Shore Leave

I'm off on another period of shore leave. I'll going up to the Outer Hebrides tomorrow for a week to look after mother so that sister can get away for a break. Thanks to mylodon, nodbear and esmerelda_t for agreeing to man the quarterdeck at following_sea in my absence. mylodon assures me no middies will be harmed but I fear for the lieutenants...

Thanks also to _likimeya for my icecream, yum :), esmerelda_t for a lovely evening last night, mylodon for going to Gosport and telling us all about it, eglantine_br for her wonderful fic and sharing my obsession with naval POWs and, last but by no means least, nodbear for digging treasures out of the archives and for my greatly appreciated Stornoway survival guide :) Mwah! You guys are the best!


In the meantime here's a picture of Stornoway harbour for you to enjoy. This was painted by English painter Thomas Whitcombe, (1760-1824), and shows "A British Frigate with a Longboat off the Headland of Gallows Hill, Broad Bay, Isle of Lewis, Hebrides". This view is painted from the perspective of looking out from the town of Stornoway and I will be sailing past that very spot at about nine o'clock tomorrow evening, though sadly on a CalMac ferry rather than a pretty frigate! I would love to know what a frigate was doing off Stornoway at that time. Quelling restless natives I suspect. Oh and btw Gallows Hill, or Cnoc na Croich, is still known by the same name and it really was where they used to hang convicted criminals.