Other Vessels in Great Northern?

Folding Boat

The Sea Bear's folding boat is described as "a sort of coracle with pointed bow and stern" (Great Northern? Chapter 14). Made of wood and canvas, it had a flat bottom and was notiously difficult to row without spinning in circles.

Captain Flint suggests that there is nothing wrong with folding boats as such, it is just a shame that Mac, the Sea Bear's owner, decided to make his own.

Mail Boat

Great Northern? takes place on one of the islands of the Outer Hebrides. In the early 1930s, the time that Great Northern? was set, mail services to and from these islands were operated by David MacBrayne (1928) a company founded in that year when the previous David MacBrayne was rescued from collapse by the LMS Railway. David MacBrayne (1928) was eventually merged with the Caledonian Steam Packet Company to form Caledonian MacBrayne, usually known as Cal Mac, the company that still provides scheduled ferry services to Stornoway to this day.  

Fishing Boats

It is clear from the descriptions in Great Northern? (Chapter 8) that the local harbour - most probably modelled on Stornoway - was a busy fishing port.

Go to Other Vessels in Missee Lee

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