New and Neglected Nautical Writing
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…
Essex girl through and through
I first met her in Tollesbury and immediately fell for her. She was an Essex girl through and through but not like all the others, although she was shallow. As far as I could see then there were only two problems. There was a big age difference—fifty-five…
Making good looking shapes
Knees are an immediate indication of the boatbuilder’s ability to make good looking shapes. Ideally one would like to use an oak crook. However, in these honest times, crooks are pretty hard to come by and also must be well seasoned before use, particularly if…
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…
The romance of a proper dinghy
The light north-easterly breeze continued during my watch until midnight, and Juanita sailed on through the darkness, her jib shimmering with the phosphorescence of the lee bow wave, and little Punch, the 8’ dinghy following in our glistening wake, with a…
A legacy of riches
When barely sixteen I spent two months with my slightly younger brother Dave hitch-hiking, and often rough sleeping, around Scotland watching birds. We went as far north as the Shetland isle Fetlar to see the snowy owls which bred there, and managed to cadge an…
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…