The Real Swallow
Ransome's sailing stories inspired many people of all ages to get on the water. But you might be surprised to learn that he was inspired himself, by a 15ft Clinker built Morcambe Bay dinghy he bought over 80 years ago. So what was Swallow like and what happened to her?
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Several years ago Stuart Wier, from Colorado researched the history of Swallow and Amazon, you can find his full research on www.allthingsransome.net. Thanks to Stuart, we now have a pretty good idea about the real Swallow
It might come as a great surprise to land lubbers and natives that there was, in fact, a real “Swallow”. Ransome bought Swallow second hand for £15, that’s £841.00 in 2015 money. These days a decent quality second hand racing dinghy for about the same money, however traditionally built boats like Swallow would be considerably more expensive these days.
Swallow was a Morecambe Bay dinghy and was “built specially to navigate the treacherous and changing sands of the Kent estuary near Arnside” (Ransome). Arnside is at the mouth of the River Kent, one of two rivers that feeds Morecambe Bay. The Bay is well sheltered from the Atlantic swell so, like the Solway Firth to the north, the bay is riddled with sand and mud banks.
The Swallow was clinker built, (landlubbers: this means the planks are laid to overlap each other inside and outside the hull- Ed). The planks would have been held with clinched copper rivets or nails. Ribs would have been added, bent into shape by softening with steam. The boat would have been fitted out with thwarts, a substantial keel, stem (front post) and transom (landlubbers- the flat bit at the back of the boat – Bill). These boats were not necessarily built as leisure craft but were built as Morecambe estuary fishing and general tender/transport around the bay although Stuart Wier speculates that Swallow was probably built for pleasure boating but based on the design of these work boats. The design is strong and stable as these boats had to take some abuse and cope with some choppy seas.
Clinker built was ubiquitous in the western hemisphere until the 1970s. By 800AD It was already an established method of wooden boat construction in Britain and Ireland . Clinker built boats are still to be seen, all over the world, as they are relatively long lived and tough. There are examples of clinker work boats that are easily over 100 years old being used as commercial inshore fishing boats across the islands.
Boats of this type are still being built, although with labour and material costs these days, they are no longer cheap.
Coniston from an early 20th C Picture Postcard, from the British Library Collection
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