Posted by Claire on August 24, 2009 at 02:50:12 user Claire_Morgan.
Back in May in the "Windermere Steamboat Museum Access" thread, I mentioned that I was working on a short article about the origin of Captain Flint's houseboat for the TARS US newsletter, as well as planning a much longer, more comprehensive one for the All Things Ransome website, at the request of Dave Thewlis.
My trip to England and the Lakes was a success! Thanks to Rob Boden and Luke Dolman's suggestions for contacting the Windermere Steamboat Museum, I was able to make contact with the Project Assistant, who very kindly met my friend and I at the closed museum. Esperance was inside, and she had warned us ahead of time that we would not be able to go on board, nor even down on the lower piers, for health and safety reasons. I did get some good photos from above, plus ones of her bow and stern shape from closer up. It was very worthwhile in providing details and clearing up questions I had about her, and I was grateful for the opportunity.
I also rode on Gondola and got lots of pictures of her, both inside and out. Luckily, we were there waiting first in line on the only day of my three there, that winds were low enough for her to venture out. And then she want back home to Pier Cottage and did not run the rest of the day. My friend developed a very creative limp and delayed general boarding while I rushed on ahead to get inside pictures of her empty cabin! :-) It was very much a Nancy and Peggy moment!
I am working on getting permission to use various historic photographs of both ships, but I would like to call upon those of you who visited and photographed Esperance in the past. Interior photos would be helpful, and exterior shots would be useful also, especially of her starboard side, since when she was outside, her port side was obscured by the pier. Having people in the pictures is all right too, to show scale.
If used in my articles, I would acknowledge your copyright and permission. I made sure that my email address is on this message.
I am excited about my project and will welcome any contributions to it that anyone cares to make.
Claire