Shine On
GD
G=Gene, D=Diane, GD=Grace Darling.
In 1838 Forfarshire, Dundee bound from Hull,
reached St. Abb's before engine failure. Under sail and mistaking Longstone for Inner Farne, she went aground on Big Harcar.
History follows and GD becomes a reluctant celeb, but dies only six years later.
K=Katherine, M=Martin, P=Philip.
Rockers
Automation came just in time for rock lighthouses. You can just see some gansey-girt, briny-bruised Rocker opening the door to sunshine, after half a month of storm, releasing
D. St. Abb's Head. April 2007.
No Tower. No need!
Click lighthouse to
return to
thehumangenehome
Longstone. July 1993.
G & M
gets in; which raises a not-so-daft question; “What’s the point?” Answer: “Spurn is not the Point!” It’s “Spurn Head”, which, mainland maybe, is realistically more remote than, say, St. Mary’s, which is another point… pipe-puffing Rockers might be on a little rock, big rock, far rock, near rock, lived-on rock, or lived-off rock, all with different degrees of isolation. And if your rock disappears below the sea twice a day you wouldn’t want to lock yourself out!
D. Inner Farne. June 2009. "Farne Island" in "Light Rock"....!
Vicious
Arctic Tern
on wall!
Longstone. July 1993.
D & G
Rock Light
Light Rock lists Rock Lights controlled by three authorities, Trinity House, Northern Lighthouse Board, (Scotland and Isle of Man), and Commissioners of Irish Lights, (all Ireland). What qualifies as Rock Light? In compiling Light Rock Gene consulted secondary sources only in the first two cases, but contacted the Commissioners for information on Irish Lights, who were extremely helpful, after first asking Gene what he meant by Rock Light! When he said he didn't know they supplied a list of all Irish lights categorised four ways as: mainland, sandbanks or shallow water, inhabited islands, rocks and uninhabited islands. Gene took the last group as Rock Lights, while recognising that this might not square with the other two authorities,
Hanois
(Guernsey)
July 2009.
D
Corbière (Jersey)
July 2009.
D
(Lundy is inhabited, for example). On top of that St. Mary's was added for family connections, but tidal island Corbière wasn't, which is pretty inconsistent! Never mind! Diane has probably taken huge liberties with her pronunciation as well. Call it artistic license; it's only a song! Corbière's exclusion makes Hanois Light Rock's most southerly. Muckle Flugga's the most northerly and Philip has been there!
a fortnight’s pipe smoke and doing what he’s paid for…lighting-up! The Backy Banners would have “No Smoking” signs all over Eddystone today!
Other Rockers, though, smoking, or otherwise, built these towers. “So what did you do, then?”
Answer 1; “Was born a ‘Celeb’!” Answer 2; “Made me into a ‘Celeb‘!” Answer 3; “Heaved Inchcape rock”
You’re “God-for-a-Day!” Who “Gets in?” OK! Daft question! Everyone
L
I
G
H
T
E
N
U
P
!
Nostalgia x 2 for Diane! Portland Bill was one of the lighthouses she stayed in as a girl. Here she sails past en route to the Channel Islands. July 2009.
D
Picture is large because lighthouse
looks small....despite using zoom!
Same lighthouse,
looks bigger, so picture smaller!
By 'eck it's clever stuff!
Portland Bill,
May 1991.
D
Diane's view from the top of the lighthouse, Portland Bill. August 1964.
You wouldn't think all this had much to do with rugby, but quite a few
lighthouses sport rugby colours! Not only that but this connection, dodgy
though it might be, presents an opportunity for filling all this grey sky! It also
supplies a link with Gene, (Hull). Portland Bill wears a Hull KR (RL) shirt!
Another view of
"The Cutie" at Paull.
Gene's view from the top of the lighthouse, Spurn Head.
March 1966.
Unlike Spurn, which is a head, Ardnamurchan really is a point! The most westerly on GB mainland in fact! Remote as many
a rock!
Ardnamurchan
August 1980.
St. Bees Head.
May 1983.
Spurn. March 1966. Spurn
Old Low Light. Lighthouse
Point Robert (Sark)
July 2009.
D
Mum! Ask them
to switch the
light on. It's
dark in here!
Be quiet,
Martin!
P
K
D
Monochrome, but no deceiver! Spurn Lighthouse really is black with a white band.
Gene doesn't know of a rugby team with that strip, but when he went to watch Hull and East Riding (RU) in the 60's, they played in Longstone's colours!
M
Not often you look down
on a lighthouse.
2 Heads R better than 1
Go to and you'll find they've made this into a "Lighthouse Trail"! Spurn, Withernsea and Flamborough. When Gene did it, (with Judy), in 1964, the lighthouses were incidental; the two heads were what mattered. With two heads you can walk from one to the other and that's what they did, all in one go. From Spurn Head to Flamborough Head, (the extremity of each), it's a bit more than 45 miles. On 15th and 16th August they completed the walk in well under 21 hours, with rests totalling equally well under 4 hours. Gene and Judy called the walk "The Two Heads Walk", with the alternative title "Head to Head". Translated today into "text -type speak" it's Head 2 Head!
All Aboard The Skylark!
Third funnel from left in Photo 2 on is Yorkshireman. You can tell by the bridge. But of the 35 tugs in Gene's 50's United Towing fleet bruchure Yorkshireman was different from the rest another way too. She was twin-screw. (Yes! Yorkshireman was female!)
Frenchman as a working vessel predates Gene's existence, so isn't in his brochure. She was also different. She was a paddle tug. The connection is that both were used as pleasure boats at Bridlington at various times. Information on these and the likes of Boy's Own and Yorkshire Belle can be found at
Gene's mam's dad was engineer aboard Yorkshireman, which is why Gene's mam had lots of rides when she was just a little girl. When she wasn't a little girl and married Gene's dad, before he was Gene's dad, she took Gene aboard war-time Superman, because Gene's dad was radio operator, (Sparks!)
Not only was Gene's mam's mam's maiden name Scotland, but she came from Scotland. She went back to Scotland just after Gene's mam's dad died, just before Gene arrived. So for as long as Gene can remember he's been going to Scotland!
Photograph 1 shows Gene and Derek with their mam on the beach at Burntisland. Burntisland is the Scotland Gene's been going to for
as long as he can remember. It's on the Fife coast, as you can tell by the beach, although it is quite tricky
placing it in Fife!
Photograph 2 was taken on the same day, but in what year? Not that it matters all that much, but if it's assumed that Derek is about 2, adding that to his birth year of 1944 dates the photos at 1946.
Two features to note: First the sexy little "swimming" suits! (Gene couldn't swim until he was nearly 40!)*
Hand-knitted by Gene's mam, they were a lovely green, trimmed with brown, amazing really, because Gene's highly superstitious mam refused to wear "unlucky" green! More beach pics at ............
The second feature is the background. It shows a "tidal" paddling pool, no longer there, but closer and more significant, a movable (wheels) gang-plank for boarding pleasure boats at different states of tide, (within limits. The tide recedes about a mile!)
1
2
Burntisland Pleasure Boats
Small in comparison with those at Bridlington, but no less interesting, (well, to Gene at least. You might think so too if your memory coincides with Gene's...read on!) The boats would take passengers for trips out in the bay, (Firth of Forth), typically around the Black Rock, (Black Rocks on the OS map), which you could walk to at low tide. (Gene thought about, but never got round to marooning himself there, a bit more nerve needed than for St. Mary's!)
There were two pleasure boat operators, Messrs. Shanks and Vallance and Gene's mam's younger brother, Sydney, worked for both on occasion. Visiting and searching "beach and pleasure boats c1961" reveals a tinted photo in very dodgy colours and notes by Keddie Law, which don't quite match Gene's memory.
the third boat was Speedwell.
Both Gene and his brother Geoffrey remember Starcrest. They also remember the smaller, brown sister Superb, which Syd borrowed once for an evening fishing trip in the Firth. Derek, Gene and Uncle caught precisely nowt., the total yield being one tiny flatfish credited to Gene's dad!
Whether, or not Gene's Starcrest memory is dodgy is one thing. Stretch it further and it might be dodgier still! For Gene believes in an even earlier Burntisland boat from green swimming cozzie days, or thereabouts, (40's to 50's?) Silver Spray! Gene has no evidence for this craft's existence. Well,
not quite true! Close examination of Photo 2 reveals, on moveable gang-plank, just to right of Derek's head, the word, or most of it, Spray! Derek was good at getting in the way; it was just the sort of thing he would do deliberately too! And Gene bets that behind his golden locks is Silver!
Derek served 9 years in the Royal Navy, at sea in HMS Eastbourne and HMS Intrepid.
2 (Detail)
Behind Derek's head gang-
plank for Silver Spray?
Conspicuous always in the mid 50's to 60's beach scene, white-painted Minerva.
But the beautiful blue of Stardust was Gene's favourite and he was amazed to suddenly find her in Burntisland dock in 1999. There was no Stardust cabin in Gene's childhood, just open seating, but surely these pictures are of the same boat!
Stardust had two blue sisters, less often seen, Stardrift, with an even more lovely name, the more frequent, but it's here that Gene and Burntisland Online diverge. Keddie Law says
* Unlike (Mermaid) Diane, who is a brill swimmer, Gene is crap! Before the sinking of Canute, (Canoeing), he too only sank!
HMS Boadicea (H65), B class Destroyer, built on the Tyne between 1929 and 1931, sunk by German aircraft 13th June 1944, while supporting the Normandy Landings. (HMS Superman (W89) was there too).
is 50.26N, 02.34W in 50 metres of water. Although Wikipedia gives a slightly different position, this is 12 miles SW of Portland Bill. Diane and Gene must have been about to sail very close to her when the big July 2009 photo (above) was taken, en route to Guernsey.
Gene's mam's older brother, Jack (John William) was aboard Boadicea at the time of her loss. He never came home.
The telegram of 21st June 1944 reports her son's loss to Gene's granny.
Report received states that your son J. W. Taylor C/JX 226637 is missing on war service. Sympathy is expressed in your anxiety.
Letter follows shortly.
Commodore. Royal Naval Barracks Chatham.
You are viewing the text version of this site.
To view the full version please install the Adobe Flash Player and ensure your web browser has JavaScript enabled.
Need help? check the requirements page.
