small craft

Pass it on

/ Bill

In book-sailor mode, I found the following – the first paragraph of the preface to Deep Sea Sailing, by Erroll Bruce:

In 1950 I enjoyed an exciting sailing race across the North Atlantic and was soon afterwards sent for by Lord Fraser of North Cape, then First Sea Lord at the Admiralty. He asked many questions about the handling of the yacht, and finished by saying, “What you have learnt of the sea in small craft is not your private property, so I trust you will pass it on to others.”

I warm to the phrase ‘pass it on to others.’

It stands back from ‘teach’ or ‘tell’ or ‘inform’. It somehow has less of the tinge of intention created by a modern trend that seeks to ‘improve’ everyone.

It says: “I have done such and such. This is what happened and this is what I learnt. You can pick it up and use it or you can leave it alone. Either way, our ideas meet for a short while and then move on.”

The importance is in the communication. The effect is up to the recipient.


For love of a boat – Teignmouth, Devon and Poole, Dorset

/ Bill / 1 Comment

Two boats this time, the second one for comparison.

Teignmouth, Devon, UK 2009

This is one of, I believe, the last four of the original seine boats on the river Teign, net fishing for salmon and also used for the collection of mussels.

The net is cast from the stern, hence no stern thwart. Thole pins are used for the oars, although, by the positioning of the forward fenders, it looks as though they are used less these days.  The pins are set so that the oarsman can row conventionally from the bow thwart or facing forward from the main thwart.

Teignmouth, 2009

Compare the seine boat above with a similarly-sized boat seen at Poole Harbour this week.

There are a number of differences in construction – their functions are not same.

She is broader in the beam, with supported thwarts.

There are positions for three oarsmen, with rowlocks rather than thole pins for the oars.

And there is a hole in the forward thwart. Does anyone know what this is for? Evidently ‘a mast’, but why in this paricular boat?

Poole Harbour, Dorset, UK, 2009

Poole Harbour, 2009

The River Thames at Richmond – inclement weather

/ Bill

River Thames at Richmond, 2nd February 2009, 7.30am

We were in London earlier in the week, returning just before the weather turned for the worse in south Devon yesterday evening.

I am posting these images because the conditions were so unusual thereabouts.

The little red yacht was still carrying its mainsail on the boom.

River Thames at Richmond, 2nd February 2009, 7.30 am

River Thames at Richmond, 2nd February 2009, 11.00 am – canal boat in the foreground

Thus is a frustrating day.

I had planned to move Blue Mistress this  morning because Cattewater Harbour Commission want to work on our moorings and we are in the way.

The plan was “weather permitting” – well, it’s not.

Emergency on the Hudson

/ Bill / 1 Comment

The incredible rescue of the passengers from the emergency landing on the Hudson River is here on the Sea Fever blog  – (thanks to Tugster for pointing it out).

It was not just the landing itself that was so noteable, but the large group of people standing on the wings of an aeroplane on a freezing river being carried swiflty along by the current.

And the skill of the skippers and crews of the vessels that took them off.

Watch the 10 minute film – then watch it again.

For love of a boat – in Messinia, Greece

/ Bill

Aghios Nikolaos, Messinia, Greece 2007

If you are reading this on a blog feed, there is a link on the main site to the series of posts on inshore craft.

Inshore fishing boats are changing  from working boat to leisure craft in ever greater numbers.

Looking through this series of posts, (images taken for the love of the boat rather than for any academic purpose), we can glimpse that change.

To pursue this further, I highly recommend the links in the ‘For love of a boat’ category on the main site, starting with Captain George’s video clip. Thank you again to AA for drawing my attention to it.

For the origin of this series – here

For love of a boat – Teignmouth, Devon, UK

/ Bill

Teignmouth to Shaldon Ferry, late afternoon, December 2008 (and a short clip)

I was going to describe the ferry trip, but then I found this:

“. . . I too many and many a time cross’d the river, the sun half an hour high;
I watched the Twelfth-month sea-gulls-I saw them high in the air, floating with motionless
wings,
oscillating their bodies,
I saw how the glistening yellow lit up parts of their bodies, and left the rest in strong
shadow,
I saw the slow-wheeling circles, and the gradual edging toward the south.

I too saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water,
Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams,
Look’d at the fine centrifugal spokes of light around the shape of my head in the sun-lit
water,
Look’d on the haze on the hills southward and southwestward,
Look’d on the vapor as it flew in fleeces tinged with violet,
Look’d toward the lower bay to notice the arriving ships,
Saw their approach, saw aboard those that were near me,
Saw the white sails of schooners and sloops  –  saw the ships at anchor,
The sailors at work in the rigging, or out astride the spars,
The round masts, the swinging motion of the hulls, the slender serpentine pennants,
The large and small steamers in motion, the pilots in their pilot-houses,
The white wake left by the passage, the quick tremulous whirl of the wheels,
The flags of all nations, the falling of them at sun-set,
The scallop-edged waves in the twilight, the ladled cups, the frolicsome crests and
glistening,
The stretch afar growing dimmer and dimmer, the gray walls of the granite store-houses by
the docks . . .”

taken from Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, by Walt Whitman

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Different ferry, same feeling – a deeply memorable description.

Enjoy the Christmas break.

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For the origin of this series – here