New and Neglected Nautical Writing
Lonely backwaters
[Sea-Country is now out of print but we thought you’d still enjoy this extract]Tony Smith is now the keeper of Charlie Stock’s game little 16-foot gaff cutter Shoal Waters, and has made it his business to take her the length and breadth of the Thames estuary, and into…
In all weathers by a crew of two
Tom Cunliffe writes:For fifty glorious years from the time of the 1861 Pilotage Act until the Great War nailed down the coffin lid on commercial sail, the Bristol Channel was a free-for-all for competitive piloting. This great funnel of tide-swept water stood wide…
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…
The Yorkshire Coble
Perhaps the most curious craft which is found in use by the fishermen round the coasts of Britain is the Yorkshire coble [writes George Holmes in 1912]. Along with the Sheringham boat—referred to and described in a former number—this type is used for crabbing by the…
Tangaroa
By March of 1954 we had enough money for me to stop working and begin building in the farm loft. I cleared the chicken shit out, blocked up the gaps in the walls and levelled the floor. Building a small boat alone is like an exercise in meditation; throughout the…
Words written on water
Our first book had sold out a few years before, and we had the feeling it was time for a new edition in our now-standard robust softcover format, and that there remained an unplumbed audience among people who, though perhaps not habitual readers of sailing books,…
A hard day at the office
James Wharram’s epic memoir People of the Sea is about to run out in its large-format edition (so be very quick if you want one). We have just gone to press with an unabridged more compact edition, with our usual high quality, at just £16, which will be…
The shipping news
Regulars here will notice that we have at last implemented a delivery cost calculator which is more equitable for the customer — and for ourselves. Delivery is now charged according to total order weight rather than our old flat rate per book, which…
A sudden loss
Had we been more diligent with this blog you would know that in the autumn of 2019 Martin O’Scannall, author of For the Love of Sauntress, and his partner Luis, had departed their home in Galicia, the wet & windy north-west corner of Spain, to cross…
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A hard day at the office
James Wharram’s epic memoir People of the Sea is about to run out in its large-format edition (so be very quick if you want one). We have just gone to press with an unabridged more compact edition, with our usual high quality, at just £16, which will be…
The shipping news
Regulars here will notice that we have at last implemented a delivery cost calculator which is more equitable for the customer — and for ourselves. Delivery is now charged according to total order weight rather than our old flat rate per book, which…
A sudden loss
Had we been more diligent with this blog you would know that in the autumn of 2019 Martin O’Scannall, author of For the Love of Sauntress, and his partner Luis, had departed their home in Galicia, the wet & windy north-west corner of Spain, to cross…