Very much heartened by the kind comments I have been
receiving about the blog and the restoration/preservation work, on we go.
A couple of posts
ago I mentioned that Simon could paint only the areas of the hull that he could
reach. A spell in dry dock would bring all areas within reach for painting and
inspection, but out of reach financially!
So necessity being the mother of invention, he has devised a platform
which will float on the water, or the mud (depending on the state of the tide)
and give him access to the areas not within reach from the deck (Photo 1011).
It is a large, thick slab of expanded
polystyrene sandwiched between two aluminium plates. It floats well even with
Simon on it – a bit wobbly at times he says.
“Rather him than me” I hear you
cry. I can but agree but you can’t tell
your children anything they don’t want to hear, especially when they have
passed 40.
In my 6 June
posting I mentioned that, at last, the two ships moored alongside Simon were
going to be moved and he went off on holiday looking forward to them not being
there when he returned. Surprise,
surprise they are still there.
Apparently there were gales in the Medway estuary every day last week,
preventing any boat moving. That must have made flying difficult for all those
pigs overhead!! So I (Disgusted of North
Wales) have been searching the Internet for another berth for him in the Medway
area, but 100ft residential berths are hard to find.
On the historical
side I have sent a query to the National Maritime Museum to start the hunt for
Royal Navy records of the 1916 requisition and another to an Irish
commemorative group who keep alive the memory of the rebels who were executed
in May 1916. No response from either
yet.
Finally, a question
for my nautical readers. Photo 1012 (taken
in about 1908) shows Cormorant’s lifeboat hanging on davits. It is hanging inboard and the boat is longer
than the space between the two davits.
How does it get outboard when being launched?
David
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