Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on December 02, 2008 at 13:56:55 user ACB.
In Reply to: Re: Woolworth plate RIP posted by David Bamford on November 29, 2008 at 10:28:59:
David knows this but some may not:
One bit of old fashioned "messing about in boats" passed into history with the adoption of the 1972 Collision Regulations.
Until then, although sailing yachts were required to show green and red side lights and a white stern light, "nobody" in small yacht cruising circles, be they Arthur Ransome, Erskine Childers or Jim Clay, members of the RCC (whose burgee Ransome flew and Goblin flies) or the CA (which Ransome also belonged to - see dedication to "Missee Lee") ever bothered with the sternlight. Without all round guard wires and a pushpit and pulpit, there was nowhere to put one on a small yacht.
What you did, in the Dulcibella to Racundra period, was to have in the well of the cockpit a lighted hurricane lamp, which you waved if a ship was about to overtake you. You could keep this under the skirts of your oilskin coat as a form of central heating if the night were cold.
In the Nancy Blackett/Goblin to 1972 Colregs period, you substituted a big electric torch, which you called your "steamer scarer".
Which is why Jim Brading had the big torch, and could put a plate in front of it.
And nowadays you have a masthead tri-colour light with a white stern sector.