I’ve waited until Tim’s away on holiday to write this post, for reasons which will become obvious. Back in July, we had arranged a day in Norfolk to visit a boat which we had thought might be similar to the Medusa. However, the chap who owned said boat cancelled on us at the last minute,Continue reading “Mea maxima culpa: the pier at Queenborough”
Tag Archives: september 25
The 14th Adventure Club Podcast: In Search of the Flushing Steamer Pier
We’re meant to be talking about October 6 in ‘Riddle of the Sands’, but frankly this is a period in the book where not a lot is happening, and we’re essentially gearing up for the main spying action starting on October 15. Having been stood up by a man who may (or may not) haveContinue reading “The 14th Adventure Club Podcast: In Search of the Flushing Steamer Pier”
‘I remembered, later on, the prismatic compass’
One of the last items on the shopping list of things Carruthers has to take to Flensburg is a prismatic compass. It proves to be the most difficult thing to find – and is also the one item that seems to arouse suspicion in Carruthers about what this sailing and shooting holiday is actually about. Why wouldContinue reading “‘I remembered, later on, the prismatic compass’”
‘A ticket for Hamburg in my pocket’
As has been stated previously, we are fairly sure of two things: 1. That Childers sailed his own boat to the East Frisian islands before writing The Riddle of the Sands, and thus would not need to make use of Flushing steamers and railways as Carruthers does. 2. That the action of the book is basedContinue reading “‘A ticket for Hamburg in my pocket’”
The 3rd Adventure Club Podcast: On Compasses & Timetables
This week we talk about Day 3 of the adventure – September 25. We discuss the need for a prismatic compass (2:03), and get frighteningly immersed in the world of Edwardian train and steamer timetables (10:20). Also featured: how to revive your old oilskins (20:46), the true location of ‘The Stores’ (24:52), the Kaiser’s shotgun cartridges ofContinue reading “The 3rd Adventure Club Podcast: On Compasses & Timetables”
‘Pacing the deck of a Flushing steamer’
An admission – I had always imagined a ‘Flushing steamer’ to be a steamer of a particular kind, following the usual landlubber’s rule of assuming that a strange word in use alongside something ship-sounding must be a proper noun of unknown provenance. But this turns out to have been idiotic. Flushing is the English vernacularContinue reading “‘Pacing the deck of a Flushing steamer’”
The Curiously Specific Book Club 