Frequently Asked Questions
These are a few of the questions that come up again and again – hopefully they’ll be of interest.
Click on the question in the list below to skip down to the answer.
Q1. How did the project start?
Q2. How was the decision to recover Bluebird taken?
Q3. Was the body of Donald Campbell with the boat and how come the Navy missed him in 67?
Q4. What colour is Bluebird-blue? Possibly THE most frequently asked question.
Q5. Why not leave the boat as-recovered?
Q6. Why not build a replica?
Q7. If the project and the HLF are so opposed, why not go it alone?
Q1. How did the project start?
It was born from the frustration of a group of wreck-diving enthusiasts who’d evolved their wreck location techniques but due to working predominantly in the North Sea found themselves with only four months every year (in a good season) when they could indulge their passion.
What was needed was a winter project and the Bluebird wreck site met all the criteria. Interesting, undisturbed and technically challenging, yet it wasn’t considered until the words of a song sparked the interest.
‘Three hundred miles an hour on water’
‘In your purpose built machine’
From a track by Marillion (www.Marillion.com) called ‘Out Of This World’ from the album ‘Afraid Of Sunlight’.
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Q2. How was the decision to recover Bluebird taken?
This decision was taken by members of the Campbell Family Heritage Trust shortly after the wreck was located. Bluebird’s discovery demonstrated that the required technology had made it into the hands of amateur divers, and this, combined with her excellent state of preservation meant that she would inevitably come under threat from souvenir hunters.
Another factor was the dwindling number of people directly related to Donald Campbell who were in a position to make appropriate decisions regarding the future of K7.
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Q3. Was the body of Donald Campbell with the boat and how come the Navy missed him in 67?
No, he was located over sixty metres to the south-west having been ejected from the cockpit in the initial impact. The Royal Navy divers missed him because, according to their diving report at the time, they seemingly never discovered the impact site as it lies remote from the main wreckage trail.
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Q4. What colour is Bluebird-blue? Possibly THE most frequently asked question.
The answer is anything that looks about right will do as the boat had dozens of shades applied over the years. You can’t go wrong!
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Q5. Why not leave the boat as-recovered?
A. Again, a decision taken by family members based on the fact that as well as ending his life in spectacular fashion, Donald Campbell also enjoyed probably the most successful record breaking career in history. An achievement that sadly seems to be overshadowed by his one spectacular failure. This is not how they wish to see him remembered so the decision was taken to rebuild Bluebird to how she was pre-crash on the morning of 4th January 1967 using as much original material as possible.
Another factor is that displaying the shattered cockpit where a man died is generally considered to be ghoulish and in bad taste.
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Q6. Why not build a replica?
Two replicas exist already, one’s at Holker Hall and the other is… somewhere else. So to build another fibreglass mock-up would be pointless.
This leaves the option of building a working replica using the same materials and processes but this approach doesn’t solve the problem of what to do with the original as detailed above. It would be incredibly expensive too compared to giving the original boat a new front as we already have the greater part of it in excellent condition and would otherwise have to recreate what we already have. The HLF would never fund such a venture, which leads to another FAQ.
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Q7. If the project and the HLF are so opposed, why not go it alone?
We get this question rather a lot too.
It’s important to point out that the problem is nothing like as bad as it seems. There were holes in the application process on both sides, holes that hopefully are now patched up so we wait with fingers crossed.
But, ultimately we may have to go it alone as the basic mission objectives are none-negotiable. The reason we really want to work with the HLF is that although the support is freely available to rebuild Bluebird, it’s going to be a whole lot harder to build the museum wing and make the boat part of a professional-looking display. That is VERY expensive.
Going the museum route will ensure Bluebird’s future too. She’ll not have to earn her keep on the road or spend time away from her moral home.
We’re hoping the HLF will sort this for us, which is why we’re being persistent.
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