They’re at it again. Every time I settle in to enjoy a period film or TV drama, all credibility is expunged by what really is the simplest of errors. Cowboy films are a good example. Here comes The Man with No Name to shoot the forces of darkness back to Hell where they belong. I’m hooked into the story up to my neck until I notice a detail that reveals beyond doubt that the director understands nothing. It even happens in Downton Abbey and recently in the much-vaunted Bridgerton currently making a fortune for Netflix. How, I want to know, do these people imagine their characters operated indoors after dark by the light of oil lamps rendered useless by blackened glass chimneys? Of course they didn’t. It isn’t a lifetime ago that I’d a home in the Yorkshire Dales where some of the outlying farms still used Aladdin lamps. In my own world, I’ve had three boats where the main lighting below decks was paraffin-fired and I still use an oil riding light with a noble dioptric lens. Nobody in their right mind, either afloat or up in the hills, would tolerate blackened chimneys for a moment. First, you’re paying good money for the paraffin and if the glass is opaque you might as well pour it down the sink; and secondly, because getting a crystal-clear glass is dead easy.
CABIN LIGHTS
Here’s the secret, step by step. Some riding lights vary in detail, but I’ll deal with them further down the page.
Denne historien er fra March 2021-utgaven av Classic Boat.
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Denne historien er fra March 2021-utgaven av Classic Boat.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The Need For Speed
Saving lives at sea has always been bound to the speed of rescue, from the first rowing boats to the 60-knot, all-weather motorboats of today
ROW YOUR BOAT
There has been a steady rise in recreational rowing over the past few years, and the choice can be bewildering. What’s the right boat for you?
Traditional Tool
JOINER’S NAME STAMP
Classic misuse of a word
Real classic ownership involves rot, rust and reward
SCUD MISSILE
Herreshoff’s newly-restored Bar Harbor 31 Scud lit up the classic racing scene in the Med in 2020 with a double win at Cannes and Saint-Tropez
BOSUN'S BAG
PRACTICAL TIPS FOR THE TRADITIONAL BOATER
DOUG LEEN - Tugboat man
Vietnam vet, park ranger, dentist, small-craft conservator and tugboat skipper.... meet Ranger Doug!
CHANCE TO SAVE AN Albert Strange yawl
Chances at Albert Strange ownership don’t come up often, and Sheila II is the quintessential Strange – and one with a great history, too
AFFORDABLE CLASSIC Salcombe Yawls
A friend and I once decided that walking might make a change from sailing. So we set forth to walk from Branscombe to Bigbury, a 100-mile stretch of the south-west coastal path marked by knackering climbs and knee-wrenching descents.
Cardiff, Wales - Save The Elena Maria Barbara!
A rare, 18th-century schooner replica, restored to the tune of around £1 million, could be abandoned if a buyer is not found soon.
