Category: Heritage
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Eric Tabarly drowned on his way to the Fife Regatta – in 1998
A wild night and a kicking gaff caused the loss of France’s greatest sailor, on his way to the first Fife Regatta It’s 20 years ago since France’s greatest sailor Eric Tabarly was lost overboard… […]
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Moitessier’s spiritual journey on Joshua
As a true pilot of the deep range Bernard Moitessier was a philosopher sailor who famously went round the world again in 1969 in the Sunday Time Golden Globe race when he could possibly have… […]
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Manx Nickeys – Smylie’s Boats
By Mike Smylie Disaster struck the Isle of Man in 1787 when much of the fishing fleet was destroyed in a particularly nasty gale at Douglas. These were the older scoute type of vessel, an… […]
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The mighty Zulu – Smylie’s Boats
By Mike Smylie From the start here I must admit to being somewhat biased. Why? Because it’s my opinion that the Zulu – which is sometimes referred to as the Moray Firth fishing vessel –… […]
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Heaving the Log
A line, to which markers or ‘knots’ were attached at eight fathom (47ft 3inches to be precise) intervals, was wound on the reel which one man holds over his head. To the end of this… […]
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Scottish salmon cobles – Smylie’s Boats
By Mike Smylie A few issues back we looked at the cobles of the coast of eastern England and this time round we’ll travel over the border to investigate the just-as-unusual cobles used, in the… […]
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Tenby Luggers – Smylie’s Boats
By Mike Smylie Tucked into a quiet corner of Pembrokeshire, Tenby was once the greatest fishing harbour in Wales and its Welsh name of Dinbych-y-pysgod (little fort of the fishes) gives a clue to the… […]
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Mercator and his 1569 World Map
Mercator’s 1569 World Map: it introduced his projection, but the content was also partly based on the ‘portolan’ charts which featured navigational observations by sailors at sea Mercator’s projection proved to be one of the… […]
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Grimsay Lobster Boats
By Mike Smylie For a tiny Outer Hebridean island with a small population, Grimsay has had an incredible amount of boats locally built for the lobster fishery. In 1846 the census showed 269 inhabitants, and… […]
