MARITIME MEMORIES

Posted by Admin on 25 May 2006, 12:00 am

Cerulean blue, the Solent lies
irenic, indolently calm.
Refulgent cannon, idle now,
provide the setting for a ‘snap’.
A frigate, under tow, snail-paced
beside the Brambles, moves towards
their Western mark.
In June-warmed comfort, old
certificated men, at ease
between Parade and Prince’s Green,
discuss the fate of ships long gone –
the diesel’s usurpation of
the place once occupied by steam –
outdo a Kipling, or a Conrad beat,
with graphic recollections of
a lifetime spent at sea, or tell
again of Cowes Week’s pageantry
when George the Fifth was King,
and, in the telling, sail the ‘J’ class –
the Queen’s Course navigate, perhaps,
from Warner Lightship to the East Lepe
buoy –
averring that the ’Twenties were
the yachtsman’s Golden Age.