Messages from the Sea publishes some the saddest, shortest little sea stories I have ever come across. There’s something deeply human about spending your last minutes writing a message and casting it afloat in a bottle…
Gavin Atkin's weblog for the sort of people who like looking inside boat sheds. It's about old boats, traditional boats, boat building, restoration, the sea and the North Kent Coast
Wonderful, thank you, I’ve got my doubts about ‘Nora will get over it in time, Ship Dover Castle, Jan. 13, 1867’. Emphasis on paying his bills is a clue I feel. A little searching brings up Dover Castle, Blackwall Frigate, ‘A Voyage from Australia to England: An Interesting Account of All Incidents Occurring on Board the Blackwall Liner Dover Castle (1867) Paperback – by John G. Horsey. ‘The Blackwall Frigates’ by Basil Lubbock says she was built in 1858 and ‘The Dover Castle, under Captain J. H. Ayles, once came home in under 80 days from Hobson’s Bay, but I know of no unusual sailing in her records. She was sold to Shaw Savill, and sold again to C. F. Boe, of Arendal, and renamed Kem ; after living to a good old age she was finally broken up’.
Well spotted Nigel!