Boats

[poliphilo]

I'm a good sailor, I've never been seasick- and I'm not afraid to be out on the water, but...

...It's the confinement I dislike. To see for miles and miles and yet be unable to access any of that space because you're stuck in a funny little tub- I find that hard. If I went on a long ocean voyage I'd spend much of my time wishing I was a bird...

In the Hornblower books, C.S. Forester has his hero pacing backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, imagining (or am I making this bit up) that he's strolling over open country or parkland or rolling hills or anything but a nasty splintery deck. That'd be me- assuming I was an officer, of course, and had access to the time and space in which to take that kind of exercise. But if I were a common seaman...

We romanticise Nelson's navy, but I don't see that the common sailors were much better than slaves. Many of them had been press-ganged (meaning kidnapped), their living conditions were atrocious and any flicker of disobedience or rebellion was punished brutally. Captain Bligh had it coming.

Nelson, by the way, as we're now finding out- was an enthusiast for the institution of slavery- to the extent of launching his "voice against the damnable and cursed doctrine of Wilberforce and his hypocritical allies.” And is that really any surprise when he was- to all intents and purposes (in his capacity as a Royal Naval officer)- a slave driver himself?

I have wandered from the point, which was to say how much I love boats- as objects- just so long as I don't have to travel on them. A week and a half ago I went for a walk on the beach at Hastings- and took pictures of the fishing boats. They are just so, so beautiful...

Comments

[cmcmck]

It's such a fabulous town.


Nelson seriously disliked the press as he wanted experienced (or at least willing) sailors. The famous image of his death with the black sailor among those around him isn't fantasy. Interesting as it's known exactly who he was. He volunteered to serve. There were eighteen Africans on the Trafalgar fleet.

George Ryan- you'll also find him on one of the plaques on Nelson's column:

[poliphilo]

Do you know Causeley's rather brilliant poem about the death of Nelson?

His five of decorations
He ferried on the flood,
The four all made of silver
And the one all made of blood.

It would be so great if Nelson hadn't been a man of his time (and very conservative) but, alas, he was.

[cmcmck]

Causley is an underrated poetic genius!

[sovay]

They are just so, so beautiful...

That first photo is especially beautiful to me. I am glad you have boats so ready at hand to you.

[poliphilo]

Hastings is about 25 miles away. It still has a fishing fleet. There's no harbour so the boats are kept on the beach- which is unusual.

[sovay]

Hastings is about 25 miles away. It still has a fishing fleet.

New Bedford does, too, which I love, but I have not been there recently, what with the plague.

There's no harbour so the boats are kept on the beach- which is unusual.

So they go out when the tide comes in?

[poliphilo]

You know, I'm not entirely sure how they get them floated, but there are tractors with caterpillar tracks dotted around the beach (you can see one in the third picture) and I think they must have something to do with it.

[lokbiiviing]

They do make the most beautiful image, being colourful in the sunlight with the dramatic sky in the background. The shape of a boat is just so lovely.

My uncle and his wife took me with them on a boat that carried both cars and passengers from Helsinki to somewhere in coastal Germany when I was a teenager. They lived in Spain, so that's where we were going. The journey there was a draaaaaag. We ate. On the boat we ate. And ate. And ate. And while the seas and the skies are certainly striking and beautiful, the sameness of it gets old. It gets old pretty fast. Well, to me, at least. My uncle was a sea captain before he retired so he was probably just fine and I didn't want to tell him how happy I was just to get OUT! XD *Not a sea person*