'Under the Cabin Lamp' by H. Alker Tripp

[GeeW]

A book very much in the tradition of "The Magic of The Swatchways" but covering a lot more of Britain's coast and the different problems it raises.

The book is a collection of the authors yarns (fifty four of them to be accurate) from shortly after WW 1 and running up to just before the outbreak of WW2 it was originally published in 1950 and, after many years out of print, republished in 2014. Each recollected story is very much stand alone, although quite a few do link together, many are just a few pages long, with a few longer ones thrown in. There are also plenty of ink drawings and a few images of the authors paintings by way of illustration. The original edition had colour plates of the paintings but these copies are rather scarce and expensive these days.

The book is split into three sections;

I. 'Thames Mouth' is a collection of Thames Estuary stories which covers both the Essex and Suffolk rivers (generally referred to as "The East Coast") and the Thames Estuary including the Kent rivers and Flats. All the usual sort of fun with lots of shifting sands, dodgy navigation, so typical of the East Coast both then and today. Still today many of these swatchways and wallets have notices to mariners issued twice a month as the buoyage has to be shifted that often to keep pace with the changes... more so after winter storms

II. 'Down Channel', covers round from Dover and along the South Coast of England, from the Solent down past the Jurassic coast and on through Devon and Cornwall. I especially enjoyed many of these stories as I have sailed some of this area. I also spent quite a bit of my childhood sailing with my parents in a 17' Silhouette (which my father built in the lounge...but that's another story) on the South Devon and Cornwall coasts. This section also covers the authors time racing in a couple of the 'J' Class yachts.

III. 'Those Happier Days'. Absolutely my favourite section and also the smallest with only five yarns. Each one is wonderful for a different reason from the last. To put my titles on these to give you a clue.....impetuous youth goes sailing, sailing with one's wife and how life on board changes, slightly wiser impetuous youth makes lots of mistakes but somehow survives, hardcore sailors go sailing on the Norfolk Broads and find it's not quite as they thought, and finally the Great British Weather and how this alters trying to get a peaceful night at anchor.

An excellent book for bedtime or when you only have a short time in which to read, and one I will certainly be re-reading.

Gordon
CP16/3 'Applejack'

[CoVianna]

I have this book as well. An excellent read, very interesting. I can't go on Lodestar Books website without spending money.

My latest purchase is "Good Little Ship" which is about Arthur Ransome and his boat Nancy Blackett.

http://lodestarbooks.com/product/good-little-ship/

[GeeW]

CoVianna please see

http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=10658.0


I have the same issue on Lodestars website....hmmmmm       Holmes of The Humber next is looking highly likely