Marching On

[Chris Waite]

March seems to have been having itself

Quite a lot this year, "In like a Lion, out like a Lamb", sort of thing; reminded me of this:

Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amethysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

Thank you Mister Masefield

CW

[Timmo]

I just keep rereading this. The rythm of the words is just great!
On 17 Mar 2013, at 18:25, Chris Waite [via UK HBBR Forum] wrote:

> March seems to have been having itself
>
> Quite a lot this year, "In like a Lion, out like a Lamb", sort of thing; reminded me of this:
>
> Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
> Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
> With a cargo of ivory,
> And apes and peacocks,
> Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
>
> Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
> Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
> With a cargo of diamonds,
> Emeralds, amethysts,
> Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.
>
> Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
> Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
> With a cargo of Tyne coal,
> Road-rails, pig-lead,
> Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
>
> Thank you Mister Masefield
>
> CW
>

[Alan]

I believe this is the very coaster mentioned

[Michael Rogers]

Oh dear, Chris, such wanders down Memory Lane. I won a prize at school (Chigwell School in Essex to be precise) for my recitation of Masefield's 'Cargoes', when I was 10.

And pictures of rusting hulks sets me off as well. At about the same time, in the late '40s, I was learning to sail in the Colne Estuary. Downstream from Wivenhoe, on the East bank of the river (my recollection of the exact spot is hazy), was the mastless hulk of a wooden sailing vessel, perhaps 80 - 90 ft long, quietly mouldering away: the fading letters of her name, 'Cap Pilar', could just be made out on her stern. Not many years later (but when our family sailing activities had shifted to Poole Harbour), Pan Books published 'The Voyage of the Cap Pilar', about how a group of blokes (some qualified mariners among them) had bought a French barquentine for a song from near St Malo in the 1930s, and sailed her round the world. Highly entertaining stuff (sadly my copy has since gone AWOL). I doubt whether any traces of her still survive in the Colne mud.....'Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level [mudbanks] stretch far away' (with apologies to P B Shelley).

Sorry, this has nothing to do with building boats.

Michael

[Port-Na-Storm]

Michael Rogers wrote

Sorry, this has nothing to do with building boats. Michael

But it probably has everything to do with why people build boats.

Graham

[Chris Waite]

Gosh Guys

The tears run silently down my cheeks

With an occasional sob thrown in for good measure

Don't think I'm joking

CW