Yachting Monthly — November 2017

50 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com NOVEMBER 2017

W

hen a

governess

had been

persuaded

to replace

Nanny and look after the

three of us, my parents

made their fi rst cruise in

Gossip. They sailed across

the Channel to Calais and

were pleased with her

performance in a heavy

sea. From Calais they

sailed to Gravelines

and had to tack up

the narrow canal for

two miles before they

reached the basin.

This was a great test of her

windward powers and she

passed with fl ying colours.

I went on my fi rst

cruise when I was eight

years old. Dambom was a

gentle master. He seldom

shouted or swore at us,

which is why we are still

happy to crew for him

after fi fty years together.

Sailing with Dambom

made for a life full of

surprises but with him as

skipper we always enjoyed

ourselves.

I slept in the fo’c’s’le

with the fore-hatch open

so that I could look out of

my bunk and see the stars

overhead. This made me

curious about them so I

quickly learnt the names

of the main constellations

and the fi rst magnitude

stars, and one glorious

night I saw the whole of

the Great Bear framed in

the hatchway directly over

my head.

There was also a tiny

porthole through which I

could peep, but the most

perfect thing was to lie

quite still and listen to

the sea creaming under

the fore-foot. There is

no sound quite like this.

It is at its best in a river

anchorage when the tide is

running hard.

Sometimes during the

bad days of the war when

the bombs were falling all

round me, I would try and

shut my ears to the noise

and imagine that I was

lying in my bunk listening

to the whispered gossip of

the waves as they hurried

past the ship’s sides on

their way to the open sea.

I would imagine I could

hear the call of the oyster-

catchers as they moved

to new sandbanks at low

water and the thrilling,

rippling, bubbling notes

of the curlews in the early

morning as I had heard

them so often in the

Newtown River.

I soon learnt to

make myself useful

on deck and haul up

the peak halyard with

great gusto while my

father took the heavier

throat halyard to hoist

the mainsail. I learnt to

steer by the feel of the

wind on my cheek and by

watching the sails for the

slightest fl utter when I

was keeping her close to

the wind. I loved sitting in

the commanding position

astride the wheel-locker

controlling the ship. I used

to compare Gossip to a

horse with a tender mouth

and try to steer her gently

by feel, without forcing the

wheel, but sometimes in

strong winds she became

a different being and took

the bit between her teeth

and then I had to use a

hand of iron to control

her. She was a lovely boat

to steer and I was never

so happy as when I was

at the wheel. I could steer

for hours on end and

never tire of it. Once I

did a seven-hour stretch,

no one else really cared

for it, especially when it

meant an accurate course

on the compass, and years

later when I sailed alone

with my father it was a

great asset as he preferred

the active work and the

navigation and liked to

leave the steering to me.

I suffered a great deal

from seasickness. In the

early days it was a ‘hit or

miss’ affair and there were

often calls for ‘Cousin

Thomas’ to swill the decks

but I soon learnt to reach

the lee rail and although I

longed to lay my head on

even the hardest of deck

cushions, I realised early

in life that once down it

was diffi cult to rise again

and so I grabbed my

faithful wheel and forced

myself to concentrate on

the course. W

Steering by feel: a 1920s

love affair with the sea

A sky full of stars and waves under the bow begin a life of sailing for Cecily Gould

‘I used to compare

Gossip to a horse

with a tender mouth’

Lady Cecily

Gould wrote

three other

books after

Gossip, which

was published

in 1972

Cecily Gould

Cecily Gould (1914-2009) was the second daughter of Colonel Cecil

Brent-Good (‘Dambom’) and Irene Saxby (‘the Mate’). Gossip, a

13-ton cutter with 10ft beam, 6ft draught and 30ft waterline was built

in Rowhedge (Essex) in 1899, a sister ship to Firecrest in which Alain

Gerbault made the fi rst single-handed (east to west) Atlantic crossing

in 1923. Gossip joined the Brent-Good family in 1920 and sailed out of

their lives in 1964.

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