Saxon Shore 9

 

Heavy, garnet crusted, brows become the wings of a fantastical war-bird ; as I stare into the inscrutable pagan ‘face.’ My gaze is returned by dark pools of shadow. The blunt noseguard resolves into a scarab-like body. The stylised moustache metamorphoses into a fanned tail. Jaws agape, this terrible creature soars to attack a snarling serpent. Head of gold. Jewelled eyes aflame. With sinuous iron torso, the snake forms the helm's, sword deflecting, crest. 

Germanic wolf warriors gyrate. Mounted spearmen trample fallen foes. Twining beasts tumble across shimmering repousse surfaces. Tusked boars spring from the tips of the brow-wings. Thus, the epic poem of Beowulf reveals, rendering this helmet impenetrable in battle.  

Discovered during the Sutton Hoo boat burial excavation. Most famous among the grave goods, of the Saxon King Raedwald . An unambiguous personification of power ; the helmet's true purpose remains enigmatic . Ceremonial splendour, the ultimate battlefield armour, an accompaniment to the afterlife ; or all three? Perhaps, one thousand five hundred years ago, the divides, between these realms, were more blurred. 

Much clearer is the imprint, left by the centrepiece ship's timbers. Their sinews long since subsumed by the soft damp of the Suffolk loam . Leaving only the original iron fastenings in situ.

Stamped into the soil is the shapely form, of a slender clinker built craft, twenty seven metres (ninety feet) long. Reminiscent of the Oseberg (pictured) and Gokstad ships, excavated intact, from eponymous ninth century royal barrows, in Norway. 

However the interment, of King Raedwald, predates those, of the two Norwegians, by fully two centuries. It's only known contemporaries lie in eastern Sweden. At Vendel and Valsgarde. Where the designs, of both ship and grave goods, are strikingly similar to those of Sutton Hoo. (Vendel helmet pictured). Raising the intriguing possibility of a seaborne link, between the eastern coasts of England and Sweden, during the seventh century.

Today, the Sutton Hoo treasures no longer lie looking across the river Deben, toward Woodbridge and its Tide Mill. Instead they pose their riddles from the British Museum, in central London. Where I am presenting documentation, to the French Consulate General, in pursuit of a crisp clear Visa, in my passport. The desk officer's expression is as inscrutable as that of King Raedwald’s helmet, when I pass her the painstakingly assembled sheaf of papers. Only time will tell if my application has been successful.

Picture Credits:

1. Sutton Hoo helmet original              British Museum

2. Sutton Hoo helmet reconstruction   Tom Milkins

3. Sutton Hoo excavation                     British Museum

4. Oseberg ship                                    Getty images

5. Vendel helmet                                   Mararie                 

Saxon Shore 8

 

Site of the summer palace of the Saxon Kings of Kent. Soaring gables, rufous clay tiles, buxom bow frontages, painted clapperboard, and half timbered upper stories crooked with age, crowd along cobbled streets. The jostling shadows, of millennia past, throng the steeply sloping pavements. Silently witnessed, these last seven hundred years, by the watching windows of The Sun Inn.

This scene is lit by a sharp edged winter sun; speaking of an atmosphere cleansed by windy weather. The tide, with an hour still to rise, races to meet me, at the foot of the street. Over-topping the creek. Crossing Conduit Street. Transforming waterfront properties into anxious islands.

North of Scotland, the ninety mile per hour winds, of storms Malik and Corrie, whip the white crested waters, of the Atlantic Ocean, south, into the funnel of the North Sea. The sea bed rises beneath them. The two shores taper inward. Mounding waves ever higher, as they approach the Kent coast. Creating a North Sea storm surge, which today coincides with the time of high tide.

Larger vehicles wade their way tentatively through the temporary inundation. Lower slung cars, and pedestrians, either turn around and reroute, or settle down to wait for the ebb. I back track, to higher ground, and walk parallel with the bank.

The opposite shore appears in glimpses. At the end of an alley, the centenarian steel built Thames sailing barge Repertor, lies snugged down for the winter, spars struck. A survivor from an age, on the fringes of living memory, when such craft still dominated coastal trade on the London river, and beyond. 

Cottages crouch behind a grass covered sea wall. Front steps are stacked with precautionary sand bags, as still the water clambers higher. Submerging the boardwalk of a jetty. Residents periodically emerge to survey its inexorable advance. Hostages to an uncertain future, in these times of climate change and sea level rise.

I retreat to the sanctuary of historic streets, placed, by far sighted mediaeval architects, on a resistant chalk ridge, clothed in brick-earth. Beyond the reach of the sea. Now and then. An eclectic mix of construction styles, eras and materials, to either hand. Ruddy brick and warm wood. . . .

. . . .give way to cool white facades, in the market square. Astride which stands the alice blue Guildhall, raised in the sixteenth century. The sun lit Council meeting chamber above, providing shelter for market traders, in the shade of the colonnades, below. 

With filigree fingers spread, a leaf-shorn tree, sinuous and asymmetric, raises a hand in protest at the march of rectilinear regularity. Beneath it, silhouette stick figures scurry. Mingling with the shadows of a rich past. Ever present, as Faversham bustles about its business.

Making Ready 8

 

An ominous stream of, what looks like, cow's milk issues from the base of Stargazer's saildrive leg. Water ingress has emulsified the gearbox oil, at some point during the past year. Simon, the diesel mechanic, dips his thumb and forefinger into the catch bucket. He rubs the contaminated oil knowledgeably between them. "Lucky. . . . I reckon the seals only failed recently. This oil still has some lubricity left. . . . . . . But I'm going to have to take the drive assembly back to the workshop, in Brightlingsea, to strip it down and check for damage."

Propeller, rope cutter and then the whole drive assembly are quickly removed, from the leg. A rag temporarily staunching Stargazer's open wound ; and preventing any ingress of grit to the finely machined surfaces within.

The annual service of the engine, new in 2019, goes more smoothly. Oil and coolant are drained and replaced in short order. Drive belts replaced and re-tensioned.

The fuel filter is renewed and the old one inspected for signs of diesel bug. Thankfully, none are found. Growth is an ever present risk, due to the increasing addition of hygroscopic bio derived fractions to pump diesel. 

The Marine 16 treatment, which I add religiously, when refuelling, seems to be doing its job. My habit, of refilling from cans, probably helps too. Effectively, any new fuel quarantines, giving the bug killer time to get to work, before being added to Stargazer's tank.

A precautionary new impeller is fitted to the raw water cooling system. My line of red paint, starting on the front of the bronze impeller housing and continuing onto the body, ensuring that the face plate is replaced in the exact orientation it came off. Increasing the likelihood that an effective, drip free, seal will be formed.

Two weeks later, Simon is back aboard. Refilling the gearbox, with oil so clear that it is scarcely visible on the dipstick. He advises me to check its level, once we have motored back to the berth. In case the reinstalled transmission harbours an air pocket within.

Simon has turned down and sleeved the stub shaft, for the propeller . Creating crisp clean seats for the new oil seals. After a thorough bench examination, the rest of the lower drive mechanism has been passed fit . The folding propeller has been polished and lubricated. New anodes fitted and the rope cutter reassembled. Stargazer’s engine is ready to begin a new season.

Picture Credits

1,8                  Simon French, of French Marine

2,3,4,5,6,7      Me

5                     Pirates Cave Chandlery

Making Ready 7

 

I turn the radio up, hardly daring to believe that I have heard correctly. This is the news I have been hoping for .  France has relaxed her border restrictions. These have prevented United Kingdom citizens from entering the country, without a 'compelling reason .' Outlawing a cruise under sail.

I finish my lunch with an open lap top propped before me. Logged into the visa application website of the Republique Francaise. The afternoon passes locating or downloading proofs of identity, financial status, medical insurance, covid vaccination and more. By evening I am rewarded with a Registration Receipt. It transpires that I must take this to a London handling centre, along with my various documents, for validation. I book the first available appointment, in early February.

Mercifully, France is one, of only two, Schengen Treaty nations offering beleaguered post-Brexit Brits the opportunity to visit, for longer than the Withdrawal Agreement maximum (of ninety days in any rolling one hundred and eighty day period). Subject to applying for a Visa de Long Sejour Temporaire. A blessing which has been, until now, rendered moot by covid border closures.

A summer cruise, to the sun dappled seas south of the Pointe de Penmarc’h, to celebrate my sixtieth birthday, beckons. My heart lifts, in joyous anticipation. Fond memories, of Stargazer's passage to La Rochelle (Living the Dream), swirl through my mind.

I have double cause to rejoice: A high pressure systems brings crisp clear January days to Kent. Springlike sunshine drives the night-frost from, all but the most shadowed, hollows by midday.

An absence of breeze allows temperatures to climb toward ten degrees, during the afternoons. 

This is an opportunity to be seized. Stargazer's scraped hull (Making Ready 5) can be repainted far sooner than I had dared to hope. The Gelshield epoxy will cure at five degrees or above .  Stargazer's bottom changes colour by the day, as the layers build. Green. . . . .

. . . . .grey, green, grey, green. The colours are alternated for ease of monitoring coverage, as each layer is applied. A coat of grey primer completes the protective barrier. It will eventually tie the antifouling to the epoxy. First though, the epoxy and primer must chemically bond, to the hull and to each other, for a couple of weeks.

I book the crane, for Stargazer's relaunch and mast re-stepping, for the first day of March. Anticipating that there will be a suitable weather window, in which to apply two coats of antifouling (more tolerant of temperature and moisture than epoxy) during the latter part of February. 

Stargazer's new rigging, instruments and mainsail will need to be set up and tested, once back afloat. And, potentially, some final adjustments made. Local sailing, on the Medway during March, should allow this to be achieved. 

Meanwhile, in Stargazer's cabin, the tidetables are out. To plan an April shakedown cruise. Prior to a May departure, for points south. . . . . .

Saxon Shore 7

 

The wheel of life is come full circle, for the paddle steamer Medway Queen. Built, between the wars, to entertain London holidaymakers, with river trips. When hostilities broke out, she found herself pressed into service. First as a mine sweeper. Then, in the flotilla of Little Ships, rescuing embattled soldiers from the Normandy beaches.

After the armistice, she returned, like the troops, to an uncertain civilian future. Demobbed, with a full refit, she resumed her former trade. Shuttling tourists between the Medway, Herne Bay and Southend-on-Sea. Inexorably trade dwindled. Customers lured away, by affordable package holidays on the Spanish Costa's. No longer able to pay her way, the Medway Queen found herself ignominiously relegated to the role of floating night club, on the Isle of Wight's Medina river.

Worse was to follow. An eventual  return to the Medway ended calamitously. Derelict, the Medway Queen sank, at her mooring on Chatham's Sun Pier, awaiting renovation.

Refloated, her bilges filled with concrete, in order to waterproof the rust perforated hull plating, she languished on a mud berth, in Damhead Creek, on the Isle of Grain. Volunteers, from the Medway Queen Preservation society, devoted their weekends to staunching her wounds. But the sheer scale of the task overwhelmed their enthusiastic endeavours.

A  Heritage Lottery Fund grant saved the day. Funding a full, five year, hull rebuild, in Bristol.

 Following which, the Medway Queen returned to her home river and, supported by a European Union (EU) grant, opened to the public from a berth on Gillingham Pier. The ticket proceeds funding further works, completed over the past year, by the specialist steel boat shipwrights of Ramsgate harbour.

In the second week of January, the Medway Queen is relaunched. Leaving Ramsgate under tow by tugs Christine and Nipashore. One ahead. One astern. The seas are calm. The tide fair. A shaft of symbolic winter sun breaks through the grey cloud, lending her fresh paintwork an ethereal lustre.

The three ship convoy winds its way, around North Foreland, and into the lower reaches of the Medway.

Up past the church spire at Hoo, to Gillingham Pier. Full circle. Almost. Back home, sound in wind and limb, but unable to carry sightseers on river excursions.

The extent of her Bristol hull rebuild means that the Medway Queen is classed, by the Department of Transport (DoT), as a new vessel. A high bar on which her Passenger Licence application has foundered. The single skin, riveted plate, construction cannot meet modern safety regulations. As her sinking at Sun Pier demonstrated, a failed rivet, or sprung plate, may lead to the loss of the ship. Her maximum legal compliment is therefore capped at twelve, passengers and crew.

 Denied a DoT Passenger Licence. Cut off from EU financing. The Medway Queen must find a new role in life. The indefatigable volunteers of the Preservation Society battle on with her restoration. Their most pressing task, to replace interior and deck fittings taken ashore, for renovation, last summer.

What does the future hold for the Medway Queen, if she may no longer treat trippers to the delights of a day on the water? 

Rumours abound, of a more prominent, higher footfall, berth. Perhaps as the floating centre piece for a housing development, proposed once Gillingham Docks close in 2025. Or in Dockyard Basin Number 2, at the heart of the existing St Mary's Island residential area, alongside the Watersports Academy. Or as an exhibit within Chatham’s Historic Naval Dockyard.

Link

Medway Queen Preservation Society

Picture Credits

5. Aerial photograph of Medway Queen on Ramsgate slip.     Andy Gutsell

6. Painting of Medway Queen leaving Ramsgate harbour.      David Stearne

1,2,3,4,7,8,9, 8, 9, 10, 11                                                          Me

 

Making Ready 6

 

With Stargazer's new mainsail on its way (Making Ready 4), it is time to resolve a bugbear with the mainsheet (the 'block and tackle' which controls the boom and mainsail). The power of a 6:1 purchase is required, in order to handle the load generated by the sail. This has triple sheaved blocks mounted to the boom and cockpit sole. Necessarily, its falls (the lengths of rope running between the pulleys) are closely spaced (picture above). To the extent that, at inopportune moments, they can touch, and lock up under load. Preventing adjustment.

This is a known drawback, to high purchase sheeting arrangements. (Their advantage is that, without the use of winches, the sail may be controlled by hand). There are two schools of thought on how to overcome it. 

The first concerns the mounting of the blocks. Some swear by locking them in position, so that no twist is possible; and, in theory at least, the falls are held separate. Others swear by fitting them on swivels, which allow the blocks to take up a position of least resistance, determined by the pull from the falls. I have tried both approaches, as well as a hybrid, with one block fixed and the other swiveling. And found little difference in performance. In the end settling on a swivelling arrangement as ‘least bad.’

The second school of thought concerns the reeving (threading) of the mainsheet through the blocks. At commissioning Stargazer's mainsheet was rove to the Harken pattern (shown above). 

Because of the lock up problems, I had begun to doubt whether Stargazer's original mainsheet reeving was correct. An internet search confirmed that it did exactly match the Harken pattern. It also turned up a different method, on the Barton website (above). Following it alleviated, but did not completely eliminate, the mainsail control issue. Instead I evolved a technique, to free the jam, by grabbing the middle (upbound) fall and pulling it forward, hard. This has always succeeded in freeing a lock up. Not elegant, but it seemed that I had exhausted all of the known cures.

Until, in conversation with Alan, the sailmaker, I learnt of an alternative approach: The EasyMatic system (shown above). This removes the problem, of locking falls, in an elegantly simple manner. Although a 6:1 system, it eschews the problematic triple block. Instead there are double blocks, in a fore and aft plane, with a single block mounted laterally. This separates the falls and eliminates the twisting forces which bring them together. Thus (I hope) eliminating friction lock up at source. It has another trick up its sleeve, too. You may notice that it is double ended (actually an endless loop, spliced together out of shot). Pull both tails (ends) simultaneously and a great deal of sheet is moved very rapidly, at a 3:1 purchase. Useful for light wind gybes. Pull just one tail however and the full 6:1 purchase is engaged.

Vectran mainsail, EasyMatic mainsheet; and a super smooth hull (Making Ready 5). Stargazer is making ready to fly, in 2022.

Picture Credits

1,2,5   Me

3         Harken

4        Barton

5        Force 4 Chandlery