Blair goes South on Mischief

[jimi]

Just finished reading Tilman's account of his troubles with crew on one of his Southern Ocean trips. Two things struck me

1) How would Tilman have posted on the Black Sailor thread
2) If Blair were the skipper on a small boat would Brown still be his first mate?

 

[Talbot]

Blair captain of a small craft, and brown first mate - not sure which of those would frighten me the most - just the thought is (almost) enough to put you of boating for life /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[jimi]

Suppose their craft would be <font color="red">gaff</font> rigged though!

 

[claymore]

I doubt whether Blair or Brown would hack it with Tilman, who didn't appear the most tolerant of people. I guess Prescott would be the best one to go with him - decent hand at the waiting on and suitably abrasive. Enjoyed listening to his rant this morning with Jim Naughtie

 

[Mirelle]

Neither Blair, nor Brown, nor Prescott would have done well on one of HWT's trips.

The best thing to do was to imitate the Skipper and not rabbit on too much - something that none of those three could possibly manage. But the pen portrait in the subsequent book would have been a gem.

 

[jimi]

The pen portrait of the two drifters he picked up in MonteVideo had me in stitches.. brings a new dimension to the word "dry".

 

[claymore]

Wid there be a wee pen portrait of Mirelle onywhaurs aboot?

 

[jimi]

I believe that was a later voyage (and I'll keep an eye ot for it) .. unless of course he was really Herbert the german cyclist .. or the black sailor ... according to Tilman the sub-tropical homo sapiens did'nt adapt well to colder weather, with the odd exception and the one he had whilst being very odd was certainly not an exception in that respect!

 

[Mirelle]

Two anecdotes

Both attributed to Eric Shipton:

Scene: a P&O steamer sailing from Tilbury to Bombay with a climbing expedition in the 1930's. As the ship enters the estuary, HWT is heard to observe,

"Ah, sea."

As the ship approaches Bombay HWT is again on deck, and ventures another remark:

"Ah, land."

Scene, a bivouac on a ledge in the Himalayas, also in the 1930's. Eric Shipton turns to his companion and says "Tilman?"

"Yes?"

"We have been climbing together for ten years, now. We have had a few sucesses, and a few failures. Do you suppose we have reached the point where I might call you "Bill" and you might call me "Eric"?"

"No."

Here is a link to Bob Comlay's website:

http://www.comlay.net/tilman/

 

[Jules]

Re: Two anecdotes

Oh yes.
More please.