20th Century
What did you do in the war grandad?
This is the brief story of my grandad and his part in the war. Here is a picture of George with who we think is his grandmother in the early 1900s. George Gilfoyle was born [more…]
Biography
20th Century
The Unsinkable Stoker
For many sailing and in particular cruising are enjoyable pastimes, leisurely time spent in remote places, the nature, tranquility, new things to see and do almost every day. For others it’s a different story. and [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 35
PREFACE The draft for this issue of SMLA was completed on Thursday 23 February 2022 and afterwards I explained in an email to the eldest of my granddaughters that to understand the Ukrainian situation one had [more…]
Biography
Herodotus and the Histories – Part One
Having finally fulfilled a previous and somewhat rash promise to write about Thucydides and his account of the Peloponnesian War, I thought it about time I write about his forerunner, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, who is [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 34
RESPONSES Once again I thank all who read and commented on Part 33 describing my 1997 passage from South West Scotland to Northern Ireland and especially DJM who has shown consistent enthusiasm for this series [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 33
RESPONSES Joe Slater is obviously more familiar than I with written Chinese Characters and I thank him for explaining that Zheng He and Cheng Ho were one and the same person. When visiting the museum [more…]
20th Century
A Very British Message to Garcia
Previously, my colleague Fred Brownbill wrote of US Navy SEAL Marine Commander Brian Bourgeois, commanding officer of SEAL Team 8, who was killed in the first week of December 2021 while fast-roping from a helicopter [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 32
RESPONSES AND YARNS There were loads of comments on part 31 including the one from Sparks who enquired whether I had discovered a time machine as I had dated the article Saturday 1 January 2002. [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 31
I had hoped to write more about Piracy in SE Asia in this article and illustrate the region with some of my own photos. But as I wasn’t confined to solitary in my own home [more…]