Category: History

A ballad of the transports

An angry ballad from the era of the transports – when criminals were sent by ship to Australia to provide free labour rather than imprisoning them at home. It was a particularly hard punishment, for not only was the work damned hard, but it often meant the individual would never see their families, partners and friends again. But I suppose it made money for someone…

The singer and musician here is Geoffrey Lakeman, friend of our golden-voiced chum Jim Causley.

If you’d like to know more about the transports, the Wikipedia has a good page here. It includes this rather fine contemporary of engraving of 1792 showing women mourning the loss of their husbands through being shipped to Australia as a punishment.

Black-eyed_Sue_and_Sweet_Poll_of_Plymouth_taking_leave_of_their_lovers_who_are_going_to_Botany_Bay

HMS Pickle leaves Gibraltar

HMS Pickle leaves Gibraltar – sadly she lost part of one of her masts off Cape Trafalgar, but that didn’t stop Mal and his crew from placing wreaths in the sea in memory of the sailors lost at the Battle of Trafalgar, and the loss of the original HMS Pickle off Cadiz.

I gather the next leg is to the Channel Islands, where they plan to pick up the head of National Historic Ships, Martin Heighton.

Sailing to and climbing the world’s most northerly volcano – Alasdair Flint talks at central London’s historic yacht chandlers Arthur Beale

There are still places available for tomorrow’s (Thursday’s) talk at central London’s historic chandler’s shop Arthur Beale.

The talk, by Alasdair Flint, is about his expedition in Sumara, a 26 foot wooden yacht, to the remote Arctic Island of Jan Mayen to climb Beerenberg, the world’s most northerly volcano.

Alasdair will cover the journey from Scotland to the Faroe Islands, where they were joined by friends on another wooden yacht, he next leg to Jan Mayen and the climb of Beerenberg, as well as their attempts to reach the East Coast of Greenland, which were thwarted by ice and bad weather.

Alasdair will then describe their return including climbing Snaefell in Iceland and their visit to the Westmann Islands.

Alasdair Flint and Tim Loftus were awarded the Tilman Medal by the Royal Cruising Club for the adventure.

This talk is one of a regular series of talks being held at Arthur Beale’s every first Thursday of the month.

Future talks include:

  • Thursday 6th November Dick Wynne will be talking about Albert Strange, yacht designer, artist, sailor and writer (1855-1917)
  • Thursday 4th December Bob Comlay tells us about sailing with Bill Tilman, the mountaineer and navigator, and perhaps the finest travel writer of the twentieth century
  • Thursday 5th February Patrick Keating will try to help us avoid getting ‘the bug’ when he talks about the life and care of modern diesel fuels

The talks start at 6:45pm, and last between an hour and an hour and a half. Some talks are charged at a nominal £5.00 per person to help cover the cost of buying chairs!

Anyone wishing to attend should either call in at the shop – 194 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JP or email talks@arthurbeale.co.uk