I started this voyage with three big fears: climbing, seasickness and writing, and wrote about them just before we left on 6 March. I still think that fear is no reason not to do something, but it slows you down.Climbing proved the hardest challenge. Not because I am frightened of … Continue reading
Antarctica lies hidden behind the cold-current fringes of the Southern Ocean, ancient lands shrouded in white and blue. Sleeping Beauty, bramble-fenced, breathing in rhythm with the tick of the clock, awaits the destined prince. Cold, storied emblems of passivity and pride.Amundsen and Shackleton have come and gone though Scott remained, ensorcelled … Continue reading
The sheets of my heartsnapped taut to breaking, as a galestronger than longing filled the sailinside me.There’s lovely, but more widely I find a dearth of strong poetry about the sea by women. There’s plenty of great poems by men of course, most famously John Masefield’s thundering cry to ‘go down … Continue reading
Pirates always excite the imagination, at least the ones on tall ships in the Golden Age. Stevenson’s and Barrie’s fantasies played their part in the popularisation and Johnny Depp has a lot to answer for. Now there’s even International Pirate’s Day.The wicked, bare-breasted, cutlass-wielding woman pirate is an alluring addition … Continue reading
Were there women on tall ships when they were the biggest vessels afloat? The wooden world is often seen as totally masculine, full of Russell Crowe types with their supporting cast of thugs and young gentlemen. It depends rather on both the work of the ship and the country of … Continue reading
