From sea shanties to C.S. Lewis, Bristol’s iconic wooden ship has had a busy summer – as the log of skipper Rob Salvidge records.
The Matthew, the beautifully-built wooden replica of the boat on which John Cabot set sail for Newfoundland in 1497, has had a typically busy summer plying the coasts of southern Britain and beyond. The ship left Bristol under cover of darkness on the midnight tide on March 1, returning on July 3: the longest time the ship’s been away from her Bristol home since her epic transatlantic voyage 15 years ago, when she travelled 2,000 miles in a recreation of the original ship’s pioneering journey to Newfoundland, Canada.
This summer’s crew were a mixture of professional sailors and volunteers drawn from the Matthew’s loyal band of supporters. Diary dates included a visit to London where, to promote the next film from C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, the Matthew was dressed up in the regalia of Lewis’ fictional ship, the Dawn Treader. Read on…
March 3: Newlyn, Cornwall
Sailing down the north Cornwall coast, past the old tin mine workings and deserted beaches, was wonderful. There was a glorious solitude, before the tourists’ arrival: when we return in a few months everywhere will be parched and teeming with trippers. Now, it’s freezing – we even had a few flurries of snow the other night.
March 11: Polruan, nr Fowey, Cornwall
Tom’s Yard in Polruan is a timeless masterpiece of a boatyard. Junk and rotten boats are overgrown with brambles and strewn at the bottom of a cliff, but somehow there’s enough space for some seriously expensive yachts – and for our fine craft to be hauled precariously out of the water and worked on, ready for the season. We’ll inspect the hull, slap some anti-foul paint on and do a few small jobs, then we’re off to the Big Smoke.
March 16: English Channel off Dorset
We’re under way! All sails set, and the ship is creaming along nicely. The chalk cliffs of the Dorset coast are away to port, lines of big ships chugging up and down the Channel to starboard. On a day like today – crew excited, good smells from the galley, lapping water and the sun breaking through – you want to bottle and sell the experience.
March 21: London
The Matthew is transformed into the Dawn Treader for our big promotional day. Hundreds of people watched in amazement in Ramsgate as we craned bits of Matthew onto the quay and carefully put on her amazing fancy dress outfit. We do some nutty things on this ship, but turning the whole thing into a giant floating dragon has to be the craziest. But crazy is good and it helps pay the bills. So thanks to C.S. Lewis, 20th Century Fox and Narnia fans worldwide for getting our year off to such a great start.
May 1: St Marys, Isles of Scilly
We’ve brought 12 strong men and true from Clevedon to participate in the annual World Pilot Gig Rowing championships. There are hundreds of gig clubs and thousands of rowers up and down the West Country, and they all seem to be in tiny St Marys right now. Great news for the pubs – and great news for us.
May 29: Golfe du Morbihan, Brittany, France
Arrived in the Golfe this morning – after a calm, moonlit overnight passage down the Brittany coast – for the Semaine du Golfe sea festival. They love their lighthouses in this part of the world: the coast and outlying islands are twinkling with them. We passed another British tall ship, Earl of Pembroke, in the night, ghosting along under full sail. We waved and whistled at them and will probably catch up ashore later.
We picked up a French pilot called Bernard to guide us into the narrow gulf entrance. Navigation isn’t difficult with huge great stone beacons to mark the rocks, but the current is ferocious. Good to have a local to point out the swirling eddies and whirlpools to avoid.
We’re at a lovely anchorage just off a wooded island. The French frigate Etoile du Roy is here, and a beautiful Dutch schooner Oosterschelde is also swinging gracefully on a mooring nearby. Always exciting to arrive in a new place with other travelling ships. We’ll meet the crews and hear their voyage tales later.
June 5: Brittany
What an incredible week. The French are fantastic at maritime festivals. Sometimes you feel there’s no organisation, just a collective will by 2,000 boat owners to have the best time ever and all go sailing together every day. Of course there’s structure, planning, programmes and logistics: but none of the fencing-in, crowd control and nasty fast food stalls that can make British events feel sterile.
And their boats are beautiful. The Bretons, like the Cornish, love their sea heritage. To have a little boat, and to fish, sing, sail, cook and wear stripy sweaters and berets, and tell improbable stories and build impossible harbours in amongst the rocks, feels natural here. And we fit in well because the Matthew looks improbable and almost impossible to sail in rock-strewn bays, but we do it and we love it and it makes people happy. The skipper did interviews for French TV, radio and papers in faltering pidgin French, and we were hailed as a small ship with a big heart.
June 12: Falmouth, Cornwall
People sometimes ask, ‘What’s the Matthew like at sea?’ Last night’s gales showed the ship at its best: rolling around like a fairground bronco ride, but storming along under full sail, eating up the miles. Despite poor visibility and driving rain, yesterday we were in France and today we’re drying out back in Falmouth. We’ve been doing six, seven, sometimes eight knots, to whoops of delight from the helm and crashing and grinding from down below as cabin contents were re-distributed with every extravagant lurch.
Poor old Dave, our cook: he already had a dodgy leg, and he got bashed on the other one by the tiller. Then the contents of the galley bin – yesterday’s fish heads and pasta slops – got deposited all over him while he was trying to sleep.
June 18: Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival
Someone should write a shanty about this June’s flippin’ weather. It’s been cold, wet and windy, but that didn’t stop the fine men and women of Cadgwith Cove putting on a spirited concert on board last night. Ships like ours would have been tied up on the Custom House quay here 400 hundred years ago, and glorious simple but full-blooded songs would have permeated the air as sailors and hobblers and ship owners bustled to fill storehouses with precious cargoes.
The Matthew deck is an inspiring place to sing – my mind conjured up my dear departed father, who loved the sea and in particular Cadgwith where he had many friends and spent many nights crooning with Hartley, Buller, Lamby and Sharkey. Great names for great men. Their spirits live on in song.
June 27: near Isles of Scilly
We’ve left the Cornish mainland, our adopted home for several months, and we’re heading for Scilly again. The last few days in Penzance (for the Golowan Festival), were crazy. The Cornish sure know how to enjoy themselves. Highlight: a world-record-breaking ‘pirate’ gathering on Penzance promenade, with us and the Penlee lifeboat sailing circuits around the bay and a massive canon battery on the shore. I’ve never seen so many bad Captain Jack Sparrow costumes in one place.
Now, peace and tranquillity. We’ve got some lovely guests on board, some nice food and hopefully some calmish weather.
July 1: Bristol Channel
On our way back to Bristol for a busy season of harbour tours and channel sailings. On our way up the Cornish coast we stopped at Lundy, where postcards were written and stories told of a spectacular sailing voyage.
So closes yet another chapter in the continuing saga of the world’s only replica sea-going Medieval caravel.
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