New and Neglected Nautical Writing
A serious kind of joy
Somehow, and to his incredulity, I had never read an Arthur Ransome book when Peter Willis approached me with Good Little Ship. Nancy Blackett, the real-life original of the Goblin in We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, was a familiar sight on the East Coast and clearly much…
Travels with Tilman
Bob Comlay sailed with H W Tilman to Greenland – twice – while still in his teens and formed an enduring friendship with ‘the Skipper’ which lasted until Tilman’s loss at sea in 1977. Bob was invaluable in pulling together the new forewords and afterwords to our…
A preposterous proposal
Philip Temple’s 1965 account of an outrageously bold expedition was published without fanfare, without many good photographs, and without even the benefit of a copy-editor; it vanished without trace. The Sea and The Snow came to our attention a few years ago as we…
That unique engagement
For most of my life my sailing was of the armchair kind, and in the mid-1970s much of it was in the delightful company of Ken Duxbury, a writer whose light touch belies the skill and resourcefulness which underpinned the voyages made by him and his wife B. in their…
A quiet sense of achievement
Spring 2009: Constance is just back from her first Old Gaffers event, the annual East Coast Race weekend at Brightlingsea, where she mixed it with craft large and small, and attracted much admiration for both her looks and speed, praise which rightly belongs to her…
Ghost ship of Grytviken
The Albert Strange Association (bear with me), in which I am heavily implicated, held its Annual General Meeting in Lincoln a few years ago, and our very engaging guest speaker was Dr Robb Robinson, a maritime historian at the University of Hull. His subject was…
To readers in North America, Australia, and New Zealand
We’re sorry that international shipping, since Covid, has become so expensive. But there is some good news: Some of our books are stocked by WoodenBoat and Small Craft Advisor in the US, and most of them are held by our new distributors in Australia and New Zealand,…
James Wharram 1928–2021
With sadness, but appreciation of his life and achievements, we report that James Wharram died on Tuesday 14 December at the age of 93. He leaves an unparalleled legacy in his development of, and voyaging in, affordable sea-going craft modelled on the Polynesian…
Loft Floor launch party
We had a great turnout at arts venue The Cornish Bank in Falmouth on Saturday, to celebrate the launch of Christian Topf’s book From the Loft Floor to the Sea, on the building of the Falmouth pilot cutter Pellew. Taking pictures was not our priority, but here are…
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To readers in North America, Australia, and New Zealand
We’re sorry that international shipping, since Covid, has become so expensive. But there is some good news: Some of our books are stocked by WoodenBoat and Small Craft Advisor in the US, and most of them are held by our new distributors in Australia and New Zealand,…
James Wharram 1928–2021
With sadness, but appreciation of his life and achievements, we report that James Wharram died on Tuesday 14 December at the age of 93. He leaves an unparalleled legacy in his development of, and voyaging in, affordable sea-going craft modelled on the Polynesian…
Loft Floor launch party
We had a great turnout at arts venue The Cornish Bank in Falmouth on Saturday, to celebrate the launch of Christian Topf’s book From the Loft Floor to the Sea, on the building of the Falmouth pilot cutter Pellew. Taking pictures was not our priority, but here are…