The £200 millionaire

[nigelmercier]

What year is this story set in? ...

What, you mean this story:

The £200 Millionaire
A Story by Weston Martyr, 1932

 

[BobPrell]

According to the Bank of England, you should multiply by about 60 if it was set in 1932 (which is what is says at the top).

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/inflation/calculator/flash/default.aspx

In 1890 you could get a 55ft Pilot Cutter built and fitted out for 350 pounds.
The inflation calculator is way way off what its costs to build one today.

The calculator says 38 000 pounds. 10 times that would not do it, would it? I really have little idea.

Simple inflation does not suffice, because life has many more costly complications, like cars, electricity bills, and so on.

The boat itself has a lot more complexity too. The owner does not have a free choice in this matter, because if they put to sea in that 1890 cutter they would be bitterly criticised, and in some countries, prosecuted, for unsafe operation.

There are no longer a large number of builders of such vessels, with low overheads, competing for your money, which it is said, brings prices down.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

What, you mean this story:

The £200 Millionaire
A Story by Weston Martyr, 1932

This is a very old fred. The date used not to be there.

 

[JimC]

... I can understand it. I too, now that I have retired, live alone on board through most of the summer and I too enjoy it and it is definitely NOT "a sad lonely existence in reality". We are not all alike, what you seek in life may not be what others seek.

I've only just chanced upon this thread. I enjoyed the book and it's still on my shelves but I'm posting in appreciation of the above quote from Barnacle: so true.