Tag: uk

Small boats in wartime – Survival at Sea and Dunkirk at the IWM

A few careless words may end in this

 

Anglo Saxon jolly boat

The jolly boat of the Anglo Saxon – sadly now badly dried out; the poster above was shot without flash

A trip to the Imperial War Museum is always moving, but those who appreciate and fear the sea will be very struck by the exhibition Survival at Sea my son and daughter and I saw this week.

The statistics in relation to merchant navy losses during World War II are impressive. I didn’t know that more than half of shipping losses world wide during the period of the war were British, or that more than twice as many merchant navy seamen were lost in WWII compared with WWI. The years 1939-45 were a very, very dangerous time to be a seaman.

Naturally many of the sailors caught in enemy attacks escaped from burning and sinking ships in lifeboats and ship’s boats, and two exhibits are particularly striking in their humanity. In one, young men in a lifeboat used a pencil and torn bits of canvas to record how their crewmates died one by one; the other the jolly boat from the ship Anglo Saxon is an 18ft open boat with 24 notches cut in the inwale near the stern – each one records a night at sea before rescue. Some crewmen survived in each case, but they were pitifully few.

Bligh House

By an extraordinary coincidence, our way back to London Bridge Station passed the home of another extraordinary survivor – Captain Bligh of the Bounty. Following the famous mutiny, Bligh and his loyal officers and seamen cast off in an open boat then sailed first to the relatively island of Tofua (30 miles away) and then survived a 47-day voyage to Timor in the Dutch East Indies.

He seems to have been an extraordinary seaman and leader, even if he was flawed in the way apparently described by the oddly named J C Beaglehole:

‘[Bligh made] dogmatic judgements which he felt himself entitled to make; he saw fools about him too easily… thin-skinned vanity was his curse through life… [Bligh] never learnt that you do not make friends of men by insulting them.’

I’d say that was a common enough flaw and difficult to forgive – but naturally not quite enough to justify sending someone off to near-certain death.

Another exhibit we noticed was the Tamzine – easily the smallest Dunkirk Little Ship I’ve ever seen, though there must have been many like her.

Dunkirk Little Ship Tamzine Dunkirk Little Ship Tamzine Dunkirk Little Ship Tamzine

News from my inbox: SS Shieldhall appeal, crossing the Atlantic by raft and surfboard building

SS Shieldhall on the Clyde 2005

Government grants for historic ships have dried up and the SS Shieldhall urgently needs £80,000 if she is to continue sailing

Just a few items from my inbox today.

Historic steamship SS Shieldhall needs £80,000 to keep sailing

One of the country’s most important historic steam ships has launched and appeal for survival, amid ongoing concerns that Britain’s maritime heritage is in decline.

Registered charity The Solent Steam Packet is appealing for £80,000 to secure the future of SS Shieldhall, a historic steam-driven cargo and passenger ship that some time ago was named ‘Flagship of the National Historic Ships Fleet’. In spring 2011 she will require dry-docking, which is necessary if she is to continue to sail – however the cost will be £80,000 to £100,000.  The charity says that budget cuts mean that grants are no longer routinely available to pay for maintenance work on heritage ships, and that our seafaring nation now risks losing many of its most significant vessels.

I sincerely hope they’re overstating the case or we could be in big trouble where some very important vessels are concerned.

Antiki – crossing the Atlantic on a raft made of plastic tubes

People try to cross bodies of water in a variety of craft both crazy and otherwise.

On this occasion part of the twist on this occasion is that the skipper, author Anthony Smith, is in his mid-80s and the vessel is made up of industrial plastic tubes tied together. The link above goes to the expedition weblog.

As you’d expect from the writer of the best-selling book The Body (The Human Body in the US), this silly-sounding voyage has several serious aims, including raising money for Water Aid, studying plankton in the age of global warming, and as a reminder of the dreadful bu often forgotten losses suffered by the merchant navy during World War II.

Surfboard building

Paul Reisberg has written to say that he’s hosting a three-day workshop by Rich Blundell on how to build a hollow wooden surfboard in Pembrokeshire at half-term this month – if you’re going to have a little time on your hands around then, love surfing and woodwork this might be for you. More information is available from the link above, and from Rich’s website.

Humber keels and sloops

Humber keels racing

Humber sloops racing

Correction! I’ve received the following message from Dave Everatt of the Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society.

‘Gavin: To correct an error on my part, the photo I sent labelled Keel race was in fact not a race at all. Keel races were mainly in the 19th century and photos are rare and usually of very poor quality. When keels were racing they would usually set both mainsail and topsail and, because it was a special event, would also fly a burgee with the vessel’s name on it. The photo I sent you shows a group of keels heading down the Humber after ‘bunkering’ trawlers (that is, loading them with coal) in St Andrews Dock. They would be heading for the eastern docks, such as Alexandra Dock, to load a return cargo for the Aire & Calder or Sheffield &South Yorkshire Navigation. I have attached a further photo [pasted below – Ed] probably taken at the same time. Regards Dave’

Keels at Hull

I’m very pleased to be able to share these striking shots of Humber keels (top) and Humber sloops, thanks to Dave Everatt of the Humber Keel and Humber Sloop Society.

Taken in about 1900, the upper image in particular is a powerful reminder that many of us who come from the Eastern side of the UK are at least partly descended from the Vikings – and that there’s lots of genetic material to prove it.

The lower photo dates from the 1920s. In each case, click on the image for a much larger and clearer photo.

The society is currently celebrating its new website, so please check it out: www.keelsandsloops.org.uk. You’ll find that it cares for both a Humber keel and a Humber sloop, named Comrade and Amy Howson respectively.

While we’re on the subject, Youtube has a nice clip of the Humber sloop Spider T racing down the estuary on the tide.

PS – In the comments below Jim from Zanzibar asks about the paddle steamer in the lower photo. Here’s what HKHSS’s Dave Everatt has to say:

‘I cannot be 100 per cent sure but I believe the paddle steamer is the PS Humber. If so this is the information I could find on the vessel.

‘Of 131 tons, she was built by J T Eltringham & Co, South Shields 1895, and her propulsion was a paddle  driven by single cylinder engine by Hepple & Co of South Shields. Her tonnage was 131

‘She was owned by J Turner and operated from 1895.

‘She was built as a tug for use on the River Tyne and was converted for pleasure work after her tug career. She was iron-built, 100ft long, with a breadth of 19ft and a draught of 9ft. PS Humber made trips from Grimsby to Spurn, where she would land passengers by local rowing boats.

‘Regards

‘Dave Everatt’