Secrets of Swallows and Amazons
Practical Boat Owner|October 2022
Sophie Neville explains how her role as Titty in the Arthur Ransome classic forged a lifelong love for the iconic dinghy Swallow
Sophie Neville
Secrets of Swallows and Amazons

“Swallow is coming up for auction,” my father said, sending me the details of a clinker-built sailing dinghy stored at Twickenham.

It was the Spring of 2010. I rushed into our damp computer room, took one look at the online photographs and wept. The letters WK were carved into her transom. There was the 12ft, all-purpose, run-around vessel built by William King of Burnham-on-Crouch that had been purchased in 1973 to feature as Swallow in the original feature film of Arthur Ransome’s classic novel Swallows and Amazons. She looked a bit dried out, but remained an icon of British cinema.

I knew the little ship intimately. All those years ago, I’d played the part of Able-seaman Titty, sailing across Coniston Water wearing nothing but a thin cotton dress and thick navy-blue elasticated gym knickers. I was the one who stitched Swallow’s flag. She became part of my life back then and I longed to see her once again.

I’d grown up reading the books and could identify with Titty’s dream of emulating Robinson Crusoe cast away on a desert island. She became the heroine of Ransome’s classic adventure story when she grabbed a chance to capture the Amazon. This enabled the Swallows to win the war set to determine ‘who should be the flag-ship’. In mooring her prize overnight near Cormorant Island, Titty witnessed Captain Flint’s stolen treasure chest being buried, and was eventually able to rescue it. She was rewarded with the gift of a green parrot.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2022 من Practical Boat Owner.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2022 من Practical Boat Owner.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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