Sea-sickness is a common malaise, experienced by most sailors at one time or another. But setting sail alone for even short periods can also have effects on mental health. Most sailors know the story of Donald Crowhurst. When he slipped his lines in Teignmouth to take part in the first Golden Globe race neither he …
When Vice-admiral Horatio Nelson sent the rallying cry “England expects that every man will do his duty” from HMS Victory ahead of the Battle of Trafalgar, he signalled his message using flags. In these days of electronic communication it might seem that such signalling methods are old hat – but flags, the phonetic alphabet and …
Read more “Sail training theory tutorial 2: flags, morse code and the phonetic alphabet”
The Shipping Forecast is practically a British Institution. It’s listened to by sailors and landlubbers alike for the poetry of its sounds. It’s also complete gibberish unless you know the special code, which is also used in many other forecasts. So what does it all mean? Before reading on, we recommend that you download your …