The Dagger Variants

Dagger

New Swordsman 37 & 40

Dagger 40 - Sea Hawk, lying Turks and Caicos islands

The Fairey Dagger was Alan Burnard's development of the Swordsman 33.

In a similar fashion to the development of the Huntsman 31 from the Huntsman 28, the hull shape had a finer entry providing a drier, softer ride at the slight expense of top speed.

Although the specification for the Dagger was a length of 37 feet, Alan designed a 40 foot hull, the hull tooling for which could be dammed off at 37 feet or moulded the full length. This continued the tradition started with the original Huntress 23 buck which provided hulls from 23 to 29 feet in length and the Huntsman 31 and Spearfish at 31' 4" and 30' respectively.

The Dagger, built in GRP was intended at the outset to be a military boat only, due to the prevailing economic conditions of the time. However, at least one has had a career as a fishing vessel often powered by a couple of Ford Sabre 180 HP engines.

The Dagger styling was to reappear in the 80's as the Al Buraq 37 complete with flying bridge. It was built in Kuwait until Iraq's invasion of that country in 1991.

In the early 2000's a company was setup by several Fairey Owners (with the slogan "The Legend Re-kindled") to create a modern version of the Fairey sports cruiser using the original Dagger hull tooling. Wedded to a new deck and super-structure designed by Alan Burnard; the outcome was the Swordsman 37, built in both aft-cabin and aft-cockpit versions with various engine options and shaft drive.

Soon (as is traditional) a larger boat was required, so the hulls were moulded to full length; the deck moulding extended and the Swordsman 40 was created giving similar accommodation but a larger centre-cockpit. Quite a few Swordsman 40's were fitted with Rolls Royce water jet propulsion one achieving a credible 50 knots! The twin jet arrangement giving excellent close-quarters manoeuvring ability as the boat can be moved sideways!

A smaller model, the Swordsman 30 was later developed from the Tarrant Spearfish tooling. (see the Spear and Spearfish Page) These were fitted with various single engine installations and Hamilton Water Jet propulsion.

Swordsman Marine closed its doors in 2009 due to the latest recession, the tooling was sold to Broom Boats.

Owner/Location/Date

One Dagger hull is known to be fitted out for fishing. Information is requested on this and others.

HartshornPanoply Sport Fishing &
Charters, Turks and Caicos Islands

Hull No.	Length	Reg No.	Name	Build Date	Owner/Location/Date	Engines and Propulsion
1	37		Free Spirit	2001	D. Millar, Poole	Twin Cummins 370HP
2	37		Aramis	2001 2009 Oct 13	A. Nicolle, Hamble Todd, ? J & J Squires, Brixham	Twin Cummins 6BTM3 370HP
3	37 aft cockpit		Obelix	2002	Mason, Hamble	Twin Cummins 370HP
4	37		Fourshaw Excalibur of Hamble	2002 2013	Burtinshaw M. Doyle, Portchester	Twin Cummins 6BTM 370HP
5	40		Centime	2002	Gough, Hamble Chiles, Cowes ?, Thames	Twin Caterpillar 450HP
6	37		Meteor	2003	E. Ashton-Johnson, Cowes	Twin Caterpillar 450HP
7	37		Excalibur	2003	Cassidy, St Mawes	Twin Cummins 370HP
8	40		Cavalier Angharad Martha Gunn Maverick	2003	Prescott, Jersey W. Cadbury, Swanwick N. Musto, Burnham-on-Crouch	Twin Caterpillar 450HP
9	40 - jet		Sea Glass	2003	Leach, Newhaven	Twin 450HP Caterpillars with Hamilton Jets
10	37		Blue Marlin	2003	D. Mukerji, Portchester	Twin Cumins 370HP
11	40		Meteor	2004 Sep 11	Godenheim, Finland E. Ashton-Johnson, Poole	Twin Caterpillar 450HP
12	37 aft cockpit		Eleanor Jayne	2004	Strange, Winchester	Twin Cummins 370HP
13	40		Fastidious of Londond	2004	S. Fry,	Twin Caterpillar 450HP
14	37		Espada			Twin Cummins 370HP
15	40 - jet		Alpha Omega Fortissimo lV	2004 Aug 11	W. Bewes, Hamble D. Evans, Hamble	Twin Caterpillar 450HP with water Jets
16	40		Margaret Francis	2005	van Heynigan,	Twin Caterpillar 450HP
17	40		Zulu	2005	Hicton, Falmouth	Twin Caterpillar 450HP
18	40 - jet		Kittiwake	2006	Forrest, Taymar (Hamble)	Twin Caterpillar 450HP with water jets
19	40		Great Escape Swordsman ProReNata	2006	Dunwoody, Hamble ? , ? H. Prothero, Beaulieu	Twin Caterpillar 450HP
20	40 aft cockpit		Strongilo	2007	Rothchild, Corfu	Twin Caterpillar 450HP
21	40 - jet		Centime Too Matchless ll	2008 2013	Gough, Cowes D. Gower, Cowes	Twin Caterpillar 450HP with Water Jets
22	40 - jet			2009		Twin Seatek 750HP and 50 knots

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