Massimo Di Nonno’s photos of the early part of the Man on the Water small boat voyage from London to Istanbul

Don’t miss these photos – this is a lovely, lovely collection of the early part of Giacomo de Stefano’s Man on the River small boat voyage from London to Istanbul, which he completed a few weeks ago. The boat, an Iain Oughtred-designed Ness Yawl built by Giacomo and friends is now on exhibition in an Istanbul museum.

Photos of the traditional wooden clinker-built fleet of fishing boats at Hastings

[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]

fishing boat, wooden boat, clinker, hastings, beach boat, traditional boat, south coast, england,

fishing boat, wooden boat, clinker, hastings, beach boat, traditional boat, south coast, england, fishing boat, wooden boat, clinker, hastings, beach boat, traditional boat, south coast, england, fishing boat, wooden boat, clinker, hastings, beach boat, traditional boat, south coast, england,

fishing boat, wooden boat, clinker, hastings, beach boat, traditional boat, south coast, england, fishing boat, wooden boat, clinker, hastings, beach boat, traditional boat, south coast, england,

fishing boat, wooden boat, clinker, hastings, beach boat, traditional boat, south coast, england, fishing boat, wooden boat, clinker, hastings, beach boat, traditional boat, south coast, england, fishing boat, wooden boat, clinker, hastings, beach boat, traditional boat, south coast, england,

Quite a few of the traditional wooden clinker built boats survive among the beach-based fishing fleet at Hastings

These photos are part of a collection of shots I took of the beach boat fishing fleet at Hastings in the Easter Bank Holiday sunshine earlier this week. I’ll put up some more in the coming days.

Looking back, this is the first time I’ve photographed the boats in just over three years and I’m impressed that there seem to be almost as many of the traditional wooden clinker built beach boats as there were on my last visit. It’s particulary pleasing to see how many of the smaller boats are now being cared for and used by the local sea angling society, which seems to include some seriously hard working enthusiasts. Long may they prosper!

For more intheboatshed.net posts relating to Hastings and its fishing fleet, click here. I think you’ll find some interesting material.

Don’t miss out on the weekly intheboatshed.net newsletter: sign up here

Was Sir Walter Raleigh a murderer?

[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]

nicholas_hilliard_007

Sir Walter Raleigh painted by Nicholas Hilliard, from the The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei via the Wikimedia

Ex-Naval man, 20th century historian and Roman Catholic Bishop, David Mathew describes Sir Walter Raleigh’s importance in 1596 like this: ‘With Hawkins, Drake and Grenville lost on service and Frobisher dead the previous year, Sir Walter Raleigh alone remained. Though much less of a naval figure, for he was in essence a Renaissance magnifico, Raleigh set the lines of later doctrine.’

British schoolchildren are taught that he was an important figure in Queen Elizabeth I’s court and navy, and that he was always getting into trouble with his queen, on one occasion for secretly marrying one of her ladies-in-waiting. But was he also a heartless murderer?

A street ballad in Samuel Pepys’s ballad collection certainly suggests he was. Read the story as told in a ballad that was widely sung and part of the oral tradition in England and America well into the 20th century. Sussex singer, fisherman and ferryman Johnny Doughty had a a particularly good version.

It’s sometimes also known as the Sweet Trinity and has its own Wikipedia entry. Mudcat has versions, and a surprising range of really good tunes for the song.

golden-vanity-page-1 golden-vanity-page-2

Don’t miss something good. Subscribe to intheboatshed.net’s weekly newsletters!