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for Ernest Olney Digby
Ernest Olney Digby
He designed a pair of tugboats, VICTORY launched 1934 and GOUDIE, 1940 and a pilot boat THORSEN, 1960 now used as the committee boat for the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria. VICTORY and GOUDIE were built by the Melbourne Harbour Trust but the work was overseen by Digby. Both Digby’s tug boats were strongly crafted featuring a lovely counter stern that displayed his prowess as a designer and builder. VICTORY was a familiar sight on the Melbourne waterways as a supply boat, particularly for gunpowder, during the war years.
His yachts included MOYNE, 1913, (H22,) that was named after the Moyne River in Port Fairy where Ernest Digby was born, and was about 30 foot long. NANCY, 1914, was raced as H1 at the Hobson’s Bay Yacht Club where he was Commodore from 1915 and 1916. The gaff rigged cutter INDEPENDENCE (H11, CYC 56) was launched in 1920 and described as 38 feet LOA, with a massive gaff rig. Yachting notes of its first race indicate it was in the” VGRA 9 Metre class”. It would probably have been designed to the 2nd version of the International Rule, or at least rated against that rule for racing purposes. From what is recorded of INDEPENDENCE it raced in the A class against EU NA MARA in its early days, and later against the Fife designed 8 metre VANESSA. Ernest also built an 18-foot skiff wonderfully called UTU for his young son Len in 1924.
TAM-O-SHANTER, (HV000297) was built as a cruising yacht in 1950/51 for AD MacKenzie, from the Melbourne Harbour Trust and also the Commodore of the Sandringham Yacht Club
DEFIANCE (HV000742) is the third of the six known timber racing yachts designed and built by Digby. It is the first metre yacht designed and built in Australia that rated as an 8 metre under the International Rule and was built in 1935 in the back yard of Digby’s home in Victoria Street, Williamstown, in the heart of the shipbuilding community on Port Phillip Bay at that time. Sleek, strong and fast, DEFIANCE has had a long and successful inshore and later offshore racing career, and remains in excellent condition racing regularly on Sydney Harbour
FRANCES (HV000622) was Digby’s sixth and final yacht and it rated and was registered with Lloyd’s as an 8 metre, probably as he could afford to do so after the war. FRANCES had a famous career which included winning the prestigious Sayonara Cup three times with Digby at the helm, and remains racing in Victoria in excellent condition.
FRANCES was owned and raced by Digby until his death at 73, when he was tragically run over by a drunken motorist whilst riding to the local newsagency to pick up the paper he had left behind.
Digby himself was a man of great vigour and enterprise, one of five generations of Digby’s who distinguished themselves in maritime endeavours in Melbourne waters.
According to his grandson Peter, both Ernest, known to many as ‘old Dig’ and his own father Ken, were men in a hurry on the water, always keen to experiment with the latest techniques, wave theories and of sail plans. He spawned three generations of champion sailors, all making their presence felt at the clubs where he became Commodore, the Hobson’s Bay Yacht Club and the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria. In many ways Ernest epitomized the can-do, make-do spirit of the times in Australia, breaking through all class barriers to create and race the yachts he loved.
Digby was also keenly involved with the Harbour Trust and had many components such as keel bolts and the rudder stock cast to his specifications. His solutions were strong and his plans beautifully drawn and considered in great detail.
As a sailor Digby was well respected, as this quote from Sporting Globe 2nd March 1932 when he was sailing INDEPENDENCE in 1932 indicates; “Ernie Digby is one of our best and most popular yachtsmen, and one who ls always ready to give a helping hand where needed.”
(Prepared from information supplied by Nicole Shrimpton and Marius Fenger, owners of Digby vessels.)
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