Historical research work

Not so long ago I held a seat on the National Historic Ships Committee, working up the Core Collection of heritage vessels on behalf of the United Kingdom. Because of this and my other links with traditional sail, I have become interested in researching  historical information. The results often appear in articles written for the journal, Maritime Life and Traditions and, in France, in the review Le Chasse-maree. The authoritative three-volume work, Pilots, which was published late in 2001 offers many examples of my research work. The extract below is typical of my published results. 

Research in response to private enquiries concerning individual yachts, ships, seamen and passengers,  shipwrecks, genealogy, etc., is now passed on to my daughter Hannah who, as a graduate in history with an unusual knowledge of seafaring, runs her own business at www.researchthepast.com. Her work has spread from discovering the seafaring ancestors of a family of immigrants from the Far East to pinpointing the whereabouts of the wreck of the explorer Dampier's ship, HMS Roebuck. Hannah's involvement allows me to keep such exciting projects more or less 'in-house' and still leaves me on-hand for overview or specialised analysis where requried.

Extract from Pilots - 

'Swansea' chapter:-

Boarding pilots from Swansea schooners in the early 19th century

In calm weather, the Swansea schooners were propelled by twenty-foot sweeps. A ten-foot punt was towed for boarding in airs too light for the schooner to work herself alongside ships. Later, larger boats seem to have carried the punt on deck out at sea and launched it for boarding as was customary throughout the Bristol Channel.

It is known that boarding was direct from the schooner in 1823, because the pilot boat Angally was run down and sunk while coming alongside a vessel three miles southwest of Mumbles Head that June. Pilot Bevan was able to leap aboard the ship, but his men were only retrieved after a long time in the water. Thirteen years later, the same practice was being kept up. This can be deduced from a report in The Cambrian for 7 July 1836 (a ‘bumper edition’ covering Queen Victoria’s coronation) recording the sad plight of Pilot Richard Price, who lost his life by falling between the pilot boat and the brig William and Mary. The brig was making five knots in a rough sea when the schooner came alongside. A rope was thrown down for the 48-year-old pilot to swing himself aboard, but he struck the ship’s side and tumbled into the water. A boat was lowered from the ship, not the pilot boat which we may deduce had none, but the pilot was dead when they recovered him ten minutes later. He left a widow and three children.

(Picture - Oil on Canvas,  signed Jas. Harris 1848, published in Under Sail)