The voyages of the Fulmar– part nine
The serialisation of a log book from the yacht Fulmar, recording her 1956 voyages and the adventures of her crew.
The dog-eared log book was sent to the Argyllshire Advertiser accompanied by an unsigned note saying the log book had been bought among a lot of assorted items at an Edinburgh fleamarket.
The Fulmar, a 41-foot gaff cutter built in 1901, was owned by Commander Ralph G Mowat, RN (Rtd). Information on Commander Mowat was unearthed after an appeal by this newspaper, but we would love to hear from any surviving relatives.
The yacht won her class in the 1956 Tobermory Race from Bute to Tobermory, via the Crinan Canal, before setting off on a cruise from Crinan up the west coast, around Mull and back home.
Crew of the Fulmar and their nicknames: RG Mowat, ‘Skipper’; Mary R Mowat, ‘Mate’; G Paterson, ‘Pilot’; S Stanger, ‘Doctor’; JM Mowat, ‘Bosun’; Chris Paterson, ‘Tanky’; Robin G Mowat, ‘Tar’; Shena R Mowat, ‘Purser’ and dachshund Ruddiger von Stoer, ‘Major of Marines’.
Part nine
As soon as we were anchored we had afternoon tea with cakes and biscuits and, as seems inevitable in this bay, we were invaded by a wasp and had quite a job getting it out of the cabin – twice it went out and twice came back before leaving finally.
All had a doze or read after tea then all but the Skipper and Pilot went ashore. They landed in the bay to eastward of us and had a little difficulty in getting onto the beach. The Mate and Tanky had a wash in the burn, the Bosun climbed to the road, the Tar stayed on the shore and got badly midge-bitten, and the Major got quite bright and walked (and almost trotted) quite a lot. On board the Pilot and Skipper snoozed and/or read.
On the shore party’s return all but the Mate and Skipper who remained behind to top and tail some very inferior
Tobermory gooseberries, went off fishing in the entrance channel. The Tanky caught two and the Tar two but they were only small saithe and were thrown back into the sea when taken off the hook. They affirm that one of the two the Tar caught was one that had just been released from the Tanky’s hook.
The glass we were glad to note had not stopped falling and had remained unchanged for four hours.
When the fishers returned the Bosun and Pilot went ashore and got a balerful of mussels for bait intending to do some deep sea fishing but they never did it and the mussels were mostly used by the Skipper who threw them at gulls perched on our dinghy or jackstaff.
At half past eight we had a supper of mince and gooseberries but the Skipper was “off food” and supped on a strong gin, coffee and biscuits.
After that the rain set in very heavily and we sat below talking, reading, playing patience, knitting, until about 10.30pm when we turned in.
Thursday August 2
We had a quiet but very wet night, the rain falling continuously till about six.
We heard the usual forecast of rain for the whole country and Malin and Hebrides were the only areas not mentioned in the gale or severe gale warnings. Fresh to strong northerlies force 6 or 7 were their portions. The glass, we were sorry to see had not fulfilled its promise of the night before and had gone down again.
We were slow in turning out and when the Pilot got up he went ashore for a wash in the burn. There were some short sharp showers and the sky was generally overcast, but there were occasional blue patches and the sun made fleeting appearances. The