... From Severn to Solent: Theo Osborn Smith & the Smith family ...2024 has marked the centenary of the production of the first West Wight scows, designed by Theo Osborn Smith, of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight - who was also responsible for building the Yarmouth One Design fleet, and many fast racing yawls and others in Oxford in the 1880s and 1890s. This book commemorates that, and the centenary of Theo's death in May 1924, and explores the history of Theo's family, in the context of their times.
A vivid account of the lives of Theo Osborn Smith, boat builder, designer and inventor, and his family. Much of the story is seen through the eyes of his wife, Mary Piper, and their daughter Evie, and interwoven with history and contemporary events on the banks of the Severn in Gloucestershire, in the city of Oxford, Fawley in Hampshire, and Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. The book is richly illustrated with over 250 images, many never published before.
Theo, and his brother Harry, were renowned in their day as the innovators of the planing hull for racing dinghies, and many other developments in yacht design. Their lasting legacies include the Yarmouth One Design and West Wight scow, and innumerable other boats, as well as the boatbuilding careers of Theo's son and grandsons.
Two of Theo's grandsons, Stan and Colin Smith, sailed across the Atlantic in 1949, in a small boat of their own construction, Nova Espero, achieving national and international fame.
Meanwhile, the legacy of Mary and Evie Smith, and the rest of the family, is a vast hoard of letters and other ephemera, recording the minutiae of life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
While the main focus of the book is on the Smith family themselves, two chapters explore the history of Fawley, and recount the years between 1903 and 1912 when they were living at Ashlett, including a wide range of old photographs not otherwise available.
From Severn to Solent is available in paperback - ISBN 978-1-8380136-9-1 and e-book format - ISBN: 978-1-8380136-6-0 from my online shop.
