Author: Chris Wells

Much has been written about Joshua Slocum’s last voyage, and his mysterious disappearance.

Arthur Ransom believed that the Spray was probably cut down at night in a shipping lane. An alternative theory holds that her captain simply fell off the fore deck in a storm….while she kept sailing unerringly towards the sunrise. Other pundits suggest that a giant swordfish might have skewered a garboard plank  – and again, that the little ship was swamped by a hump-backed whale, surfacing without due care.

All these theories are plausible – but I think they fall wide of the  mark.

To my mind, there is no mystery: Joshua Slocum  sailed away and never came back. That is all. He had his beloved Spray as companion; no doubt he carried below deck the old tin clock, freshly-boiled; his knowledge of sea and sky and everything in between was immense – and the Pilot of the Pinta  would have been keeping night watch, as the captain slept. Why not sail on?

For all we know, he may be sailing still….

casting off
casting away
tin clock
without a face
tells the hour

casting away
for the last time
no way back
clearing the lee shore
through the eye
of a zephyr

sweeping across
sweeping the currents
trimming sail
beneath the dizzying stars

beyond the hours
beyond the days
beyond sight
beyond breath

a mirage of gannets
soaring
plummeting

 

I have been making gadgets as I go – and as the need arises.

The small wood clamps are designed to apply gentle pressure without damaging the ribs. I will use them when I glue the endliner and endclasp along the top edge of the shell….more about that anon.

As for the wood scraper: I can now apply forward energy through the palms of the hands, rather than via the thumbs and fingers.

The lute shell is free of the mould, and almost ready for fitting out….

Firstly, however, I must tidy up the rib joints from the inside – especially at the broad (curved) end, in preparation for the endliner. This provides reinforcement across the weakest point of the construction.

You can see that the tape is still attached; it will remain until the endliner  and endclasp are successfully installed. Since I work in a Boatshed, I am also inclined to fit heavy thwarts, quarter-knees and sawn frames – but I have an idea that lute Devotees would not approve….

 

Mid-afternoon – winter light….

Yesterday Sam and I strolled to the estuary, as we do every week, to inspect the river mouth and sand-dunes  and everything in between.

On the way back we turned to admire the land and seascape stretching away northwards.  A silvery light was slanting across the hills behind Normanville – and beyond that, across the hills east of Carrickalinga, where we used to have our patch of earth with the little wooden cottage and workshop.

I think my (unpaid) photographer has done a good job in capturing the scene with his trusty phone camera.

The body of the lute is now ‘watertight’, and I can set about about lifting it  off the template, or mould.

First, however, I will clean the outer surface of the ribs. I am instructed to keep the reinforcing tape in place until the end-liner and end-clasp are installed at the broad end (or stern, as I think of it).

To remove the lute body (shell) I must extract the two screws that hold the neck block to the template from the inside.  Of course, the ribs are already glued to the neck block, so the whole thing should come away easily enough.

If  it doesn’t, then I will certainly have  something to think about.

Sufficient unto the day etc….

I am fitting and installing rib number five on the treble side.

There are eleven ribs in all. Two to go: number six bass and number six treble.

And beyond that, unexplored territory….

 

 

 

Destined for the Paddock.

There are two additions:  Pink Gum (E. fasciculosa), and South Australian Blue Gum (E. leucoxylon).

The collection of  dune-care seedlings  includes Ficinia nodosa (previously Isolepsis), which has a charming common name: Knobby Club Rush – and the shrub of intoxicating scent, Olearia axillaris, otherwise known as Coastal Daisy Bush, or Wild Rosemary.

These  little  plants have acquired the potency of totems: companions of our youthful days – the long days of summer – as we explored the  adjacent dunes, or set sail for distant lands just across the Bay….