Time and Again

This is my one thousand, nine hundred and ninety eighth posting to ‘Bill’s Log’. Two more, will bring the grand total to two thousand.  The drafting of a single article can take anything from half-an-hour to six hours, on average about two. If I become really immersed in a subject, my ramblings, research and re-drafting can result in me spending more time. Time is a requirement, and as it happens, I have penned and published four articles on the subject of time; which would suggest that somewhere in my psyche, time is important.

By comparison with other words in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, time has a longer description. If you check the links below you can see how vast the subject is. Searching for answers to the question, “What is time?” will reveal a multitude of ideas and suggestions.

Time is both subjective and objective; for example,  if I’m a prisoner ‘doing time’ in jail, days and nights can seem awfully long, but if I’m enjoying  my honeymoon at an exotic location, days and nights can feel very short indeed. If I’m World Champion sprint runner Usain Bolt, and I’ve been beaten by Justin Gatlin at the Diamond League meeting in Rome by one-hundredth of a second, over one hundred metres, I’m not at all pleased, but I have to accept the fact that I was not the fastest.

Time is valuable and it should not be wasted. As I wait at traffic lights I bewail the loss. One particular traffic light between my home and Southend causes me a lot of grief. Sometimes the queue before the lights can stretch for a quarter of a mile. Time spent there waiting can be up to six minutes with only a dozen cars passing at a time. Time and again, this has happened. You’re getting the picture. If I were to do the calculation, I guess I would have spent weeks, not days sat in my car at that spot - thankfully, much of the time was in the company of my wife.

Yesterday, my Bible study was focussed on Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes, the opening sentence of which, states, ‘To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven’, and it goes on to list experiential times and moments we humans might have in our lifetimes. These are times of joy, times of sadness; times for building, times for embracing, times for silence, times for war and times for peace.

There is much wisdom in this book which ends with the words:

‘Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,

For this is man’s all.

For God will bring every work into judgement,

Including every secret thing,

Whether good or evil.’

CAVEAT: There will be no time to change a single thing. 

Links

Time

http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/time.html

Thinking Time and Working Time

http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2006/04/thinking-time-and-working-time.html

More Time

http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/more-time.html

Quality Time

http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/quality-time.html

New Year 2013 (An article about time)

http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/new-year-2013.html

Time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time

Is Time and Illusion?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-time-an-illusion/

The Peak Time for Everything

 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444180004578018294057070544

Time Regained!

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/jun/06/time-regained/

TimeTicker.com

 http://www.timeticker.com/

What is Time? One Physicist Hunts for the Ultimate Theory

 http://www.wired.com/2010/02/what-is-time/

The Official US Time

 http://time.gov/HTML5/

Greenwich Meantime (GMT)

  http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.co.uk/

A Brief History of Time Measurement

 http://nrich.maths.org/6070

Ten Methods of Measuring Time

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/10-methods-measuring-time.htm

Measuring Time – Anderson Institute

http://www.andersoninstitute.com/measuring-time.html

Usain Bolt beaten by Justin Gatlin in 100m at Diamond League

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/22768581

Iraqi Christians Face Death

I heard the alarming news that Christians were fleeing Mosul after a declaration from ISIS militants that unless they converted to Islam or paid a tax, they could only expect the sword. Before the 9.00 am (BST) deadline today, thousands left Mosul for nearby Kurdistan which claims autonomy from Iraq and the newly declared ISIS Islamic State.

According the United Nations, other minority groups are being persecuted by these ISIS jihadist militants, namely Chaldeans, Assyrians, Mandeans, Yazidis, Shabaks and Shiite Turkmen.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled leader of ISIS, has no qualms about his militia killing, kidnapping and threatening ethnic minorities. His ambition is to expand territory recently gained by a sweeping invasion across northern Iraq and into northern Syria. He has declared the area under his control a 'caliphate', i.e., an Islamic state. Furthermore, he has urged all followers of Islam to swear allegiance to him as their leader. His ambition is to gain control of large swathes of land in the Middle East, North Africa, and western Asia - even into Europe, the Balkans, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Spain.

In an effort to establish credence with followers of Islam, Abu Bakr al-Bahdadi has renamed himself Caliph Ibrahim, the name of Prophet Muhammad’s son. He probably sees himself as the Prophet’s modern day successor administering strict Sharia law.

 
Links

ISIS Forces Last Iraqi Christians to Flee Mosul 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/19/world/middleeast/isis-forces-last-iraqi-christians-to-flee-mosul.html?_r=0

Thousands of Iraqi Christians pour out of Mosul after ISIS jihadis gave them deadline to convert, pay or face death

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2698114/Thousands-Iraqi-Christians-pour-Mosul-ISIS-jihadis-deadline-convert-pay-face-death.html

Islamist takeover may mean ‘death knell’ for Iraq’s Christians

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/islamist.takeover.may.be.death.knell.for.iraqs.christians/38128.htm# 

Islamic extremists kill 270 in attack on gas field in central Syria, report says

 http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/18/world/meast/iraq-isis-christians-threatened/index.html  

The ISIS map of the world: Militants outline chilling five-year plan for global domination

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2674736/ISIS-militants-declare-formation-caliphate-Syria-Iraq-demand-Muslims-world-swear-allegiance.html#ixzz37vCNjvnF

Iraq crisis: UN condemns 'war crimes' as another town falls to Isis 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10904414/Iraq-crisis-UN-condemns-war-crimes-as-another-town-falls-to-Isis.html  

Sharia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia

Suffering

As I write, the House of Lords are debating Lord Falconer’s proposed ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ that would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal substance to terminally ill people who want to die and who in the opinion of two doctors have no more than six months to live. Patients would self-administer the lethal agent. Those seeking death within the remit of the law must demonstrably be of sound mind for sanctioning their decision. The proposed Bill raises controversial issues such as measures to assure that vulnerable patients will not be placed under pressure to terminate their lives. Baroness Grey-Thompson, the high profile disability campaigner and paralympian said it was a ‘chilling prospect’, but the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, backs the Bill, after considering the case of Tony Nicklinson who had locked-in syndrome, but could not end his life to curtail his suffering.

Whatever the ins and outs of this debate, the reality of long term suffering begs the question asked by many people, “Why does God allow suffering?” I doubt there is a bigger stumbling block that comes between unbelievers and God than this one. “Why should a God of love even dream of creating a world in which there is so much suffering?”

Much suffering is of our own making. Inherently we are self-centred and self-willed. We seek power, wealth and to satisfy our desires. We are essentially depraved, i.e., immoral, wicked and corrupt, but none of us will own up. Because of our actions we inflict pain on others, sometimes physical and often mental. Yesterday, a Malaysian airliner was shot down over eastern Ukraine causing the loss of life to all onboard. The pain and misery that event brings to relatives and friends is unimaginable. Wherever we look in the world there is strife - all because of our depravity.

Not all suffering is as a result of our direct actions, but there is what we term, ‘natural disasters’; sometimes referred to as ‘acts of God’. As inhabitants of the earth we have shirked our responsibilities and we have pillaged the earth’s resources; we have damaged the eco-structure: forests have been destroyed, seas polluted and countless billions of carbon particles have been pumped into the atmosphere. We therefore have partial blame for what happens within the sphere of nature on a cataclysmic scale, even contributing to forces leading to hurricanes, unprecedented rainfall and droughts.

God is not aloof in these matters. He knows more than any of us what is going on. Indeed, He is Sovereign of the Universe, since He made it. He sustains it as it is, and He will bring all things to an end. Why? - For His own loving purposes. He wants to share His love with us. He wants us to have a share in His heavenly kingdom. We can have shares in that kingdom right now by kneeling before Him and confessing our depravity and renouncing our past ways with genuine sorrow for our hurt to our friends, family and those with whom we have contact, but most of all for our failure to love God and accept His rule over our lives.

God sent His beloved Son into the world to show us His love. No one has suffered more than the Son of God. He died a horrendous death on a cross and suffered beyond measure; physically, mentally and spiritually, all because He loves us. Without taking on such suffering He could not have paid the price of forgiveness for all of our transgressions, i.e., our lack of reverence to God who created us, and our hurt to others and us.

Such an understanding puts pain and suffering into a different perspective. Without pain and suffering we would not know truly what it is like to be without them, nor would we be able to truly appreciate life without them. This life can seem an eternity for one who is in continual pain and there seems little solace for the sufferer, except that one day it will come to an end. Those who suffer are not alone, because those who love them also suffer since they ‘feel’ for the one they love.

On a day of the Lord’s choosing an end will come when all will be judged for what they have done, said and thought. Without the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus there would be no one who is able to stand before the Supreme Judge and say, “I am not guilty. I am spotless before You because of what Your Son Jesus has done for me. I stand before You in His righteousness. I thank you Lord, for your love and forgiveness.”

After that day of judgement, for believers there will be no more pain, only love and peace with God, but for those who reject the Son of God who suffered death on a cross and rose to life again, God’s wrath remains on them.

‘He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does no believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.’ (John 3:36)

Links

Assisted dying law would lessen suffering says Falconer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28352680

Assisted-dying Legislation in the UK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/overview/asstdyingbill_1.shtml

Assisted dying: what’s at stake in the Lords debate?

http://news.uk.msn.com/comment-and-analysis/assisted-dying-whats-at-stake-in-the-lords-debate

Tanni Grey-Thompson: Assisted dying 'a dangerous path'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28360534

Bible Gateway

https://www.biblegateway.com/

Adam’s Offspring and Eternal Life

Adam, the first man to live on the earth, was created by God from ‘the dust of the ground’. (Genesis 2:7) He placed him in a garden east of Eden. Every tree in the garden was good for food. (Genesis 2:9) There were two named trees within the garden: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and He promised that if he did, he would ‘surely die’. (Genesis 2:16, 17)

God made Eve from one of Adam’s ribs to be a wife and helper for him. She came from him; therefore she was of his flesh. (Genesis 2:23) She would bear his children. (Genesis 3:16)

Both Adam and Eve disobediently ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, (Genesis 3:6) and because of Adam’s rebellion, God cursed the ground so that it would ‘bring forth thorns and thistles’, and instead of living in the garden for ever, Adam and Eve, along with their future offspring would return to the dust from whence they came. (Genesis 3:17-19) The couple were banished from the garden where they could have eaten from the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24) Their sin by way of disobedience brought physical death, and ultimately, God’s judgement, (Hebrews 9:27) not only for them, but for their offspring - including us!

Eve gave birth to Cain, Abel and Seth. Seth was the father of Noah whose sons were Shem, Ham and Japheth. After the birth of Seth, Adam lived for a further 800 years - in total 930 years. He and Eve had more sons and daughters (Genesis 5:4) who intermarried and brought forth children for populating the world.

Cain murdered his brother Abel, but God in His mercy, set a mark on Cain to prevent anyone killing him. (Genesis 4:15) Because of sinful Mankind, evil multiplied, and God saw, ‘that wickedness was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.’ (Genesis 6:5) God grieved because of it; therefore He said He would ‘destroy man’ and ‘beast’, but Noah was a just and righteous man, and because of this he found grace in the eyes of God. (Genesis 6:8)

God did as He said He would, by bringing about a worldwide flood. He destroyed all Mankind with the exception of Noah and his family whom He preserved on the ark that Noah faithfully and obediently built. Creatures for replenishing the post-flood world were also preserved on the ark. (Genesis 7 – 9:19)

The whole human race from the time of the Flood stems from Noah’s three sons, (Genesis 9:19) all of whom were ancestors of Adam and Eve; therefore the disease of sin was not eradicated.

Initially, Noah’s offspring all spoke the same language until God scattered them throughout the earth because of their disobedience. God had commanded Noah and his sons to be fruitful and to multiply, and to fill the earth, (Genesis 9:1) but under the leadership of Nimrod, one of the sons of Ham, they started building a great city [Babel] with a tower for their own glory in the land of Shinar. (Genesis 10:8-10) As a result, God scattered them and confused their language so that they did not understand one another. (Genesis 11: 7 – 9)

Approximately 2,350 years after the flood, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit within the womb of Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph. (Luke 1:35) When her days were completed she brought forth her firstborn Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Luke 2:6, 7) He was fully Man and yet fully God. (Hebrews 10:12) He was conceived and born without sin. (2 Corinthians 5:21)  He lived a sinless life, which was something none of us could do. (Romans 3:23) Only such a life was and is acceptable to God for His complete forgiveness of our sin-filled life. Jesus lived a perfect life of obedience to His Father on behalf of all who would repent and believe in Him (Mark 1:15) to bring them to God. (1 Peter 3:18)

Unlike Jesus, we all inherited the deadly disease of sin from Adam; hence our disobedience to God, even to this day. Only by accepting His forgiveness through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son Jesus, can we receive God’s pardon and the gift of eternal life. (John 3:36) In the New Jerusalem which will descend from the heaven of God, (Revelation 21:2) there will be a pure river of the water of life, on either side of which there will be the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding fruit every month. (Revelation 22:1, 2)

This gospel [Good News] is for all who will receive it.

Links

Biblical Chronology

http://creationwiki.org/Biblical_chronology

Sport – Part 2

The UK has a reputation for being a sporting nation - a nation, the citizens of which participate in many sports; they appreciate them and enjoy watching them. We see the benefit of taking part in sports for keeping fit and for our general wellbeing. Sport becomes a way of life. Millions dependent on it for their livelihoods; it is for them their bread and butter. Sportsmen and sportswomen earn their livings by it and whole industries supply their needs and those of their fanatic followers.

 The sports we engage in are wide-ranging. However, national TV and radio sports programmes tend to focus on three major sports: soccer, rugby and cricket. During the summer months, time is also allocated to tennis, golf and Formula One.  Other motor sports, horse racing, and cycle racing occasionally have hearings. In the winter we may see professional boxing and perhaps wrestling, but we seldom see judo or any of the martial arts. There are few opportunities for watching table tennis and badminton. As for canoe slalom and mountain biking, rowing, volley ball, basketball, netball and bowls, there’s hardly a showing. Occasionally there’ll be snippets featuring sailing and the equestrian sports; and of course, winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, ice-skating, and curling are seldom broadcast. Lesser known sports such as boules, lacrosse, hang gliding, dragon boat racing, kite sailing and surfboarding will be fortunate to have a mention.

 Irritatingly, TV sport is synonymous with football, and perhaps rugby and cricket. Now and again athletics has a showing. Sport for profit determines which has the largest share of air time. There’s little evidence that the so called ‘legacy’ of the Olympic Games has borne fruit with the youngsters of our country. British football, and in particular, English football as demonstrated by the national team at the FIFI World Cup, although followed by millions, has been shown to be abysmally weak by comparison with the Germans. The Brazilians as the host nation will never live down their ignominy, but the English by comparison are almost at the bottom of the pile, warranting the derision they deserve. Greg Dyke and the English Football Association have a lot of hard thinking and hard work to do before the next world cup.

Today, the Germans celebrated their victory in style.*  

Links

Sport

http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/sport.html

*World Cup: Germany welcomes conquering heroes home

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28306321

Germany stamp marks World Cup Victory

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28302531

German FIFA Celebration

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=german+fifa+celebration&qpvt=german+fifa+celebration&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=265891CD9E8733A80845265891CD9E8733A80845

German FIFA Celebration

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=german+fifa+celebration&qpvt=german+fifa+celebration&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=265891CD9E8733A80845265891CD9E8733A80845

World Cup Results: Breaking Down Final Tournament Soundings

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2128703-world-cup-results-2014-breaking-down-final-tournament-standings

World Cup 2014: Can England copy Germany’s path to success?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28295153

Greg Dyke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Dyke

The Football Associaton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Football_Association

‘Sparky’: A Nick Skeates Wylo

An old friend of mine, John Strutt, is a very clever craftsman, who is able to build things from fibreglass, wood and metal. He has built several yachts; including a modified fibreglass Vertue similar to the original wooden yacht designed by Laurent Giles and a 28’ Venus cutter designed by Paul Johnson, but the boat he built shown in the photos above is a Nick Skeates Wylo. John is an amateur radio ham and perhaps that’s why he named his yacht, ‘Sparky’.

I have sailed on her and I know how stable she is. Because of her stability and spacious decks she is very easy to manage. Her helm is light and she holds her course under sail. She also handles well in restricted waters. She has an unusual hinged pulpit that acts as a lever to which the forestay is attached for raising and lowering the mast which articulates on a bolt that passes through a tabernacle. There is no need to remove the sail and spars before lowering the mast, because there is room under it for the rig. The boom is attached to the tabernacle by a gooseneck fitting and the yard hinges on a crutch.

The designer of ‘Sparky’, Nick Skeates, has sailed his own Wylo ll around the world, and by doing so he has proven that she is suitable for serous offshore sailing.

When I recently went to Walton-on- the- Naze I noticed ‘Sparky’ on the hard not far from the Yacht Club. I introduced myself to the owner, and he was delighted to show me what he has done with a view to bringing her back to her original glory. He has finished everything aft of the companionway, and he has stripped away linings and fittings from both cabins so that he can treat the interior surfaces.  He has set himself the target of finishing the boat for launching by June of next year.

Links

Why Wylo?

http://www.yachtmollymawk.com/2011/04/las-palmas-2/

Voyaging Yachts

 http://www.voyagingyachts.com/contact-nick

Wylo 32.5

http://www.voyagingyachts.com/wylo-355-background

Building a Wylo – Practical Boat Owner Magazine

http://marinedirectory.ibinews.com/reprints/results_related.jsp?tem=ybw&id=87378&offset=330

Vertue Yachts

http://vertueyachts.com/

Venus Cutter

 http://www.woodenships.co.uk/sailing-yachts/colin-archer-type-venus-cutter/  

The Laurent Giles Archive

http://laurentgilesarchive.com/

Paul Johnson

http://members.tripod.com/mark_boden/

Wylo Yard – Building a Wylo

 http://wyloyard.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/wylo2-gaff-rigged-yacht-yard.html

‘Ragged Robin 111’

‘Ragged Robin 111’ is a 6 ton centre cockpit Hillyard sloop built in 1951 that once belonged to Arthur Ransome. She was built for him and his second wife Evgenia and was given the name ‘Lottie Blossom’ after a character in Evgenia’s favourite book, ‘The Luck of the Bodkins’ by P. G. Wodehouse. Sadly, although Arthur commissioned Hillyard to build her, he discovered he disliked her centre cockpit and wheel steering, and as a result, after only clocking up 200 nautical miles, he sold her. Her new owner renamed her ‘Ragged Robin 111’.

Well, yesterday I had a short chat with the current owners of ‘Ragged Robin 111’ and I took the accompanying photos.

Links

By Way of the Golden Isles: Ragged Robin 111’s Cruise, 2008 (Pages 2 and 3)

http://hillyardyachts.com/Newsletters/hillyards_issue_60.pdf

By Way of the Golden Isles by Anthony Rushworth-Lund (Hardcover from $8.22)

http://www.amazon.com/By-Way-Golden-Isles-Rushworth-Lund/dp/B0000CLRH4

The Arthur Ransome Society

http://www.arthur-ransome.org.uk/?page_id=372

Arthur Ransome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ransome

Evgenia Ransome

http://arthur-ransome.wikia.com/wiki/Evgenia_Ransome

Ragged Robin Images

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ragged+robin&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=ragged+robin&sc=8-12&sp=-1&sk=

Lottie Blossom (Second one – Ransome’s last yacht)

 http://www.arthur-ransome.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Selina-King-current.jpg

Lottie Blossom

http://arthur-ransome.wikia.com/wiki/Lottie_Blossom

The Luck of the Bodkins

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Luck_of_the_Bodkins

P. G. Wodehouse: The Luck of the Bodkins

http://www.pgwodehousebooks.com/luck-bodkins.htm

Boats built by Hillyard

http://www.hillyardyachts.com/Hillyards_Boat_List.pdf

‘Temagami’, a Lovely Gaff Cutter

Today I had an opportunity of seeing ‘Temagami’, an ex Beer or Exmouth lugger that has been converted into a cruising gaff cutter. The conversion was done by an old friend of mine, Bill Johnson. He rebuilt the hull and added enclosed accommodation. The original luggers were open clinker boats, but my friend re-planked ‘Temagami’ as a carvel boat. He beefed up the frames and put in more internal ballast; he also gave her a shallow ballast keel. All of this has made little difference to the designed waterline, and the original hull had high topsides to keep her dry when beaching and launching through surf, although I suspect this particular boat was an Exmouth lugger that would have been kept on a mooring in the Exe Estuary.

Her present owner has given her a new mast and a refurbished 20 HP Yanmar diesel auxiliary engine. She has been undergoing sea trials before setting off for a cruise to Holland from Pin Mill where she has her mooring. I was impressed with the yacht, since she has some very good practical features such as a comfortable secure cockpit from which there is excellent access through the companionway to the cabin. The interior layout is simple with single berths either side of the main cabin, and a double berth in the fore cabin. Her galley has a gimbal stove with an oven and a beautiful copper sink with a fantastic bronze fresh water pump.

Links

Beer Luggers

http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/beer-luggers.html

Historic Boats at Burnham

I have found a few monochrome photos of yachts and barges that once were based at Burnham-on-Crouch in the early 1900s.

 

‘Blue Trout’

She’s a 60’ wooden yacht from the board of Norman E. Dallimore built by King, William and Sons of Burnham in 1937. She has a carvel hull of teak planking on oak frames, and as far as I know she was converted from being a cutter to a ketch in 1965.

‘Providence’

38’ ‘Providence’ was built by Gilbert and Pascoe at Porthlevan in 1934 with pitch pine on oak carvel construction. She carries a 10’ bowsprit and displaces 11.08 tons.

‘Cygnet’

She’s a half-size wooden Thames barge built in 1881 by Curel at Findsbury.

Links

‘Blue Trout’

http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/1007/blue-trout

‘Providence’

http://www.adls.org.uk/t1/node/642

‘Cygnet’

http://www.thamesbarge.org.uk/barges/barges/cygnet.html

‘Cygnet’ of Harwich

http://www.thamesbarge.org.uk/barges/matches/barges/cygnet.html

The Sailing Barge ‘Cygnet’

http://www.barlingwakeringvillages.co.uk/ltwakering/CygnetBarge.htm

‘Cygnet’ on Flickr

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mynameismisty/5567671935/

Tony Warren, Marine Artist – Part 2

Tony attended Falmouth School of Art, and afterward worked for local builders and decorators. He was also a sign writer who was commissioned by the RNLI to paint names on their lifeboats, one of which was the ill-fated Penlee boat, the ‘Solomon Browne’. On 19^th December, 1991 she went to the rescue of the crew of the M.V. ‘Union Star’, which had engine failure during a severe gale in Mount’s Bay and was blown onto rocks at Boscawen Cove. All persons aboard both vessels were lost, despite heroic efforts of the lifeboat crew, who managed to get four onto their craft before she succumbed to the waves. The ‘Union Star’ capsized onto rocks west of Tater Du Lighthouse.

In 1978 Tony Warren established himself as a professional artist/painter, specializing in marine subjects. His studio was not far from Falmouth Customs House, and it became a meeting place for locals who shared a common interest in the sea. He worked in a variety of media, including oils, but his forte was watercolours. Tony had a love of the sea and of all kinds of vessels that he portrayed as he saw them or learned about them from authentic sources. He didn’t always get things structurally right concerning the ships and boats he painted, but he captured atmospheric moments sometimes indicative of the time of day, the nature of the weather, the strength and direction of wind, and various moods of the sea.

One of his paintings is appropriately displayed at Falmouth Fire Station, namely, Blaze on the ‘Tulla’, which shows firemen dealing with a fire on the ‘Tulla’, while the lifeboat stands by. Another of his paintings, an acrylic on board, namely the Fire Crew Attending a Blaze, is at the Truro Fire Station.

Tony passed away in 1994 at the age of 64, but his paintings and prints continue to give joy to their many owners, including me.

Links

Tony Warren’s Sketchbook

http://www.swmaritime.org.uk/article.php?articleid=208&atype=r

Your Paintings – Blaze on the ‘Tulla’

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/blaze-on-the-tulla-falmouth-14035

Beaufighter Paintings – The ‘Lock Ryan’ Schooner

http://home.btconnect.com/myrcomm/beaufighters/beau/photos/other/painting001.html

Penlee Lifeboat Disaster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penlee_lifeboat_disaster

Solomon Browne Remembered

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/content/articles/2006/12/15/penlee_feature.shtml

Falmouth School of Art

http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/falmouth-school-of-art

Customs House, Falmouth

 http://www.falmouthport.co.uk/commercial/html/documents/CustomsHouse.pdf

Tony Warren, Marine Artist – Part 1



 

The Painting

 

'Cousin Jack'

 

'Rebecca'

Tony Warren was a well-known Falmouth artist who was born in 1930 and died 1994. When visiting Falmouth in 1997, I saw a painting of Falmouth working boats on display in a gallery.  It was a limited, printed edition of a watercolour by Tony Warren, and because I liked it so much, I bought it without hesitation.

The painting depicts two Falmouth ‘B’ Class working boats on a broad reach, racing under full sail towards the finish line off the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club – or at least, that’s my interpretation of what is happening.

They are number 14, ‘Cousin Jack’, and number 24, ‘Rebecca’. The artist cleverly captured the atmosphere and light setting so typical of Falmouth on a glorious summer afternoon. He portrayed the excitement of the duel between these vessels as they broad-reached up the Penryn River towards Flushing which is beyond the field of vision to the right.

Links

Tony Warren's Sketchbook 'Falmouth-born Painter of Ships and the Sea'

http://www.swmaritime.org.uk/article.php?articleid=208&atype=r

Tony Warren

http://www.arcadja.com/auctions/en/warren_tony/artist/389828/

Falmouth Working Boats

http://www.falmouth.co.uk/on-the-water/the-falmouth-working-boats

Falmouth Working Boats

http://falmouthworkingboats.com/

Falmouth Working Boats

http://www.falmouthworkingboats.btck.co.uk/ 

‘Cousin Jack’ No 14

http://www.falmouthworkingboats.btck.co.uk/OurBoats/CousinJack14

‘Rebecca’s’ Page No 24

http://www.falmouthworkingboats.btck.co.uk/OurBoats/Rebecca24

Seal 26

A John Baker Seal 26 with the name ‘Wat Tyler’ has been in the locality of the River Crouch for the past three decades. I’ve seen her over the years on several occasions. When I first saw her in about 1984 she used to be moored off the Brandy Hole Yacht Club at Hullbridge. She had a reputation for being a good performer in local handicap racing. A month ago I was walking along the footpath at South Fambridge and I saw her being sailed by a lone sailor who expertly downed sail before proceeding under power to a mooring by the north side of the river.

In 1960 John Baker attended an evening ceramics course I ran at the Exeter College of Art. He wanted to know how to make a mould for a GRP small car top dinghy. He learned the basic principles of mould making and thereafter he set up his own business for manufacturing GRP dinghies and yachts. One of his most successful boats was the Lark dinghy, designed by Michael Jackson in 1966. He commissioned Angus Primrose to design the Seal MK 1, of which 59 were built between 1970 and 1971. This was followed by the Mk 11 and the Seal 22 Mk 111 and the Seal Sinbad. Later, he commissioned Ron Holland to design a 26 foot lifting keel cruiser/racer, the Super Seal 26 which he started to produce, but in 1987 he sold the moulds and rights to Bill Parker (G. W. Parker and Sons Ltd.) who developed and modified the yacht which he marketed as the Parker 27.

Links

Super Seal 26

http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/archives/super-seal-26/super-seal-26.htm

Superseal 26 for Sale

http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/advert.phtml?id=359428&fx=GBP#contact

Seal 28

http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/archives/seal-28/seal-28.htm

Seal Sinbad

http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?CLASS_ID=5508

Parker Seal Org

http://www.parkerseal.org.uk/

Lark Class Association

http://larkclass.org/

Parker Yachts UK

http://sailboatdata.com/view_builder.asp?BUILDER_ID=182

Wat Tyler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Tyler

The Death of Wat Tyler

http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/wat_tyler.html

Wat Tyler Country Park

http://www.wattylercountrypark.org.uk/