Arthur Ransome's Peter Duck

[paul.norton]

Hope this has not been posted already.

CAUTION - This link will take you to the DAILY MAIL

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2196133/My-Swallows-Amazons-childhood-Arthur-Ransome-s-boat-Elf-n-safety-look-away-now.html

Enjoy,

Paul

 

[Lakesailor]

Perhaps she simplified the chronology for the article. Peter Duck didn't go back to Russia until late 1994 and returned to the UK in 1998. Julia Jones and Francis Wheen bought her from Ann Palmer from hard standing at Woodbridge.

It's wonderful that someone with such a strong connection with the boat has maintained that.

 

[Seajet]

Of course this boat lead to a small class of 'Peter Duck' class cruisers designed by Laurent Giles.

http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/boats/d321010/d321010.htm

At the last International Festival Of the Sea ( IFOS, and what's happened, will there be another ?! ) there was Arthur Ransomes' boat 'Nancy Blackett' which 'Goblin' of 'We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea' was based on.

Quite something going aboard ( after a boyhood imagining her ) and chatting with the ladies smartly dressed in 'Amazons' pirate gear, an historic A.R. devoted association runs the boat now;

http://nancyblackett.org/

No connection, just a fan !

 

[Wansworth]

Thanks for posting that....a proper boat

 

[prv]

Thanks for posting that....a proper boat

I remember as a kid thinking how silly it was that the plans of various boats in the books (Goblin, Teasel, Wildcat) never included a loo

Pete

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I remember as a kid thinking how silly it was that the plans of various boats in the books (Goblin, Teasel, Wildcat) never included a loo

Pete

Nor did they mention digging a latrine at their various camp-sites. I do remember asking my mother about that, and she said it was a literary convention that such things were usually not mentioned. I guess it was at that time!

 

[Lakesailor]

.............Titty came back from the the latrine carrying the empty carboard inner from the arsewipe.

"This Izal is awful stuff!" she said "It makes my botty sore."

"I hope you jolly well haven't made a frightful stink." said Roger.

Susan looked up and suggested that the crew should "Give it 10 minutes, just to be safe."

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Of course this boat lead to a small class of 'Peter Duck' class cruisers designed by Laurent Giles.

http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/boats/d321010/d321010.htm

At the last International Festival Of the Sea ( IFOS, and what's happened, will there be another ?! ) there was Arthur Ransomes' boat 'Nancy Blackett' which 'Goblin' of 'We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea' was based on.

Quite something going aboard ( after a boyhood imagining her ) and chatting with the ladies smartly dressed in 'Amazons' pirate gear, an historic A.R. devoted association runs the boat now;

http://nancyblackett.org/

No connection, just a fan !

Forumite BarbicanBill skippers Nancy Blackett.

He is the biggest fan of the AR books i`ve ever met!... and is also the perfect character to skipper her too.... there is little doubt that he is really `Uncle Jim`!!!!

 

[Seajet]

Well I don't remember anyone visiting a loo in Star Wars, Die Hard, Speed, Star Trek, Terminator, Falling Skies, Dexter or Burn Notice either....

'Biggles suddenly feels the need for a pee so trots behind a bush' tends to take the shine off the all-action machine guns and explosives.

 

[Greenheart]

How pretty is that Peter Duck ketch on Seajet's Yachtsnet link? Fabulous.

All the slick cleverdickery of the 21st century's best innovative designs just dribbles away, compared with a solid timber yacht. She's not even built as an eye-popping beauty - just a safe, workmanlike boat...but the result is pure atmosphere and appealing warmth. Love it.

 

[CoVianna]

.............Titty came back from the the latrine carrying the empty carboard inner from the arsewipe.

"This Izal is awful stuff!" she said "It makes my botty sore."

"I hope you jolly well haven't made a frightful stink." said Roger.

Susan looked up and suggested that the crew should "Give it 10 minutes, just to be safe."

Different books I know but the Famous Five were never the same after The Comic Strip got hold of them!

Five Go Mad in Dorset!

 

[Greenheart]

I'll re-read the Swallows stories again...

...just thinking of the sequence aboard the Goblin, when, during the night passage across the North Sea, John has fallen asleep in the cockpit and Susan, formerly very seasick, has steered the yacht while he snored...

...John finally awakens and asks how things are; Susan replies, and Ransome writes that "there was pride in her voice".

Very nicely observed, exciting stories, diplomatically aware of the distinctions between roughneck local kids and the visiting middle-class Swallows, but wisely and subtly focusing on the shared delights and frustrations they inevitably experience in boats, on the water.

The stories would have been pretty repellent, if the author maintained an appetite for bodily functions and arguments.

 

[2nd_apprentice]

Well I don't remember anyone visiting a loo in Star Wars, Die Hard, Speed, Star Trek, Terminator, Falling Skies, Dexter or Burn Notice either....

'Biggles suddenly feels the need for a pee so trots behind a bush' tends to take the shine off the all-action machine guns and explosives.

Once upon a time in America, Pulp Fiction, Demolition Man, Clerks, The Godfather, Lethal Weapon, Austin Powers, Trainspotting... I could go on forever!

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

How pretty is that Peter Duck ketch on Seajet's Yachtsnet link? Fabulous.

All the slick cleverdickery of the 21st century's best innovative designs just dribbles away, compared with a solid timber yacht. She's not even built as an eye-popping beauty - just a safe, workmanlike boat...but the result is pure atmosphere and appealing warmth. Love it.

The link was to pictures of 'Bacchante' which I recently sold .... she was on the market for a year and sold in the spring to an Italian who is keeping her in Slovenia. Went off on a low-loader lorry. I put her ashore after buying a Paul Gartside Helford Cutter ... still wooden but bigger and much prettier! Peter Ducks are lovely classic boats, sail ok except for lee helm in light airs, nice and dry, narrow bunks, easily managed sailplan, thumping great engine, enough headroom to wear a tophat and built like a church ... and cheap these days, even a nice one! Might have done better as a sloop or cutter and not a patch on a Vertue, though bigger and anyway, aimed at a different market really.

 

[Mudisox]

sesta now on the Wareham river,

 

[Lakesailor]

Peter Ducks are lovely classic boats, enough headroom to wear a tophat

Arfur's was a bit less comodious. When they were built as a class the topsides were extended to give more headroom.

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

You're right ... in fact I remember reading that he didn't really like the boat at all!

 

[Greenheart]

Nevermind, I've heard that Enid Blyton absolutely hated children!

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

I'm with her!

 

[Lakesailor]

You're right ... in fact I remember reading that he didn't really like the boat at all!

In Arthur Ransome Under Sail, Roger Wardale quotes from letters by Arfur that show that he said he liked the boat but that he couldn't get her (without the engine running) to go about.
He goes on about this quite a bit.
He also seemed to have a hate-hate relationship with motors, which were forever stopping.
I reckon he was a less than practical man.