Tragedies at sea, in this case on the SS West Cumberland, took their toll on loved ones at home. Charles Dickens described the room, in Great Expectations, where poor Miss Havisham’s wedding feast s...Read More
Merchant Navy apprentices in the 1850s Like an eagle cag’d I pine On this dull unchanging shore Oh give me the flashing brine.. (The full lyrics are here). A life on the ocean wave may have been...Read More
Solway ships and the canal When the Carlisle Canal was officially opened, on March 12, 1823, a flotilla of eleven ships and several smaller vessels sailed its length into the city.The sight of sailing...Read More
‘Those in peril’ is, of course, a line from the famous hymn ‘Eternal Father, strong to save’. Actually, the first hymn I ever learned, as pre-schooler: no idea how/why I learne...Read More
This painting of the brig Robert Burns, at Port Carlisle, is fairly well-known. I suspect most people who are aware of it like it because it shows Port Carlisle in its heyday as a busy port. The house...Read More