Brighton Festival: The Boat Project
Boarded a 30 ft boat made from personal, wooden items this
morning in Brighton Marina and was told tales from a talkative sailor, while a
band played sea shanties. It was a hoot. Each item has its own story and we
were invited to pick a card and hear the story we had picked. Then we were asked to come up with
a memory sparked off by the card. I picked a card with a pair of yellow coloured clogs, which
sparked off my own memory about a wooden boat and a colour, in this case
orange.
My grandfather was a soldier who fought in both the first and second
world wars. He was torpedoed in the south Atlantic Ocean by a U-boat that
surfaced and gave them 30 minutes to evacuate into lifeboats. My grandfather
had only women and children on board. Luckily the boat had a cargo of oranges and as
it sunk they floated to the surface, forming a carpet of orange on the swell.
This was a lifesaver. Unfortunately, the Captain’s wife started to drink
seawater and went mad, trying to throw the children overboard, so he had to
drown her. So the story goes. It was confirmed by a small ebony box presented
to him by the people in that boat, that cryptically referred to this act.
This boat is a fine idea that leaves a work of art that you
want to look at, touch and think about. The fact that it’s a boat sitting in
the water makes it all the more enticing. Look along the sides and you see
guitars, toys, hockey sticks, bowls, pencils, signs – hundreds of items, all
with their unique tale.
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