Category: Mysteries, Marvels and Miracles at Sea

Victoria was a very lucky girl. In fact, Victoria was more than lucky, much more. She was privileged. If you were going to write a story about a girl who had the best possible start in life you might imagine someone like Victoria. The girl in your story might grow up on a country estate…

Arthur’s Story You probably won’t recognise my name. It’s Arthur Rostron. You see what I mean. You haven’t heard of me, have you? You may be surprised to know that a lot of people on both sides of the Atlantic once regarded me as a hero. They say I saved their lives. I don’t know…

For many people who know anything about sailing he is the greatest sailor who ever lived. Simple as that. It’s hard to argue with them because what heachieved is truly remarkable. And what happened to him is still one of the great mysteries of the sea. His name is Joshua Slocum. Bornin a place called…

Henry Winstanley designed playing cards and lived miles from the sea. So he was not the most obvious person to build a lighthouse. But whereas others tried and gave up, Winstanley insisted it was perfectly possible and that he was the man to do it. In 1696, he mustered carpenters and engineers and, with his…

Maybe you have read Michael Morpurgo’s wonderful book Alone On A Wide Wide Sea. Maybe you haven’t. It’s one of those books that takes you on a long journey and you’re never quite sure of what’s going to happen next. As you might expect, given the title of the book, the sea comes into the…

Have a look at India on the map of the world. What do you see? You should be able to pick out the major cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. You’ll probably also be struck by how much of the country is surrounded by water: the Arabian Sea to the west; the Bay of…

Aged five, Stephen got home from school as he did every Monday and Thursday in 1965 and put on his favourite television programme, Blue Peter. He just loved finding out about places he had never heard of and people who did amazing things. Stuff to do with the sea was the best and when he…