Description
Nominated for the 2019 prestigious Mountbatten Literary Award
This book tells the story of the 25ton Sheemaun as she sails through eight decades of history, gathering in her wake a unique collection of admirers, including former owners, former crews, and recounts the amazing stories of those brave Royal Navy Volunteer Reservists who served courageously on her during WW2.
Revealed here are tales of bravery and daring, accounts of deadly bombings, of London during the Blitz, of strafing by Hitler’s fighter-bombers and of deadly mines, of depth-charging and U-boat killings, of suicides and death. Stories of espionage, of smuggling. A terrorist attack and memorable chronicles recording grand historic Royal occasions. Stories of cruising in the North and Baltic seas, the English Channel and the Mediterranean, of grand maritime festivals and much else.
This fascinating, deeply engrossing true story takes the reader into the heart and soul of the Sheemaun and of all of those who have loved her. Revealing as it flows through time, insights into the cultures and attitudes prevailing in those long-past years.
About the Author:
Appointed a consultant surgeon in 1973, the author’s childhood fascination with ships and the sea was re-ignited when he became owner of the Sheemaun. Eventually resigning from the NHS, he came to be admitted as an Associate of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects and had the honour to sit on the panel of judges with National Historic Ships UK in respect of granting awards for historic ship conservation. His wife Maura, also a yacht-master, sails her own 15-ton sailing ketch.
