Swallows & Amazons boat reaches 90-year milestone

Originally named the Spindrift, the Nancy Blackett was renamed by famed children's author Arthur Ransome

A sailing yacht which inspired part of the Swallows and Amazons series of novels is marking 90 years since it was first bought by their author Arthur Ransome.

Named after the books' fictional captain of the Amazon pirates, Nancy Blackett was Ransome's favourite yacht.

He sailed the 28-foot, seven-ton Bermuda-rigged sailing cutter extensively along the Suffolk coast.

Now berthed at Woolverstone Marina on the Shotley Peninsula, the ship has taken on another purpose as a sailing homage to Ransome's works.

Peter Willis said buying the boat helped Arthur Ransome get over a period of writer's block

First launched in 1931, the ship was originally called the Spindrift and later renamed Electron by her second owner.

Upon his purchase of the boat in 1935, Ransome declared Electron to be a "horrible" name, choosing instead Nancy Blackett after one of his principal characters in the series - which centred on boating adventures set mostly in the Lake District, but also in Suffolk, Essex and The Broads in Norfolk.

The ship served as inspiration in two of Ransome's works, referenced under the fictional alias "Goblin" in We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea, published in 1937, and The Secret Water, published in 1939.

President of the Nancy Blackett Trust, Peter Willis, believed the ship helped Ransome overcome his writer's block."He'd run out of ideas for his series of children's books," he said.

"He rented a cottage down at Levington [on the north bank of the River Orwell estuary in Suffolk] and, within a few weeks, he was telling his publisher he'd had a brilliant idea for a terrific story with a seven word title – We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea".

That novel tells the story of children who set off from Suffolk and accidentally end up in The Netherlands, without realising they've crossed the North Sea until they dock.

An 80th anniversary reading of the novel took place in 2017 at Pin Mill in Suffolk, with comedian Griff Rhys Jones among those taking part in the eight-hour event.

The Secret Water was set in Hamford Water in Essex — also know as the Walton-on-the-Naze backwaters.

Nancy Blackett is said to be Ransome's favourite yacht, as it was the only one to have two owners prior to his ownership

In deference to his wife Evgenia's desire for a larger galley, Ransome sold Nancy Blackett in 1938.

Over the following half-century, she had five different owners but, by 1988, had been allowed to deteriorate in Scarborough harbour.

She was brought back to the Orwell to be restored and, after an appeal to raise the purchase price of £25,000, she was bought by the Nancy Blackett Trust, which maintains her as a living vessel on the south bank of the Orwell estauary with a team of volunteer crew.

"She always causes a bit of interest if she comes into a harbour," said Mr Willis.

"We've taken her down as far as Falmouth [in Cornwall]... over to Holland. She's always recognised. People say 'gosh, that's Arthur Ransome's boat'."

One of the trust's aims was to advance the education of the public in both Ransome's works and in sailing generally, with a special focus on young people.

"It's great to see young children get into sailing," said trustee Robin Sadler.

"Even if they have read [Ransome's books], I think the inspiration they get from being on board means they'll probably go and have another read."