Very Interesting Alaric, I am intrigued with the reason for making a sternboard out of the River Tyne?
A little nerve wracking, even in a ship you were fully familiar with, let alone a new ship on Sea Trials! The menacing Black Middens lying submerged off the north shore at high water - waiting to rip the guts out of any unsuspecting ship.......The Middens have claimed many a ship over the years - many old wives tales locally of a satanic influence - either way...not something I would want to get past going astern!
I spent a great deal of my childhood in that area, I recall that those rocks are quite dreadful and always used to spook me as a youngun - maybe it was the scary tales from my North Shields born Granny that did it for me - but I was always 'a bit scared' when entering or leaving the Tyne.
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“Sailors, with their built in sense of order, service and discipline, should really be running the world.”
Nicholas Monsarrat
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