Books for eastcoasters

nigelm

nigelm

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I just been wandering around a well known book store and saw three books by a guy called Nick Ardley , they were called Salt marsh & mud , Mudlarking and Jottings of a Thames estuary ditch crawler , all based on and around our patch , I've never come across these before and just wondering if anyone else has either by reading them or knows the author , all 3 looked like they might be worth a read ........
 
There are all interesting if you can get past his irritating writing style and constant references to himself in the 3rd person. Recommended for his fascinating historical knowledge of the hulks and wrecks in our creeks.
 
nigelm said:
I just been wandering around a well known book store and saw three books by a guy called Nick Ardley , they were called Salt marsh & mud , Mudlarking and Jottings of a Thames estuary ditch crawler , all based on and around our patch , I've never come across these before and just wondering if anyone else has either by reading them or knows the author , all 3 looked like they might be worth a read ........
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Book Shop shirley :rolleyes:
 
Behome said:
There are all interesting if you can get past his irritating writing style and constant references to himself in the 3rd person.
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That I couldn't do. However informative the text, I found the only book of his that I tried (Mudlarking) completely unreadable.
 
chinita said:
Great, I ordered it yesterday :(
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I hope you get on with it better than I did. By my reckoning, one of the worst written books I have ever come across. Nobody ever "says" anything. They "murmur" or "grin" or "ejaculate" or "guffaw" it. Endless, pointless, use of the passive voice. Superfluous interjections. People restore old boats...."Great Stuff!" Ridiculous descriptions. For example, the "tan" sails of the Fellowship Afloat wayfarers from Tollesbury are described as "fuschia pink". Eh????? I could go on........

Ardley certainly has wide ranging knowledge of the coast he sails, but as a writer he commits pretty much every sin in the book and invents a few of his own.

The shadow of the inimitable Maurice Griffiths looms over pretty much everyone who tries to write about the east coast. Ardley seems to be trying to out Griffiths Griffiths. And Gladys is right. Maurice Griffiths he most certainly ain't.

If anyone would like my copy of "Mudlarking" I will gladly send it to them for no payment. Just send a pm. In case anyone doesn't get the picture, I really, really disliked this book. :)
 
LenT said:
This must be the most useful book review that I have seen lately.
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I just hope I haven't deprived you of something you might have enjoyed. But I speaks as I finds.

I would add, however, that Ardley's bibliography includes a book that is very well worth reading. I don't believe any east coast sailor would fail to enjoy Frank Cowper's "Sailing Tours Part 1: The Coasts of Essex and Suffolk."

Cowper was sailing in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the book is one I return to often. Hugely entertaining. It seems to be published by Ashford Press. It first came out in 1892.

Now that I do recommend. :)
 
Litotes said:
I hope you get on with it better than I did. By my reckoning, one of the worst written books I have ever come across. Nobody ever "says" anything. They "murmur" or "grin" or "ejaculate" or "guffaw" it. Endless, pointless, use of the passive voice. Superfluous interjections. People restore old boats...."Great Stuff!" Ridiculous descriptions. For example, the "tan" sails of the Fellowship Afloat wayfarers from Tollesbury are described as "fuschia pink". Eh????? I could go on........

Ardley certainly has wide ranging knowledge of the coast he sails, but as a writer he commits pretty much every sin in the book and invents a few of his own.'

I agree with this - drove me mad.
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The Third Hand

One of the best books on the East Coast I have read is a completely fictionalised account of sailing a working Thames Barge in the 1930s. As fiction it is fanciful, but his descriptions of sailing and racing a working barge and the places they go to seem quite accurate.
The Third Hand
by Graham Dent

Author(s) Graham Dent
Publisher Country Books
Date of Publication 31/12/1998
Language(s) English
Format Paperback
ISBN-10 1901214206
ISBN-13 9781901214208
Genre General & Literary Fiction
 
Two of the best -

Swin, Swale and Swatchway by H.Lewis Jones, first published 1892, in print.
Shoal Water and Fairway, by H.Alker Tripp, early 1920'a. Out of print but worth finding.

Both up to scratch and a fascinating view of East Coasting before electronics, engines. Pilotage with the pole and lead line and Admiralty chart..
 
"Boadicea CK213 Story of a Smack" by M.Frost.An account of a young oyster smack sailor's pre war life and times,including detailed technical descriptions of handling heavy gaff cutters,forgotten techniques and methods. Then how Frost acquired Boadicea and fished her. What's more the 1808 smack is still in the same family,in regular use including oyster dredging,and sometimes needs crew. Top book,cheers Jerry
 
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