Category: Culture: songs, stories, photography and art

Traditions and culture relevant to the world of real boating and sailors

Was the Cutty Sark dead before she burned?

Belem

Belem – the ship Adam Nicolson will never forget.
Photo via the Wikipedia Commons and taken by Georges Jansoone

There’s an interesting and highly opinionated feature article in yesterday’s The Guardian that made me stop and think, and may interest many readers of intheboatshed.net.

Article author Adam Nicolson compares the static state of Britain’s great old sailing ships – HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and of course Cutty Sark imprisoned in its dry dock at Greenwich – with the French cocoa boat Belem, which still sails regularly with the support of a substantial financial trust.

As he writes about his experience of sailing on the Belem, it’s clear that she made a huge impression on him; he says he would have wept Continue reading “Was the Cutty Sark dead before she burned?”

A 400-year-old shallop built and sailed again

John Smith 400

John Smith 400 John Smith 400 John Smith 400

Photos by Michael Wootton

This curious and rather Dutch-looking spritsail-rigged craft is a recreation of the shallop, a boat from four centuries ago.

‘On June 2, 1608, Captain John Smith and fourteen English colonists set out from Jamestown in a 30-foot open boat or shallop to explore and map the Chesapeake Bay. Travelling over 1,700 miles in just over three months, Smith and his men witnessed the Chesapeake at its productive peak, with its incredible ecosystem intact and a multitude of American Indian cultures thriving along its shores. The observations and sketches made by Smith during his travels would form the basis for his remarkable 1612 map of the Bay, which served as the definitive rendering of the region for nearly a century.’

Smith’s voyage is being recreated as I write – read all about it here: http://www.johnsmith400.org

Thanks to Ed Bachmann for pointing this one out!

[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]

‘Phwoar!’, says Light Trow builder Ben Crawshaw

Onawind Blue

Light Trow Onawind Blue

Just back from a jolly holiday (in the Ariege region of France, and very pleasant, thanks) I was absolutely delighted to read about the mounting excitement that Ben Crawshaw is feeling over this project to build my Light Trow design. I’m pretty excited too, so I hope regular readers will forgive me for drawing attention to his project once again.

Ben is building the first boat from the plans and I’m delighted with the job he’s doing. The photo above shows the new boat with its decks cut out and laid across the sheer: ‘Phwoar!’ is how he describes it in his blog, and after all his hard work he deserves Continue reading “‘Phwoar!’, says Light Trow builder Ben Crawshaw”