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Here’s a Keep Turning Left video about tides, caulking and why Dylan could not have a wooden boat because he isn’t a good enough person… I think a lot of us might be in that category!

As so often with Keep Turning Left, the clip’s funny and opinionated, and the boatbuilder at the centre of it all shows remarkable good humour despite the film-maker’s prodding questions.

Dylan tells me this saintly man is Brian Upson, and that he runs a boatyard at Slaughden Quay, Aldeburgh. More power to his caulking elbow, I say.

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‘We went alone, with barely a hundred fathoms of line, in case he should take it into his head to sound again. The speed at which we went made it appear as if a gale of wind was blowing, and we flew along the sea surface’

Everyone’s heard of Melville’s blockbusting novel Moby Dick – but perhaps fewer know about Frank T Bullen’s real-life description The Cruise of the Cachalot or Round the world after sperm whales.

My copy was published in 1901 and I think it’s a piece of work that brilliantly captures the cruelty, fear, hardships and excitements the whalers must have known while about their ghastly trade. Here’s a short chapter that I hope makes the point – do take time out to read it; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

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Small boats of North Vietnam

Just back from a business trip to Hanoi, my brother Matt Atkin has sent me these photos from the country. He reports that North Vietnam is an astonishing place where goods are still moved using carts and oxen, and from these photos it’s a place where traditional small boats are very much in evidence.

I can’t condone the use of cute children to sell goods – though I guess it’s better than some of the alternatives, even for the kids involved – but what astonishing scenery and boats!

The little craft seem to be woven from slender wooden or bamboo laths and then sealed, I’d guess with pitch. Can anyone confirm this? Also, they’re rowed forward without the aid of any complicated rowing machinery.

This is only a small sample of the photos Matt sent over, so I’ll put some more up in the next few days. Thanks Bruv!

There’s an interesting thread on Vietnamese boats at the Woodenboat Forum and an English language website devoted to the boats of Vietnam here.

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