essage-Id: MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM MMM M MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMM MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MXXXXXXXMMMXXXXXXXX/.\\\XXXXXMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMM MMMMM XXXMXXMXXXXXXXMXXX/.:.\\\\XXXXXXXMMMMM MMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MM XXXXXXXXXXMXXXXXX/:__:.\\\\\XXMXXXXXXXMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ++++++++++XXXXXX/:| |:.\\\\\\XXMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXMMMMMMXX ++MM++++++++++++|.|__|.:|: . |XXXXXXXXXXMMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ++++++++++++++++|:.:.::.| : |XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXMXXXXXXXXXXXXX ++++++++++++++++|.:..:.:|. :| signal station +MMMMM++++ ---|:.::.:.|.____ and observatory ++++ ++++ M M ++++++ ++ SIGNALLING M M M M aaaa rrr sss ++ ++ TO M M M a a rr s + + M M a a r ss + + M M a aa r s + + M M aaa a r sss + + + + Newsletter of the Electronic Group of + + The Arthur Ransome Society + + + +Content is the personal opinion and the intellectual property + + of the contributors and does not reflect the opinion of TARS,+ + any other person or group. Any mail received Will Be Publish-+ + able unless Marked Otherwise. This includes senders' identi- + + ties and email addresses. We're not junk emailers! IF YOU DO + + NOT WANT THIS NEWSLETTER please send Reply to that effect. + ELECTRONIC GROUP of The Arthur Ransome Society: Secretary: Peter Dowden World Wide Web: http://newton.otago.ac.nz:808/~peter/arthurpage.html _________________________________________________________________ ISSUE NUMBER 14 (May/June 1995) Contents: Signitorial AGM News Electronic Group's Name Bill's holiday Ransome and other authors Letters SIGNITORIAL "Why not? Of course they may not see it. And even if they see it they may not understand. A different world. That makes it all the more like signalling to Mars." --Dick Callum, signaller and astronomer Dick may have been talking about us as we presented our Electronic Branch idea to the AGM. This issue has been held over, waiting for AGM news. Readers will notice a few changes: the word "unofficial" has been deleted, now we are Official, and so has the name "Virtual Tars" - which was only a sort of working title of our hitherto informal group - pending a consensus on what to call ourselves. Also, the header has been tidied up a bit. Readers should only see their address at the top of this message, if all goes according to plan. This protects the privacy of other recipients. Peter your Signaller. ----------------------- AGM Your Signaller was anxious to hear about the Resolution to establish the Electronic Branch: the first news began to filter through of our Admirals making their way to Chichester... >Now, all I have to do is locate the meeting (I lost the Chichester map >I was sent) and not drive on the right (wrong) side of the road. >I'm more worried about the latter. >73, doug (Giminy! I hope nothing terrible happens to Doug! Drive Carefully, Doug!) The Big Day arrived, then passed. Finally, the News arrives: >In principle, and suject to direction by the TARS Committee, yes. >It was decided that "Region" didn't really fit, so we are an "Arm" of >TARS. >A good time was had, in spite of my driving my rental car into a 4 >foot deep ditch, sideways. >More later, and 73, doug (Good thing they didn't have to drag t'lake, Doug.) Here's Doug's big report: From: faunt@netcom.com (Doug Faunt N6TQS +1-510-655-8604) The motion passed, as I said. There was some opposition by people who were concerned about the possibilities for breach of copyright by people on the net, and therefore liability to TARS. It seems that Peter has done the right thing so far, and as part of TARS we're less likely transgress than we are as not part of TARS. Christina Hardyment said that people locate her email address, and send her messages about locating TARS, which I thought was interesting. There's a new Amazon Press publication -Ransome at Sea: Notes from the Chart Table- which is the collected logbooks of his sailing. The next Amazon Press book is to be -Ransome at Home-. It was a fun AGM, although very spread out. The campfire and shantey sing was great. The next one is in Bristol, during a Festival of the Sea celebration there. I plan to go to the Literary Weekend in October. On a few personal notes, I managed to drop my rental car on its side into a four foot deep ditch just before the AGM. I was going almost no speed, so no injury, but the car was bent up, and went off to the shop, never to be seen again by me. Thanks to Dave Sewart and Kirsty Cochrane, who gave me rides to and from my hotel and various assembly points, I didn't need it again. It was pointed out to me that you, Peter, seem to driving a bus these days. What happened to the physics job? 73, doug (Yes, I am driving a bus these days. I still do odd jobs here in the Physics Dept when I'm not net surfing!) CHRISTOPHER'S BIG AGM REPORT From: Christopher Sharp [Edited slightly by the Signaller] An attempt into explaining a bit about what happened at the AGM: When the proposal was intoruced by Malcolm Temple he said that it was 'of great importance...' and that was why he had seconded it. It was during the course of the disscusion supported by Madam President and the Secretary (I think Brigit did...). There were a few umm's.... and aahhhhh's.... and then Malcolm asked if there were any questions. The result was a lively disscussion which started with questions such as 'what is the Internet', 'what's the WWW', 'what's electronic media', 'what control does the society have over the Internet', 'what copyright laws are enforcable' (at this point Malcolm/Dave/Doug pointed out that it was somewhat unneccesary because E-Tars/Cyber-Tars.... had no intention of using them without first asking John Bell .... and that the only picture(s) that have been used are the one's from the membership forms. Then, a man [?Mr Williams?? -sig] asked why we wanted to call it a 'branch' 'does this mean that the members wish to forsake their own branches which they are allready members of in favour of a new one?'. 'NO' was the reply, this is a means of communication between members al over the world and is a way of contacting 'less accesible' members who live in remoter area's/countries. The gentleman continued along this thread for some time during which people made these comments: 15 year old on the front row opposite me stood up and said 'can I have the address please' he was answered at least four times in the affirmative! Another man suggested that in order to facilitate the quick movement on this front perhaps the 'Electronic _Branch_' might be setup as a sub-committee of the main one. The committee were asked if they had ever seen S2M, they all replied in the affirmative. Malcolm felt compeled to offer the original gentleman the choice to have another meeting to disscuss E-TARS but everyone declined. The national Membership Secretary stood up and said domething along the lines of: Although I have nothing to do with Virtual Tars I can confirm that it is a good thing for the Society because since it started I overall membership of the Society has increased by 20% directly because of it and the membership in the USA has increased by 80% because of Internet leads.!!! (PLEASE don't hold me to the statistics - I may not have remembered them correctly) The afforementioned gentleman (opposer) continued at which point I stood up to remind everyone of the previous speaker who was impressing the importance of getting more Junior members and said something like: The third Admiral is a Junior who is younger than me... There are lots of students and teenagers -like myself- on the Internet who are potentially Ransome addicts and members of the society... I also mentioned that I had personally received 3 membership enquiries, 2 from Juniors, which I had forwarded to Abbot Hall. I haven't doccumented all of the questions up to this point by any stretch but I think that these are all the important ones! In the face of continued questioning the Chairman asked if Mr Williams would mind if the text of the proposal was changed to something other than 'Branch'. He said no and at that point -embarasement above all others- my Mom stood up and said what about 'Wing, Arm, Section, group' Malcolm then asked for a show of hands which produced about half-a-dozen abstentions. (including Mr Williams and others - only one of whom is on the national committee). There was however one other thing - err..... at some point err... someone said something about you becoming an 'electronic publisher' (I think you get registered somehow to show that you won't break copyright.) :-) Sorry if I've missed anything but I'll just make a couple of points on top of those above:- there must have been about 60 questions asked of which about 40 were answered. Many people there were totally ignorant of the Internet and didn't know the difference between E-mail, IRC, WWW, FTP.... This of course had the whole audience (especially Doug, Dave, me and a few other Net-aholics) in stitches often :-) I think that we have created at least 4 or 5 new Virtual Tars!!! AFTER the meeting the E-TARS there were practically mobbed by members wanting to know all sorts of things (I found myself explaing what the WWW was to someone who only uses Gopher and giving out the address of Yahoo!). One person (the national committee member who abstained from voting) said that they didn't like the name 'Virtual'-Tars because they didn't know what Virtual means! how about some of these titles that my family (and Internet sys-Administrator) came up with: E-Tars Cyber-Tars Net-Tars ************ * TARS-NET * ************ Tars-Net is my favourite by miles! Someone has mentioned that 'someone' might take offence if we use maritime titles like Captain, Lieutenant, ADMIRAL etc. when we aren't! This doesn't apply to TARS-NET but I thought that I'd warn u that these might have to go. [snipped here -sig] Chris Thanks Christopher and Doug for the lively descriptions of the meeting! There may be more on the AGM weekend in the next issue. ____________________________________________ OUR NAME [again] Let's decide on a name for the Electronic Wing, Arm, Section or Group: Chris has given some suggestions: 1: E-Tars 2: Cyber-Tars 3: Net-Tars 4: TARS-NET also 5: Virtual Tars and my suggestion: 6: MARS (after "Signalling to Mars" which I happen to think is a really cool name for an electronic newsletter) An abbreviation doesn't have to mean anything to be a good one (cf Tarpaulin). It probably means Multimedia, Mail, and Modem-using Members of the Arthur Ransome Society. I'll record a vote each so far for MARS and TARS-NET (Chris and me), any more votes or suggestions welcome. _________________________________________________ Bill Wright's Holiday report From: BillTchr@aol.com IN THE NORFOLK BROADS (AND ELSEWHERE) FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS Just like Dick and Dot... though I approached the area driving in by car, rather than by train to Thorpe Station. Coming in from Heathrow, I had spent 2 days exploring on the way, seeing Mountfitchet Castle (an early Norman castle re-created on its original site), Saffron Walden, Lavenham, Kentwell Hall in Long Melford (most worth a visit, especially if they are doing on of their Tudor re-creations, with costumed people, and all that), and a wonderful drive through the countryside towards Norwich. I had wanted to stay in Horning, but that didn't work out, and I found a place to stay in Ranworth. There's not a whole lot to the village, most of it being clustered around the staithe, which looks right onto Malthouse Broad (what AR called Ranworth Broad, though that is really the closed-to-boaters broad just to the west--the one simply outlined on the maps in the books. Many more boats, and so few sailboats...though I watched one perhaps practicing on the Broad just as Dick and Dot did--they certainly didn't seem to expect the gybe I saw them do while I watched from the staithe! The Maltsters public house is there just as in the books--and they serve delicious meals--though the post office is no longer just up the hill, but down at the staithe in the shop. The malthouses are gone, though. Ranworth makes a good starting point for a tour around the Broads, as right on the staithe is a Broads Information Centre, with loads of maps, books, pamphlets, and everything you might want to travel about. Among the purchases I made there were a copy of _Arthur Ransome's East Anglia_, with an excellent discussion of the background of all the stories and how they came to be written, who the people were that the characters were based on, and also a particular look into the setting of the East Anglia books, with lots of photographs of what those places look like now. They also had paperback copies of the 2 Broads books, each with a TARS pamphlet tucked inside! >From there it's a short walk along a boardwalk with explanatory signs to the Broadland Conservation Centre on Ranworth Broad. (Literally--it is a floating building!) There are exhibits on the history of the forming of the broads--man-made, from peat digging in mediaeval times--and of their current environmental plight. You can take the boradwalk back, or even better a ferry (a little reed lighter, actually) back across the broad to the staithe. Head along the road to Horning Ferry (the one where the bicycle track was found...) and park there, and you can walk along another boardwalk to Cockshoot Broad, which has been closed off from the river, the mud pumped out, and basically restored to what the broads of AR's time were like. Walking along, there was a swan nesting no more than a metre from the boardwalk, and when I looked on the map later, it can't have been more that a bit away from where number 7's nest was! There is a ferry running again from the Ferry Inn, though the area doesn't look much like the sketch in _Coot Club_. I continued around to and through Wroxham on my way to Horning. Despite the horribly incongruous presence of a Mississippi River paddleboat for touring the rivers and broads right outside the Swan Inn, it looks very much like the pictures, though obviously more crowded. An added bonus was a sailing race going on with the same class as the Flash racing! The staithe is now also a car park, but the view is exactly the same, with the same buildings. There are some more touristy shops, and you won't find Coot Club dyke or the Dudgeon's house, but the Lower Street makes a nice walk regardless. Some other stops made were at St Benet's Abey ruins--reached by car by driving down a concrete and dirt farm path and then walking the last bit, a restored eelman's cottage at How Hill--nothing like the eel set from _The Big Six_ but interesting nonetheless; they also have electric boat tours through the environmental area at How Hill, but I was too late in arriving to take it. Potter Heigham bridge is still as fascinating to watch as it was for those in the books. I waited around hoping to watch a sailboat put down it's mast to go through, but none came along. Potter Heigham was the most different from what I imagined from the books. Where I had in my mind's eye a small village clustered around the river and the bridge, it is more open, with more boatyards and whatnot near the river, and the village away a bit up the road. Some things can't be seen easily for those in a car, or without some more time to spend exploring. Breydon Water and "Secret Water" are two such places, unfortunately. You can see the very end of Breydon (around where the pilot's hulk was) along with the Berney Arms mill and pub from a distance from walking out to Burgh Castle (the Roman ruins mentioned in _Coot Club_), but it not really satisfactory. (Burgh Castle itself is not too easy to find--a maze of streets nearby all lead around each other and it is very easy to keep going round in circles!) To really see Breydon, you need a boat, or the time to hike out to the Berney Arms--about 3 miles from the nearest village! Secret Water is much the same--you need the time to get out and probe about and walk (Thanks for the directions, Hamish! Maybe another time...). What seems not to have changed a bit since the books, though, is Pin Mill. There is almost nothing to it--just a few houses along the narrow road, Alma Cottage, The Butt & Oyster, the boatyards, and a row of houseboats--one of which was my B&B, which only added to the experience! A couple called Chris and Aura run it aboard their houseboat "Samantha". The Butt & Oyster is exactly what you'd expect, serves wonderful food, and to top it off, the high school student who was bartending turns out to have been in my hometown with some others from Ipswich High School playing rugby against the local high school team about 2 weeks before! Talk about a small world! So, Arthur Ransome *is* still there--just have a good map, look through the books carefully, and don't be afraid to explore! Cheers, Bill Wright:) Old Greenwich, CT USA _________________________________________________________ ARTHUR RANSOME AND OTHER AUTHORS From: faunt@netcom.com (Doug Faunt N6TQS +1-510-655-8604) It turns out Patrick O'Brian has read Ransome and enjoyed him very much. I was unable to ask him directly when he was here in San Francisco, but I passed the question on to Tony Day, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times who was at the lecture, and had an interveiw scheduled for later, and the response to him was "oh dear, yes". Richard Woodman, the author of the Nathaniel Drinkwater series, and a number of other books, has a mention of Ransome on page 107 of -The Darkening Sea- (not to be confused with the Alexander Kent book of the same title). Woodman works for Trinity House, is in TARS, and has had an article in the Easter '91 Despatches about the Beach End Buoy. Also, Bernard Cornwell, the author of a number of sailing based thrillers and the "Sharpe" series of historicals, now seen on television, was approached about donating to the Coch-y-Bonddhu fund as a result of Robin Anderson having seen a mention of S&A in an article he wrote, and returned a check for #400 to close out the fund raising effort. He also was inspired by Ransome. 73, doug _________________________________________________________ LETTERS From: "Caz Thomas" Hello Peter My nine (and a half) year old son is the founder TARS member for Africa (let alone S. Africa) thanks to his Grandmother who lives in Kendal. There is now one other member in South Africa (an adult) who lives in Jo'burg 1 500 kms away from us in Cape Town. He is not on email, but telephoned Daniel on Easter Sunday and they had a long and friendly chat about AR's books. Any suggestions on how he can drum up interest here? Most of his school friends seem to be glued to TV's and are not avid readers, unlike him. However, he will be visiting his Grandmother in Kendal this June/July and the 5th Anniversary on 1 July is currently a high spot on his itinerary. We unfortunately cannot afford to go too (which he is actually pretty pleased about). I look forward to hearing from you Regards Caz ******************************************************************* * * * Ms Carolyn Thomas (Caz) email cthomas@botzoo.uct.ac.za * * Departmental Administrator Tel: +27 21 6503290/1/7 * * FitzPatrick Institute Fax: +27 21 6503295 * * University of Cape Town * ******************************************************************* From: 00tpgrimes@bsuvc.bsu.edu Peter A question...in a US magazine several years ago a naval architect (Philip C. Bolger) was asked to "design a leeboard cat yawl, a craft that could have accompanied the SWALLOW, AMAZON, and SCARAB of Arthur Ransome's books, for my use on Japan's Inland Sea." The request was signed by Teruaki Imanaga, Nishinomiya, Japan. Do you know whether this boat was ever built, in Japan or anywhere else? The magazine in question was the late, lamented SMALL BOAT JOURNAL; the article has just been reprinted in Bolger's latest book. The boat itself is a leeboard cat yawl, 3.8 m (12'6") x 1.8 m (5'6"), multi-chined plywood, pram bow, with air tanks for flotation and dry storage for camping equipment. The main is sprit-rigged (10.55 m sq) and the mizzen is leg-o-mutton w/sprit (2.25 m sq). If you would like, I can snailmail (or fax) a copy of the article from the book, wherein it is referred to as the "Japanese Beach Cruiser." How is your new boat coming along? How does she differ from the GA? What are her specifications? You are heading into winter now, I imagine. Spring finally seems to have arrived here. This weekend the Muncie Sailing Club will all turn to and install our docks and recommission the club house for another year. I'm getting eager to go sailiing! Regards Tom _________________________ From: NOJIMA Hisao Dear Peter I would like to subscribe Signalling to Mars. My TARS membership number is 1062(A). I am a member from 1993 when I stayed in the UK for a year. I have visited Lake district several times, and am willing to go there again. My favorite SA sagas are, off course, SA, and PM. I found Sig2Mars on your WWW server. I am very glad that I found it. As a Japanese member, I have to tell a very sad story. Japanese versions of SA sagas, originally published by Iwanami-syoten, are all out of print now. I am sorry for young kids who miss these interesting stories when they are children. (I have kept my copies and have been waiting for my four years old daughter to be the age to read them.) Best regards, Hisao NOJIMA More on Monsieur Ransome in French _________________________________ From: alan_hakim@uk.ibm.com To: Anne Dicky (dicky@labri.u-bordeaux.fr) I was talking to Roger Wardale last night, and mentioned your question. As far as he knows, the French translations never went beyond Swallow- dale. Apparently AR got into a dispute with the French publisher, so the translations stopped. ___________________________________________________ From: dicky@labri.u-bordeaux.fr (Anne Dicky) Dear Peter, The sad news I received from Alan Hakim (regarding the end of S&A French translations) were confirmed by the lack of any Arthur Ransome entry in French publishers' lists of both available and out-of-print books. Before my son learns English, I shall certainly have to translate some of the S&A books. I might try to do so in writing rather than reading aloud from the book; I'm not sure I'll succeed (skipping what I don't understand in real-time is much more convenient), but if I do manage it, I'll be glad to contribute a Farthurpage to the Web. The existing translations are not excellent. However, I read some parts of S&A to my son and he appreciated recognizing the different characters from their speaking styles - without the said's - in the dialogs, which is usually impossible... Anne Ahoy Peter, Thanks for the latest issue and welcome messages. The J. Stands for Jody (sorry, I will change my e-mail handle to reflect this). I am attaching an article that may be of interest that I found in The Times newspaper CD-Rom, and gives details about AR's Russian connections. I am also enclosing an article that I found, by Christina Hardyment, in the Independent on Sunday CD-Rom. (Both attachments are un-encoded) Tars For Ever! Jody Sanders SIGNALLER NOTES: WE CAN'T POSSIBLY PUBLISH THESE. CONTACT JODY YOURSELVES IF YOU ARE INTERESTED From: "Anne Y. Zink" Have just -- a day or so ago qualifies as just, doesn't it -- discovered the Arthur Ransome page and have now downloaded the magazine and some of the other information. Thank y'all -- it's really nice to see Mr. Ransome given his proper due. I have a question that is only touches on AR in that he wrote the introduction. Back in the early 40s (late 30s) two school girls wrote a couple of books that owed much to the Swallows and Amazons. Do any of you have any idea of the names of the authors or the titles of the books. One could, possibly be, The Far Distant Oxus, but I'm not at all sure about that. Thank you! Anne zink@oswego.edu From: ycrnl30@ucl.ac.uk (fiona haughey) dear peter, my name is fiona haughey and i am the junior development officer for tars. i know that there are several under 18s who use e-mail all over the world as well as recieving your 'signalling from mars' and i would like to use this medium to contact tars juniors. how do i get a copy of 's/f/m'? how do you think juniors can fit into your 'virtual tars' scene? this is the first time i've used the e-mail system - i'm typing this at college - so i hope that i'm doing it correctly! fiona haughey END OF S2M ISSUE 14