Re: Amazon and Scarab's keels/hull bottoms


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Posted by Magnus Smith on August 24, 2014 at 12:29:49 user Magnus.

In Reply to: Re: Amazon and Scarab's keels/hull bottoms posted by Roger Wardale on August 24, 2014 at 11:04:15:

I agree with what Roger W says, but I'm afraid most fans want things to match up much more neatly!

Perhaps a middle-ground is to agree that Ransome's fictional boats/people/places very often have corresponding entities in real-life; they are not exact matches, but enough to demonstrate they are beyond coincidence. That doesn't mean that the fictional versions were based solely and wholly on those real entities.

Yes, we have Taqui/Susie/Titty/Roger to fall beautifully into line with John/Susan/Titty/Roger but we have to notice that Taqui was the wrong gender and Susie was never seen housekeeping any more than her siblings.

The trouble for fans is that it seems like these corresponding entities crop up 90% of the time, so one is drawn to seek an real-life version of every fictional entity, thinking that deeper research will eventually fill in the missing blanks. We need to credit Ransome with having imagination enough to cover those 'blanks'!

However...in the case of the two famous dinghies, I guess everyone always assumed these were the two purchased by Arthur and Ernest Altounyan that fateful day, despite Mavis having a different name. One with a keel, one with a centreplate. One tan sail, one white. One wide, one narrow. It seems too much to ignore.

Is there any feature of Mavis that doesn't match up with Amazon, apart from fine detail in the illustrations? I recall reading that those who sailed Mavis in the 1990s were aghast at her tippy nature and worried about the water coming in as they heeled. Was she really that bad to sail, compared to the fictional accounts?

Another great counter-theory stems from this quote in The Picts and the Martyrs which I hope you can place easily:

"She's as near the same as your boat as we could make her," the old boatbuilder said to Nancy.

So the fictional Amazon is identical to the fictional Scarab. Ah, but the fictional Scarab is supposed to be based on Coch-y-bonddhu! Therefore, should not Mavis look exactly like Cocky? I've got a photo from when they were last side-by-side. One looks longer (Mavis has masses of room in front of the mast) and the transoms seem different shapes. Perhaps Roger is better equipped to list the differences than me.


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