NavList:

   

Reply

In a message [NavList 1487] Re: Cleaning arc of Vernier Sextant, Henry
Halboth reminisced about a visit to Fowey. I would love to read more
of those "digressions"of his, from the days when ships really looked
like ships. I bet there he has many more up his sleeve.

But I suppose people, even in the 1930s, would have said that these
modern vessels don't really look like proper ships, any more.

Anyway, back to Fowey, a port I would always drop into on my visits to
the West Country. Henry's account brings back my own memories.

Henry's account is exactly right. It's a one-product port, exporting
China-clay (kaolin) and nothing else. Brilliantly white stuff, it was
spoiled if it got sullied with smuts, which accounts for the hold
ceiling that Henry refers to. Nowadays, it's handled in specialised
vessels that carry nothing else, so that there's no contamination.
These have the superstructure right aft, like a tanker's, and the
hatches are an immense sliding structure that opens the whole hull
length, folding like a concertina.

 It is not mined, but washed out from the hills that contain it by
high-pressure hoses, like firepumps. The white scars that remain are a
landmark to passing vessels, which we refer to as the St Austell Alps.
I think the trade has fallen on hard times recently.

To reach the loading wharves for the clay, the cargo vessels have to
pass through the narrow harbour, and turn round. That harbour also
acts as an anchorage for many small vessels like my own, who are asked
to allow clearance for turning vessels when they do so. But I remember
being woken in the (very) small hours of one morning, having strayed
into the area required for a particularly large clay-carrier to turn,
and asked, politely but with no room for argument, to shift, and
pronto!

Now, an additional docking area for small-craft has been created, just
opposite the clay-loading wharves, which is tolerable if you don't
mind a film of white powder getting everywhere. Absolutely everywhere.

Henry's memories about the Queen's and the King's as drinking places
correspond to my own, but there are others, for the dedicated
searcher-out.

A pleasant spot, Fowey.

George.

contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com
To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

   

Reply