Late July writes essay On the Pirate Ship.
August Ransomes move to Riga. Small sailing/fishing dinghy built by Lettish boat builder.
Autumn, before a trip to England, signs the contract, with builder of dinghy, for building of Racundra.
1922 January joins Cruising Association as foreign resident and appointed Honorary Local Representative for Riga. 30th January article The Ship and the Man (taken from part of On the Pirate Ship) published in the Manchester Guardian.
28th July, Racundra launched, unfinished.
20th August sets sail on Racundra’s first cruise.
26th September returns to Riga and Racundra is laid up for the winter.
December trip to England, Ivy agrees to divorce, visits the Collingwoods with diary/logbook of cruise. Encouraged to turn it into a book.
Christmas back in Riga and book well advanced.
1923 16th January final draft completed. February fire destroys house at Kaiserwald, Riga.
Possibility of second book mentioned in a letter to his mother.
April, Sailing in the Eastern Baltic published in the Cruising Association Bulletin.
July Racundra’s First Cruise published.
18th July embarks on Racundra’s second cruise, Riga to Finnish islands.
25th July to 21st August urgent meeting in London interrupts cruise.
6th September returned to Tallinn, Racundra is laid up for the winter.
1924 February, plans of Racundra published in Cruising Association Bulletin. March, visit to London to finalise divorce arrangements.
22nd March, elected a member of the Royal Cruising Club.
April, sail plans and lines of Racundra published in Cruising Association Bulletin.
14th April divorce becomes absolute.
8th May Arthur and Evgenia marry at British Consulate Tallinn.
15th May to 22nd May, Racundra sailed back in Riga.
1st August to 10th September, Racundra’s third cruise takes place, from Riga on the river Lielupe to Jelgava.
Late September Racundra is laid up for the last time.
14th November Ransomes move to Low Ludderburn in the Lake District.
1925 Racundra sold to Adlard Coles and her name changed to Annette II.
1928 Final trip to Russia for Manchester Guardian.
1929 24th March starts to write Swallows and Amazons. 19th June resigns from Manchester Guardian but still works as a freelance.
December visits Cairo for Manchester Guardian.
1930 Swallows and Amazons published.
1931 Swallowdale published. 15th December joins the Cruising Association as a full member.
1932 Peter Duck published.
1933 Winter Holiday published.
1934 Coot Club published.
1935 Nancy Blackett purchased.
1936 Pigeon Post published.
1937 We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea published.
1938 Selina King launched.
1939 Secret Water published. Ivy dies.
1940 The Big Six published.
1941 Missee Lee published.
1943 The Picts and the Martyrs published.
1946 Peter Duck built.
1947 Great Northern? published.
1952 Lottie Blossom purchased.
1953 Lottie Blossom II built.
1954 30th August lays up Lottie Lottie Blossom II for the last time and swallows the anchor.
1955 Fishing published.
1959 Mainly About Fishing published.
1965 Resigns from the Cruising Association.
1967 3rd June Arthur dies at Cheadle, Manchester.
1975 19th March Evgenia dies.
1976 Autobiography published.
1984 The War of the Birds & the Beasts published.
1988 Coots in the North & other Stories published.
2002 Racundra’s Third Cruise published.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Relevant Publications by Arthur Ransome
The ABC of Physical Culture, Henry Drane, 1904.
Bohemia in London, Chapman & Hall, 1907.
Oscar Wilde, Martin Seeker, 1912.
Old Peter’s Russian Tales, T C & E C Jack, 1916.
Six Weeks in Russia, George Allen & Unwin, 1919.
The Soldier and the Death, J G Wilson 1920.
The Crisis in Russia, George Allen & Unwin, 1921.
Rod & Line, Cape, 1929.
Swallows and Amazons, Cape, 1930.
Swallowdale, Cape, 1931.
Peter Duck, Cape, 1932.
Winter Holiday, Cape, 1933.
Coot Club, Cape, 1934.
Pigeon Post, Cape, 1936.
We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, Cape, 1937.
Secret Water, Cape, 1939.
The Big Six, Cape, 1940.
Missee Lee, Cape, 1941.
The Picts and the Martyrs, Cape, 1943.
Great Northern?, Cape, 1947.
Mainly About Fishing, A & C Black, 1959.
Autobiography, edited and with an introduction by Rupert Hart-Davis, Cape, 1976.
War of The Birds and the Beasts, Cape, 1984.
Coots in the North, Cape, 1988.
Signaling from Mars, a selection of letters edited and introduced by Hugh Brogan, Cape, 1997.
Racundra’s Third Cruise, edited and compiled by Brian Hammett, Fernhurst 2002.
Other publications consulted
GC Davies, The Swan and her Crew, Warne, 1876.
EF Knight, The Cruise of the Falcon, Sampson Low, 1884.
EF Knight, The Cruise of the Alerte, 1890.
Adlard Coles, Close Hauled, Seely, Service, 1926.
The Cruising Association Handbook, 1928.
Hugh Shelley, Arthur Ransome, Bodley Head, 1960.
Taqui Altounyan, In Aleppo Once, John Murray, 1969.
Hugh Brogan, The Life of Arthur Ransome, Cape, 1984.
Christina Hardyment, Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint’s Trunk, Cape, 1984.
Roger Wardale, Arthur Ransome’s Lakeland, Dalesman Books, 1988.
Roger Wardale, Arthur Ransome’s East Anglia, Poppyland Publishing, 1988.
Taqui Altounyan, Chimes of a Wooden Bell, I B Tauris, 1990.
Peter Hunt, Approaching Arthur Ransome, Cape, 1991.
Roger Wardale, Nancy Blackett: Under Sail with Arthur Ransome, Cape, 1991.
Jeremy Swift, Arthur Ransome on Fishing, Cape, 1994.
Ransome at Sea, Amazon Publications, 1995.
Roger Wardale, In Search of Swallows and Amazons, Sigma Leisure, 1996.
Ransome the Artist, Amazon Publications, 1998.
Roger Wardale, Arthur Ransome and the World of Swallows & Amazons, Great Northern Books, 2000.
Wayne G Hammond, Arthur Ransome, a Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press, 2000.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research and publication of the present edition of Racundra’s First Cruise would not have been possible without the help and assistance of a great many people. I particularly acknowledge the following:
Writers of books on Ransome, Hugh Brogan, Ransome’s biographer, Wayne Hammond, Peter Hunt, Jeremy Swift, Roger Wardale, and particularly Christina Hardyment for her help and encouragement. I have drawn heavily on the work of these writers during the preparation of the preface.
Fay and Graham Cattell, members of the Cruising Association, for taking photographs of the area for me, allowing me to use them, and finding answers to my numerous queries from their friends in Latvia and Estonia. Arnis Berzins, the current Cruising Association Honorary Local Representative for Riga, for his continued support. Brian Fitzpatrick and Peter Glover for their information on Racundra after Ransome. Michael Howe, the Cruising Association’s librarian, for allowing me access to their complete collection of Lloyds Register of Yachts. Essex Chronicle Series Ltd for the use of photograph of me on the flyleaf. Phyl Williams-Ellis of Fernhurst Books for passing on interesting leads from her myriad of contacts. Does she know everyone in the world?
Once again I owe an incredible debt to the Special Collections Department of the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds, and in particular the staff of that department for their help and assistance, and permission to use Ransome material and photographs for which they hold the copyright.
Ransome’s Literary Executors for permission to embark on the reprint and use his previously published and unpublished work. Various members of the Arthur Ransome Society for their outstanding enthusiastic encouragement following the publication of Racundra’s Third Cruise, with special thanks to Ted Alexander and Dave Sewart for the very considerable help and assistance they have given me throughout.
Finally, Tim Davison of Fernhurst Books for enthusiastically agreeing to the publication of another Ransome tome and enabling me to complete the project.
Brian Hammett,
Blackmore, Essex
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