Posted by Andy on February 22, 2010 at 11:03:38 user AndyG.
I've been immersing myself in Racundra-related things recently, and finally got myself a copy of Adlard Coles' Close Hauled - being, of course, the tale of Racundra (here named Annette II) making her way to England during the early Autumn of 1925, three years after Ransome's First Cruise.
It's well worth a read - not least for the "skipper nearly overboard" and "makeshift navigation lights" episodes that seem very WDMTGTS.
But why did Ransome request the name-change? By 1926, still in England, and sold once again, she'd reverted to the name Racundra.
Certainly the book gives copious hints as to what the boat was - her dimensions, her location, the Ancient Mariner: all are there, and all say "this is Racundra" throughout. Surely no-one knowing Racundra's First Cruise wouldn't have spotted this? Was Racundra's First Cruise still selling so well in 1926 that sales might have been damaged? Or is there - perhaps - a sense of sorrow that Ransome had had to sell his first "proper" boat and was unable to bring her "home"?