Percival George Dalton (1906–1982) was a noted artist and yacht designer. He spent much of his working life in

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; kw, Aberfala) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,797 (2011 census). Etymology The name Falmouth is of English or ...

and both aspects of his work were connected to Falmouth and in particular its

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

life.

Yacht design

Percy Dalton designed many small craft These were largely based on the traditional forms of working boats from Cornwall. Notable boats include: *''Hardiesse'', the Falmouth sail training vessel *''Chloe May'', a

Pilot Cutter A cutter is a type of watercraft. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan) of a sailing vessel (but with regional differences in definition), to a governmental enforcement agency vessel (such as a coast guard or bord ...

type yacht *''Lyonesse'', a Falmouth work boat type yacht *''Moondance of Rye'' *''Dormouse'' *''Heptarchy'' *''St Melorus'', which became the prototype for a range of production yachts *''Alf Smythers'', now a working

Falmouth work boat The Falmouth Working Boat is a type of small traditional sailing craft that evolved for fishing in the waters of Falmouth, Cornwall. Falmouth working boats have a gaff cutter rig and a long keel hull. As well as being general purpose fishing b ...

*''Doris'', a

Colin Archer Colin Archer (22 July 1832 – 8 February 1921) was a Norwegian naval architect and shipbuilder known for his seaworthy pilot and rescue boats and the larger sailing and polar ships. His most famous ship is the ''Fram'', used on both in Fridtj ...

type *''Angharad'', now called ''Annelis'', a Falmouth Pilot Cutter type

Construction

Many of Percy Dalton's boats were designed for construction in

ferrocement Ferrocement or ferro-cement is a system of construction using reinforced mortar or plaster (lime or cement, sand, and water) applied over an "armature" of metal mesh, woven, expanded metal, or metal-fibers, and closely spaced thin steel rods ...

, as well as wood and

glass fiber Glass fiber ( or glass fibre) is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass. Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the inventio ...

, including ''Hardiesse'' and ''Moondance of Rye''.

Art

Percy Dalton trained at the

Plymouth College of Art Arts University Plymouth is an independent university-sector Higher Education (HE) provider located in Plymouth in South West England. The former Plymouth College of Art was officially granted university status in 2022. In April 2019 the s ...

but rather than taking up an offer to continue his studies in Rome, he found employment at the Devonport dockyard where he was apprenticed. He continued to paint and many of his watercolours adorn the walls of houses in Falmouth, but while his work was popular locally and even ran to prints, he never gained widespread recognition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalton, Percy 1906 births 1982 deaths British yacht designers