pre-war, Charles Sparrow, was a keen sailor of small yachts.
"I occasionally sailed in the open 12 footers of the Vaucluse Sailing Club with Mr Sil Rohu. He owned a gun ship in Castlereagh Street in the city and lived on the waterfront at Vaucluse. He knew how water sports appealed to young lads and wondered if there might not be a need for a safe and exciting, easily sailed small yacht, that could be built at home by, perhaps, a boy and his father. Such a boat might be skippered
by one lad with another as forward hand and it would need to be unsinkable and be able to be righted by the crew without help".
Sil Rohu suggested to Charles Sparrow that he might be the person to design such a craft and Sparrow soon produced a preliminary design of a boat which was completely decked in except for a small well, big enough for two pairs of boys’feet. The plan gave the size and shape of seven frames and the tuck and the shape of the stern, and a jig frame. The jig frame was built from 6in by 1.5in planks, slotted at the position of each frame. The slots were cut at different depths so that when the made frames were placed in their allotted spaces, the shape of the hull was automatically fixed and was ready for attaching the keel, chines, planking and so on.
"The first boat built was Splinter and she was built by the members of the newly formed Vaucluse Amateur Sailing Club and was then thoroughly tested. A few minor adjustments were made and final drawings were then prepared for sale. The first boat built to the modified plans was Chum and she was owned by Sil Rohu and was launched in August 1931. Chum is now in the keeping of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
"We showed off the VJ Sparrow at the first Aquatic Show in 1933 in Sydney which was held by Nock and Kirby’s and I still have the small leaflet
which we handed out at the show. It was a very successful exercise, even in a Depression.
Complete details were furnished with each set of plans sold, together with a list of materials covering every single piece of timber in the boat, including fastenings and fittings. At that time the completed boat was expected to cost five pounds seventeen shillings and sixpence and the sails about three pounds five shillings! I donated the plans and the specifications to the Vaucluse Junior Amateur Sailing Club for their use, with any revenue earned to go the Club’s future development of the class (this was at a time when Sparrow was desperately trying to earn enough money to keep himself GA).
We had hoped that boys once they reached the age of 18 would go onto sailing the larger, open boats, that were so popular on the harbour, in all
sorts of sizes. We eventually found that this wasn’t happening so, in 1936, I designed an adult version of the VJ. This was known as the VS oraucluse Senior. She was designed upon the same lines as the VJ but was three foot six inches longer and had a cockpit that was big enough to allow two lads to sleep in it, using the sail over the boom to make a tent.
The VS quickly caught on. Soon after the war 100 of them were built in Sydney and were shipped to Japan for use by the Australian Occupation
Forces. With the growth of the two classes a need arose for a new clubhouse and larger facilities. A site was found in Marine Parade, Watsons Bay,
which is where the Vaucluse Yacht Club now stands. The new club was officially opened by Sir Eric Harrisson (then Postmaster General) on 28 October 1939.
