Posted by Martin Honor on May 21, 2012 at 02:34:38 user MartinH.
On revisiting the Broads books I have just noticed that the “Death and Glory” appears to grow between CC and BS! Something I had not noticed in the past.
There are few illustrations in CC depicting the boat, but those that do show her having a freeboard of about 18 inches or so. This best seen in the picture of the motor boat sweeping round to come alongside “Teasel”, but can be seen in less detail in “the ’Come Along’ says come along” and one or two other pictures.
In BS the freeboard seems to have doubled. Especially as seen in the illustration of Pete painting the chimney (cover picture on my daughter’s Red Fox edition).
“Death and Glory” is described as being an old ship’s boat and without giving it any conscious thought I assumed something like a smallish gig or longboat, though the stern is like a whaler or typical ship’s lifeboat. In BS she assumes more the proportions of a small lifeboat. From the drawing of the boat the D&G must be 18 to 20 feet overall if you reckon on the bunks being 5 to 6 feet long.
High freeboard means long oars which must be hard work for the young Coots, guessing they are in the 9 to 11 year age bracket, also the boat herself must be quite a weight. No wonder the “engine room” get out of breath and red in the face. Those boys must have particularly well developed muscles. As for sailing to windward on Ranworth Broad (BS again) – with a small lugsail and without a drop keel of some sort I imagine she would have all the qualities of a haystack when going to windward.
Has anyone got a picture of a boat that could be a prototype for the D&G? A few years ago there was an old steel-built ship’s lifeboat on the Kennet and Avon Canal at Bath that was converted for living aboard but she was about half as long again as the D&G.