Sky-line of Liverpool from Mannanan A calm sea and a comfortable voyage aboard Mannanan, sailing Douglas to Liverpool. On a bright October day the sand-dunes of Formby were distinct, seemed close. Then the dramatic sky-line of a great city.
We arrived the day the Giants were in town. Their third and last appearance and the city was thronged with families eager to see them. Our objective was The Terrracotta Army, an enterprise of antiquity on a far grander scale.
Next evening, Jodie Whittaker made her debut as Dr Who, set in Sheffield. How about Liverpool? Another time, Another Place.
We arrived the day the Giants were in town. Their third and last appearance and the city was thronged with families eager to see them. Our objective was The Terrracotta Army, an enterprise of antiquity on a far grander scale.
Next evening, Jodie Whittaker made her debut as Dr Who, set in Sheffield. How about Liverpool? Another time, Another Place.
Another Place, said the road sign, indicating the beach where Anthony Gormley figures appear. What might anyone make of his statues scattered along the shore and crusting with barnacles?
What might someone from another time make of today's sea-crossing from the Isle of Man? The Vikings, for instance. In Douglas, we were recommended the Viking exhibition by a lady on reception at The Manx Museum. Her eyes lit up, 'The Vikings, no-one taught us about them at school. Come to that, no one taught us about The Isle of Man.' Picture a Viking long-ship crossing the solitude of the Irish Sea, the oarsmen awed by passing whales and dolphins. Transpose them to our time and long before their long-ship enters the Mersey Channel they'll see sunlight dazzling a throng of wind-turbines. And gas platforms. What would the Vikings have made of this proliferation of wind-farms? Coming to Liverpool, the vast city and the crowds thronging to see The Giants would be bewildering. Giant puppets hidden in clouds of smoke and hoisted by cranes.
China's First Emperor and his terracotta warriors might strike a chord with the Vikings. Faintly. In his quest for immortality emperor Qin Shi Huang was buried in a suit of armour made of pieces of jade. A gold horse accompanies him, his chariot and charioteers. A Viking ship-burial, where a warrior is buried with weapons, jewellery and grave goods that will serve in the next world is an echo of Qin Shi Huang's ambition. But nothing like the scale of the Terracotta Army.
At Peel Castle, St Patrick's Isle, a Viking lady was buried with grave goods. Her necklace of amber and glass beads indicates her wealth and status, and extensive Viking trade routes.
Click on images to right them. It's a smartphone quirk!
What might someone from another time make of today's sea-crossing from the Isle of Man? The Vikings, for instance. In Douglas, we were recommended the Viking exhibition by a lady on reception at The Manx Museum. Her eyes lit up, 'The Vikings, no-one taught us about them at school. Come to that, no one taught us about The Isle of Man.' Picture a Viking long-ship crossing the solitude of the Irish Sea, the oarsmen awed by passing whales and dolphins. Transpose them to our time and long before their long-ship enters the Mersey Channel they'll see sunlight dazzling a throng of wind-turbines. And gas platforms. What would the Vikings have made of this proliferation of wind-farms? Coming to Liverpool, the vast city and the crowds thronging to see The Giants would be bewildering. Giant puppets hidden in clouds of smoke and hoisted by cranes.
China's First Emperor and his terracotta warriors might strike a chord with the Vikings. Faintly. In his quest for immortality emperor Qin Shi Huang was buried in a suit of armour made of pieces of jade. A gold horse accompanies him, his chariot and charioteers. A Viking ship-burial, where a warrior is buried with weapons, jewellery and grave goods that will serve in the next world is an echo of Qin Shi Huang's ambition. But nothing like the scale of the Terracotta Army.
At Peel Castle, St Patrick's Isle, a Viking lady was buried with grave goods. Her necklace of amber and glass beads indicates her wealth and status, and extensive Viking trade routes.
Click on images to right them. It's a smartphone quirk!
Captain George Quayle 1751-1835, is believed to have sailed his schooner Peggy from the Ilse of Man to Liverpool on business, with important mail, perhaps on the ' running trade' with contraband. Peggy, named for his mother, was an armed yacht built with a sliding keel. Her boat-house opened directly onto Castletown harbour, a boat-house contiguous with the family home that once included cowshed, stable block, pigsty, summerhouse and boat house. Now there are crabs in the boat-house which is filled twice a day by the tide. Peggy is being lovingly restored and a Maritime Museum tells her story and her rediscovery, buried under landfill in her boat house. Imagine Liverpool in 1789 when he built Peggy. She is one of the oldest yachts in existence.
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