Posted by Adam Quinan on February 16, 2001 at 01:56:04 from 24.112.32.13:
In Reply to: sv Lapwing posted by Mike Field on February 15, 2001 at 12:31:01:
In my paperback copy of Christina Hardyment's famous book "Arthur Ransome and Capt. Flint's Trunk", there is a photograph of Lapwing, the boat owned my Ransome's friends the Busks (probably their three children were the prototypes of the Eels). It is taken from almost exactly the same angle as the drawing Ransome did of the missionary ship Lapwing, so he probably drew the boat from the photo, the vantage point has been lowered from looking down from slightly above in the photo to a view from a boat low in the water in the drawing. If you haven't seen this it is very interesting as the freeboard doesn't look as high as Ransome made it in the drawing.