It was 22 May 1854. From the bobbing bows of a jolly boat, Captain G. M. Hederstedt looked across the harbour and viewed his ship with satisfaction.
Aged 37, he was one of the younger Commanders of the expanding P&O fleet. After eight year’s service he had been recently appointed to command one of the latest additions to the Bombay-China service; the 810 gross ton Douro presently anchored alongside the receiving and storing hulk, Fort William, in Hong Kong.
A web site dedicated to the writings of the sea, ships and all those that sail on them? It sounds strange as who knows what the Merchant Navy is or what those at sea actually do all day, those who work in the Industry that is.
Isn’t the Merchant Navy something to do with fishing or fighting? What is interesting about that? “Get a real job”, some would say and others would ask “and so why haven’t you got a sun tan”. So why would anybody be interested in a web site filled with things that nobody is interested in – beats me.
The head of Queen Charlotte Sounds are tidal. The tide range is not huge, but the water being as shallow as it is, low tide reveals a great expanse of brownness.
Ringed by lush native bush to the waterline, this little corner of Marlborough is paradise to a small boy.
That great area of exposed mud, littered with stranded puddles of left behind sea, pockmarked with crab holes and their scuttling tenants, dark seaweed smell everywhere, draws like a magnet.
Nobody likes to run into problems whilst on holiday, but the very nature of a yacht charter holiday does demand that you have to cope with the sea; which is always unpredictable, (hence "sea" being of the feminine gender) . A vessel, consists of thousands of parts, and bits of equipment, (electrics, electronics, mechanical items, sails, etc).
All of which should work together, and in unison. You can ignore all the promises that nothing will go wrong - it might just do that.
