My good mate has been on a post retirement (it being a short while since, now…) exercise in looking at things stowed away in the loft… Working on the general theory that stuff that gravitates to that section of one’s abode, hasn’t any real further use, that is, except for boating stuff that is in winter storage!
I have to admit, some boxes that found their way ‘below’ contained items dating back to my college days. Wow! There’s more to sift through…
Going through a box of trivia, the mate’s, we came across some old pictures. Why they were stowed where found will always be a mystery however. They fell from an envelope and fluttered to the deck… They were of Whimbrel dating back to our first season.
The pictures were taken by a group of people on a boat waiting to go through Kingsferry Bridge at the same time as we were. I seem to remember that they were sent, long after I’d returned to sea after my leave period. This goes back to my time with the Royal fleet Auxiliary…
Later, at Queenborough, the group rowed over and asked if they could have a look at the boat: she was barely two months old at the time!
Whimbrel in the Swale in 1984… Note the lack of kicker to stop boom lift. This was dealt with by end of season, and my season ended when I was called back to sea…
One chap wanted to know why gripfast nails hadn’t been used to fasten the boat up … instead of copper clenched fastenings. I tried to explain, but even to this day I can remember it all being lost on the poor soul! It was then that one of the group promised to send us some pictures, which he kindly did…
What is interesting about all of this is the bucket. We didn’t have a VHF in our early days and still relied on ‘old fashioned’ methods of communication. At Kingsferry the time honoured means of making your intentions known for a transit was the humble dip bucket. In days further down the line that bucket would have had other uses too!
When Whimbrel was young…
There are many places where time honoured systems were used … one wonders how many still are, and too, how many of today’s sailors know of these old tricks.
Thinking of this I wonder if all pilot books still make a note of such methods: there will still be water users without a VHF … the mobile phone has by-passed some of those needs, but do they know how to do it…?
My father used to tell me about using the dip bucket to get Benfleet Bridge to lift … of course now it is fixed!
Hey ho…