intheboatshed.net

Victorian postcard taken at Tolverne on the Carrick Roads

The NMMC is offering an opportunity to travel back in time at the end of this month, when local historian Ralph Bird presents a talk at the museum that will take his audience down the River Fal.

Timed to coincide with this year’s Fal River Festival, the talk will start at 6.30pm on Wednesday 28 May, and will look back at how the Fal has changed over the past 100 years, during which it has gone from being predominantly a river of business to the river of pleasure we know today.

Starting in Truro and ending in Falmouth, Bird will reveal places of interest and highlight the different uses to which this once-bustling waterway has been put. He will also discuss some of the many ships that have been laid up in the furthest reaches of the river - there have been as many as 70 war and cargo ships laid up in the Fal’s creeks.

For more information go to the NMMC website.

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Bill’s little boat Faith. Click on the image to see his videos showing her
making way

Those of us who have had our faith shattered by the election of the new comedy mayor of London can draw some comfort from the success of a much more modest celebrity: Bill Serjeant.

Brave Bill has now made the trip from Essex to Plymouth in his little 14ft boat Faith, and I say he and his little craft deserve applause all round!

Follow his progress on his weblog Bill’s Log.

For more posts featuring Bill, follow this link.

Intheboatshed.net as it approaches its 200,000th hit

200,000 seems like a big number for a weblog devoted a such a niche subject. It’s great that we’re reaching lots of people!

If you’d like to receive a weekly digest, click on the link below - and if you’ve got a story to tell and pictures to share, please let us know at gmatkin@gmail.com. There’s no charge, and no obligation.

The arrival of Napoleon III at Gênes in 1859, by Théodore Gudin, and details

Apart from Napoleon’s canot, another striking feature in the first room at the Paris Musée de la Marine is this painting of the arrival of Napoleon III at Gênes in 1859, by Théodore Gudin.

Many of the paintings of this era at the Musée seem to have been created to be read like a book - they are crammed with details each requiring the viewer’s attention. Almost every where I pointed my camera I found painterly details that seemed to be worth recording.

I’ll be putting more of these photos from our brief Paris holiday trip up over the next few days and weeks. Often they show interesting boat details, though in this case the interest lies in the individual characters and scenes. For example, the look on that poor bride’s face as Napoleon III steals the limelight on her wedding day is a picture, so to speak. And what about the boy climbing the rudder, and those characters in the water?

I’m not particularly proud to admit that as an Englishman I know little of French history, but I had heard of Napeoleon III - in fact, I lived for a while in Chislehurst, where he spent his final years in exile.

Just yards from my flat were two landmarks associated with him, the Imperial Arms pub named in his memory and a quiet lane called Susan Wood, where legend has it that he installed a mistress of the same name. I later became friendly with a family who lived in the house she was said to have lived in, and often looked at what is said to be a stained-glass portrait of the lady set into their 19th century kitchen door. I should perhaps explain that the family’s three sons are all music and sailing enthusiasts, so we had and still have a lot in common!

To read more about Napoleon III, check his Wikipedia entry. There’s no mention of Susan Wood, sadly.

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