Out of Lockdown 14

 

Nancy Blackett. Twenty eight feet over the deck . Built by David Hillyard of Littlehampton, ninety years ago. In the halcyon days, of respite, between the horrors of two world wars. Arthur Ransome's favourite of all his boats. Named after the leader of the 'Amazons' (in his book Swallows and Amazons) and herself heroine, under the pseudonym 'Goblin,' of  'We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea.'

A tale I have read and re-read since childhood . My well thumbed copy carried aboard first Missee Lee, then Goblin and now Stargazer, on our cruises.

Nancy Blackett's name unexpectedly appears, on the phone screen, when I search for Stargazer's position, using an AIS app. She is headed upriver toward Ipswich, but the position report is from Saturday. Since then, no further transmissions have been received. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

The Nancy Blackett Trust website informs me that, over the winter, she refitted at Robertsons' yard, on the River Deben. Then, on May Day, she set sail, bound for Woolverstone. 

I scan the forest of aluminium masts which surrounds Stargazer. Seeking out, and studying closely, the few gleaming golden varnished wooden spars. One, taller than most, with a shapely taper, takes my eye. I walk towards it, my excitement rising.

A lithe low form, from a more elegant era, lies boxed between more lumpen craft . I have found Nancy Blackett . Her name just visible, hand carved into two, richly glowing, mahogany boards, adorning her snowy white transom. Cordage fresh. Bright work lustrous. Ready to put to sea.

I am lost in a storybook whirl of inspiration, dreams and reminiscences. Kaleidoscopically conjured from my memories of cruises under sail, some to Vlissingen, where Goblin voyaged, in the book ; from recollections of when I first received and read the book ; from the tale itself, of the 'Swallows' unintentionally navigating the North Sea, to the Netherlands.

POST SCRIPT

 If you wonder, as I do, what Nancy Blackett looks like under sail, or below decks, the enthusiasts of the Trust have put together this YouTube video to show us. In it they tell the tale of how she was saved from dereliction and restored, to cruise the seas once more. A tale worthy of Ransome himself.