Book Review: Arctic Labyrinth by Glyn Williams

It's the time of year when Tillerman has to dig himself out of his house and here in London we even had a 10 minute flurry of snow (that was gone 10 minutes later).

But what is better when its cold and dark than a book about travelling to where it freezes really hard and long, where ships get locked in ice for years on end and whole expeditions just vanish.

I really, really enjoyed Arctic Labyrinth: The Quest for the Northwest Passage. I've sailed to the Arctic Circle and to Greenland but this is in another league: the European exploration of the high Arctic.

And there were so many expeditions, each discovering just a tiny bit of the sprawls of islands, rocks and channels between what is now Canada and the Pole. They were hunting for a route to far Cathay, but often found just myth or loss.

Step by step each voyage turned the unexplored into charts. Davis Straight and Baffin Bay, then Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay. A long time exploring around its edges, into the heartland, following rivers to lakes and then down again to strange unrecognised shores, the first hints of the eventual Northwest Passage.

Sometimes you got a strong hint as to what each mission would find by the choice of captain, for they were not shy about the cartographers equivalent of the selfie. Which island, for example, do you think Captain Vancouver would find himself sailing to?

Many would end up locked in the ice for winter after winter, but most returned. Of course Franklin and crew famously did not, leaving just a series of grisly clues as to what happened. But they so nearly did find the NW passage, as one reason they were not found was they had gone further than anyone thought possible.

It was to be left Amundsen to finally get through in a small boat and copying Inuit methods, taking twelve sledge dogs with him.

It also reminded me of Arthur Ransome's Winter Holiday, where the Swallows, Amazon's and D's would leave messages in a cache: this practice was apparently common amongst the real polar explorers.

The north beckons many, heading for those empty spaces untouched by modern life. Yet it is due to human driven climate change that those waters are opening up, even to adventurous cruising sailors.

If like me you can't quite see how you can sail away from work long enough for a NW passage try this book.

Curl up somewhere warm and dream of lands cold but wonderful.

Not So Great Expectations

London's docks never died, they just migrated east towards deeper water. One of the largest is the Port of Tilbury, nearby Tilbury Fort.

Alas containerisation means ports create relatively few jobs, and Tilbury itself appeared to be more struggling than prosperous. There was a Dickensian feel to the landscape: large skies, mudflats and marshes, where folk work hard for not much in return.

Indeed it was in these waters that Dickens set the scene towards the end of Great Expectations where Pip rowed downriver with escaped convict Magwich to board a steamer to safety. While waiting they made their way ashore to a public house, one "I dare say not unknown to smuggling adventurers".

There was indeed a pub dating back maybe that far near Tilbury Fort called "The World's End":

It felt appropriate, next to the fort that marks the end of London's Thames.

Tilbury Fort

Towards the end of last year I took advantage of a fine day to take the MV Pocahontas from Gravesend across the Thames to visit historic Tilbury Fort.

Founded by Henry VIII it has been defending London and the Thames estuary for a timespan that covers both The Armada and the Second World War with its Blitz.

 It's still in pretty good nick, partly because it worked so well as a deterrent it didn't see much action, though according to Wikipedia it did shoot down a Zeppelin in the First World War.

It's also close to where Elizabeth I gave her famous speech to rally the troops against the threatened Spanish invasion.

It's quite impressive and worth visiting though alas the famous Water Gate was closed as it had become dangerous (and also was flooded).

Flags stop bad guys

"Fun with flags!" as Sheldon Cooper would say if he spotted this flag on the Tilbury to Gravesend ferry, the MV Pocahontas.

I'm sure the bad guys are even now quaking in their boots.

Thames Cable Car by Night

Having left the London Boat Show earlier than expected (probably missing stuff though) I decided to take the cable car (above) across the river to the O2 Arena.

There was a fair old wind and the car was swaying a bit from side to side but the view was pretty good:

There was no queue and you could pretty much bag a cabin all to yourself so worth a go if you're down that end of London.

Rowing the Atlantic

I must admit I don't really get the attraction of rowing across an Ocean.

Yes, there is the feeling of finishing a great task and achieving one's goal: the harder the challenge, the greater the feeling of achievement. But surely there other more rewarding and interesting challenges.

Anyhow, there's been a tradition of oceanic rowing boats and their teams on display at London Boat Shows and this year was no different.

Here are two of the Ocean Reunion team planning to cross from the Canary Islands to Antigua later this year.

It's all for a good cause as they're raising money for Teenage Cancer Trust and Cystic Fibrosis, and I wish them a lot of luck with that.

The London Boat Show "4D Experience"

One of the advertised "attractions" of the London Boat Show was something it called the "4D Experience". According to the blurb it would:

challenge your senses as you walk through a number of nautical locations. From the heat of the tropics to the cold icy blow of the Arctic, through the beauty of the Northern Lights, the 4D Experience will assail your senses with sampled sounds of the various scenarios, sea breezes brought to life with computer controlled fans targeting your torso and all brought together in a stunning HD experience

Sounds good, eh? Alas....

Ok, this is what it actually involved. Inside there was a walkway with projectors on either side giving a near 360 degree azimuth, 180 elevation view of various scenes. You stood on gratings through which blew air plus the odd cloud of mist in a rather underwhelming way.

The biggest problem was that to create the 360 degree azimuth view they had to cut holes in the screen on either side for projectors to light up the other side. So it didn't actual feel like you were somewhere else as everywhere you looked there was a projector.

Then the "at sea in a storm" segment was really odd because the walk-way didn't pitch and roll as a proper boat did. It felt like you were just looking at a video of the sea, which of course you were.

It would have been better to be slightly more modest and have a 180 - 270 degree coverage with all the projectors behind you, especially as you can't actually see all 360 degrees at once.

It wasn't exactly over-run with crowds as you tell from the pic above, so I don't think that's going to be the saviour of boat shows.

Some Boat Show Things

Foils for a AC training cat (above), flying floating rocket ship, a bit like the foil free rocket car (below):

This sailing dinghy won't go quite as fast:

There are usually big sailing boats outside but what I found was this: a surprisingly empty quay-side:

 It was rather freeezzzinnnggg..... so could see the benefit of this:

Which was big enough for this real sailing boat:

Boat Show People

Why go to boat shows? Why not just Google whatever it is you want to know or buy it on Amazon?

My answer is the list of some of the people I've met at Boat Shows:

• John Blake, author of The Sea Chart (above left)
• Bob Shepton, author of Addicted to Adventure (above right)
• Elaine Bunting, editor Yachting World
• Tom Cunliffe, author 
• Will Stirling, boat builder
• Sam Llewellyn, editor Maritime Quarterly
• Skip Novak, around the world sailor
• Stokey Woodall, sailor
• Roger Taylor, sailor of Mingming up to 80N
• Paul and Rachel Chandler, who were captured by pirates
• Geoff Holt, paraplegic sailor
• Peter Webb, sailed round Spiztbergen in an open boat
• Liza Copeland, author of the Just Cruising books 
• Sally Kettle, author of Sally's Odd as Sea rowing the Atlantic
• Hector Macdonald, author of The Storm Prophet
• Jo Rogers, one of the Sisterhood
• Jock Wishart, Arctic veteran 

Plus I've met up with old friends, and made some new ones with whom I've sailed with across the Channel and between Lisbon and Gibraltar.

For me the boat show isn't about things - boats, gear or even Guinness - its about people.

Each year the Boat Show seems to shrink a bit, become a bit smaller and the organisers must be wondering how to boost it, to make it relevant again.

I say focus on the people of sailing, the men and women who have stories to tell who we'd like to meet and hear from. Create a series of talks by writers and adventurers, with lectures and Q&A sessions.

This always so much interesting stuff going on - just think about what's in the news, with the Volvo, Extreme and America's Cup. There's clubs full of people worth hearing from - I had a great chat with someone at the Cruising Association stand.

That is something you can't get on the internet, something unique about being there in person, something to answer that question: why go to a boat show?

Buff's Boat Show

Yesterday Buff and I went to the London Boat Show.

You can guess where Buff went first, second and last.

Ok, he might have gone to this stand for a short while:

But did he miss out?

In the internet age where you can get YouTube video walk throughs of almost any boat, what is a modern boat show all about?

Possible answer tomorrow...

Buff's Boating Blog Drinking-Game Game

G'day all! Buff Staysail here! Buff by name and Buff by nature!

Buff's been totally getting into the voyages of the S\V Delos! This is my sort of cruising! Warm, clear blue water, drinks to hand, home-brewed hooch and girls in bikinis!

Ol' Buff wanted to join in and found a way to do that - the Delos drinking game! It goes like this:

1. Line up a row of shots in front of you
2. Play the video (e.g. the one above)
3. Everytime someone says "sweet" you down a shot

Sweet!

But it got me thinking: surely you could do the same for other blogs? So I came up with the Boating Blog Drinking-Game Game.

Basically try to find the word that one blogger is more likely to use than another and then that's the drinking game cue. But what word to use?

This is where ol' Buff needs some help - suggestions please! Should it be "spam" for Bonnie? Should it be "rowlocks" for Chris? Should it be "hike" for Tillerman?

And what about JP?

So over to you and this is Buff Staysail, over and - hic - sweet - out!

Pocahontas and Paddington

This is the MV Pocahontas, the ferry across the Thames that connects Tilbury to Gavesend, final resting place of that famous Native American Pocahontas.

There's a slightly desolate feel to estuary Thames as it is which the story accentuates. Poor Pocahontas was on her way home, leaving London to return to Virginia, when she fell ill and died in Gravesend aged only 21 or 22.

Then there's the name, Gravesend, which sounds like something out of a Victorian Gothic novel.

For anyone needing a cheer-up I can suggest another visitor to London who came to these shores by travelling across an ocean, namely Paddington.

The latest film is a joy, though to be honest the sailing connection is sparse. Indeed if it wasn't for Pocahontas I don't think even I could have spun it.

According to the film you can stowaway on a cargo ship and live just on jars of marmalade - who knew that?

In the film Paddington arrives by boat to the London Docks (whatever that means) and then in a post bag which is dumped at the famous railway station, which gets round the problem of the books which is why did he end up in that station?

Lets look at the main ports:

• Liverpool - trains go to Euston
• Southampton - trains go to Waterloo
• Tilbury - trains go to Liverpool Street
• Glasgow - trains go to Euston or Kings Cross

So why Paddington Station?

My guess is that the marmalade eating bear did indeed take the boat to Liverpool (the port) but got confused with the trains (easily done) and so ended up at Paddington after taking a roundabout route - something also very in character.

His view on arrival would have been rather special (from a trip last year to Liverpool):

The film misses this but there is a taxi journey (number plate CABBIE) that takes in the main sights of London which I thought was fab.

This is one of the trailers, but there's something wrong with it? Any guesses?





Updated: the answer is that Colin Firth was Paddington in this trailer but not the release movie as his voice wasn't felt to be quite right.

The Bells of St Paul's

On the way back from doing a spot of wassailing I heard a familiar dong.

It was the bells of St. Paul's Cathedral, echoing over the Thames.

Lovely.

The Green Man and the Boat Wassail

Wassail! for the Green Man has cometh to Bankside!

Apparently this old pagan wassail celebration is "bouncing back" according to The Independent.

There was certainly a decent crowd waiting by the Thames for the Green Man to arrive courtesy of the Trinity rowers. It was rather cold and so there was much rejoicing when they were finally spotted:

The junior town crier seemed a bit unsure about all this. I was standing on the wall with a long drop to the swirling Thames to my right so I was a bit unsure too.

Then we Wassailed the departing Thames Cutter Trinity Tide as follows:

The Boat Wassail

Blowe wind boat bear well

Ride well on the tide

Every beam and every sail

Bear the crew bravely home

Each sailing day!

I hope they heard us as they battled traffic on the busy river, the cold and the tide:

Apparently you can Wassail pretty much anything so at this point I decided to leave and Wassail Waitrose. It was rather cold and I was getting hungry.

Thanks to the Lions Part for all the entertainment in this Twelfth Night (or nearest Sunday) ritual which I also enjoyed last year.

Crisp Winter Nights in London

The Thames's Christmas Lifeboat

Christmas morning and the city awoke. It is the season to be merry and many started that day with happy cries surrounded by loved ones.

But not all.

For at least one Londoner it was a cold, bleak midwinter day, with nothing to celebrate, a day where legs took them down to Wandsworth Bridge and that final leap.

However they were not forsaken. Even early on Christmas day, when others were having their morning coffee, one of the Thames lifeboats was on standby together with a police boat, hovering in the water below the jumper, ready to save their life.

And so it was all day long. The picture above was taken on the evening of Christmas Day, and there, still, the lifeboat was on out patrol.

The good shepherd of the Thames, watching out for Londoners, every day of the year.

Happy Christmas from London

Bombay Bicycle Club's In The Bleak Midwinter

I really enjoyed seeing the Bombay Bicycle Club at Earls Court a few weeks ago and here they are in action in their version of the suitably seasonal In The Bleak Midwinter.

The Great Thames Disaster

I was going round the Museum of Docklands when I discovered about the sinking of the Princess Alice with the loss of 650 lives.

I couldn't work out at the time how to blog the story but luckily someone called Stephen McKenna has put together this super video describing it.

After the previous post's Elgar here we have another great bit of classical music, namely Benjamin Britten's Sea Interludes.

Suitably spooking for the Thames Estuary marshlands....

Volvo Video and Sea Fever

As a pre-Christmas treat the Volvo Ocean Race has put together this lovely sailing video about offshore racing with Elgar's Enigma Variations sound track. Makes me think of this:

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking,

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over

Trafalgar Square's Big Blue Cockerel

As spotted by the Bursledon Blogger, there is currently a great big giant blue cockerel in Trafalgar Square.

It really is very blue, which you can't see in the silhouette above so here it is on the sunny side, both pictures from May this year:

The Thames at Night

The Bursledon Blogger has been up in London to see the lights and the giant blue chicken in Trafalgar Square (not sure if I've posted any pics of it, but it is very big and very blue). He found Regent Street a bit of a struggle and I sympathise.

My top tip to see the lights of London during the Winter is to take a boat trip down to Tower Bridge and back. The Thames Clippers have a regular service and whoosh all the way to Woolwich, which is quite a way but Embankment to the Tower has most of the sights and is a lot shorter.

I went in a group on one of the little ships, namely the MV Kingwood, and had a fantastic evening.

Worth getting a bit cold if the view is good as this.

HMS Warrior and Old Portsmouth

 Last few pics from Portsmouth trip showing the HMS Warrior with the Spinnaker Tower (above) and and Old Portsmouth in toy mode again (below):

I will have to go back to see HMS Warrior at another time when I expect it will be without these rather underwhelming lights:

Goodbye Earls Court

Earls Court has played its last gig ever.

The exhibition centre, home to the Boat Show year after year, is to be demolished to make way for yet more apartments and shops.

But it got a worthy send off, with a stunningly good gig by the Bombay Bicycle Club and guests including none other than Pink Floyd's David Gilmour (above). He made a memorable event unforgettable by joining the BBC on stage to sing "Wish You Were Here".

David Gilmour apparently gave the BBC's guitarist Jamie MacColl his first guitar and had played at Earls Court an incredible 27 times. The audience were almost entirely young enough to be my nephews and nieces so many of these times were footnotes in their history books, but I was still at school when The Wall came out.

Many, many memories that evening.

Lights out, words gone.

Picture Puzzle

Another picture puzzle for you.

What's the boating connection with this rather historic gig and why was it a landmark?

The canoe in this band's videos isn't the answer and not really a clue. Bonus marks for naming some of the guests and why one in particular was a very good choice for this location.

Apologies again for the poor quality of the Nexus 5's photo.



Updated: answer here.

Video Caption Competition

Any suggestions? Mine (obviously) is:

Ferry captain regrets letting Buff Staysail "have a go"

The Mary Rose, the Battle of the Solent and Machiavelli

After going round the HMS Victory my next stop in Portsmouth Historic Docks was the Mary Rose.

At the entrance there was a video about the conservation work. The basic message was: "it will be FANTASTIC in a few years after we can remove the black pipes" (above) which left me and others in the queue mentally going "oh".

It was still pretty impressive, in particular the vast quantity of stuff recovered from the wreck, including navigation tools and pairs of dice.

What I found most interesting was the story of what was going on when the Mary Rose sank, namely the Battle of the Solent. I really had no idea it was lost during a battle against a French invasion that included landings of 30,000 troops on the Isle of Wight & the mainland plus 200 ships, more than the Spanish Armada.

Basic summary: we won (or this blog would be en français) and it was all related to the Italian Wars which led to a certain Machiavelli writing up some of his more, er, Machiavellian, ideas in The Prince such as:

"He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation"

I suppose that applies to conservation of boats too: we need those black pipes to avoid the Mary Rose ending up as a ruin.

WEATHER BOMB visible on web wind site

I was most impressed by the animated wind map found by the Improper Course, in which he describes the Volvo Ocean Race fleet entering "a stronger northeasterly".

So I turned the globe towards Blighty and the nearby Atlantic and... golly... that's a bit more than a strong north-easterly (above). For a start its a westerly but also the lines are red not green ... that can't be good.

Indeed the news streams are already pushing headlines like "weather bomb raises risk of severe gales" with another WEATHER BOMB story here.

Though I guess those in the NE of America would say that unless there's a metre of snow you can't really call it anything serious.

So what is a WEATHER BOMB? Well, according to the BBC here it is a fall of 24 mb or more in 24 hours, and they are predicting 18m waves, which does sound pretty impressive.

JP gets ship's biscuit size envy

I'm really not that bover'd, 'onest. So theirs are bigger, like I care!

OK, to explain. On my trip to Portsmouth, while on-board the HMS Victory I saw this display of the sailors workspace (above) complete with wood or pewter mugs and plates, on which there were these authentic looking ships biscuits.

Now I've baked some ship's biscuits as part of a maritime GBBO experiment, but, golly, how to admit it.... mine were smaller.

Doh! Or should that be dough?

Anyhow, top tip for ship's biscuit bakers - size does apparently matter, particularly if you have 821 sailors to feed and they're starving, needing 5,000 calories per day, what with fighting the French and all.

Go XXL in your baking!

So I guess now I need to book an appointment with The Sailing Shrink.

Princess Anne, Drunken Sailors and a Big Rock

Three stories for Friday:

1. Gripping video from on-board Team Vesta (above) as they hit a big rock. OMG - I do not want to ever go through that.
2. Did you know Princess Anne is a keen sailor who explores the wonderful and interesting waters of the Scottish Islands? I didn't until Tillerman pointed it out and learnt a lot more in a great article from Elaine Bunting over at the Yachting World web site 
3. Sailing and drink have gone together for centuries, but recently have created a new problem - sailors drunkenly buying boats on auction sites which are then abandoned in the harsh light of day when the long list of bills arrives. More at The Guardian here.

The danger of electronic charts

Electronic charts are great - I like them so much I must have bought Iceland about 3 times - for iPhone, iPad and iNavX.

But they have a gotcha that can get even the best navigators, as the Volvo Ocean Race's Team Vesta found out to their cost - see this post on SA via Noodle.

Take the patch of water above, which is just north of Iceland, viewed today using the Navionics Web App. Looks pretty clear doesn't it?  Contours at 200 m and 500 m, just great, clear sailing. One island called Grimsey near the coast but when sailing there in 2012 we were far away.

Only it isn't clear at all. Take that harmless sounding reference to Kobeinsey (which I've added a red circle around). It looks like a description of that patch of water but look what you see if you zoom in:

This is from the Navionics charts on the iPhone for the same region, zoomed into so you can see that Kolbeinsey is actually a small island, or maybe a large rock.

Ok, it might be just 7.5 metres or so across but that would have been enough for us to prang Goldeneye something nasty when we sailed there in 2012. Confession time: it wasn't me that spotted this but Tristan: good thing one of us was awake.

But it shouldn't be like this: charting software should always show land, even when zoomed out.

Until then, let's be careful out there.



Updated: very interesting article about the wrecking of Team Vesta by Yachting World's Elaine Bunting here.

The Victory is like the Forth Bridge

It was clear that something was missing. Staring up at the Victory's masts ... well, you didn't have to look that far.

No top mast, no spars, just a lot of sky.

"When will they put them back?" I asked, expecting an answer like next summer or maybe the one after.

But no, it might be decades before we see the work finished. The original estimate was five years, back in 2011, then this summer was up to 15 years and the guide on deck was talking about 20 years.

"It's a bit like painting the Forth Bridge" he went on to say. "It's never really finished."

HMS Victory is, after all, arguably the world's most famous warship, forever associated with Trafalgar and Nelson. But after all that work would it really be the same ship? I asked, curious as to the philosophical position.

"The keel is the same as the original construction" I was told. "This is still the same HMS Victory."

I hope they do a better job than the Cutty Sark, heart broken by holes cut in the side and decks, where wood was replaced with plastic.

Most importantly, unlike that clipper, the HMS Victory still could slip lines and head out to sea and float, and that should be a goal of the renovations.

Everything is being re-examined, even the famous yellow of the gun-ports:

Budgets have gone up to an estimated £ 45 million.

This is going to take some time, but I'm very glad they're doing it.