Coch-y-bonddhu or Cocky was a small dinghy with a tanned sail made for Charles Renold after Arthur Ransome had introduced him to fishing, built so that Ransome could teach him to sail on Windermere. Renold sailed her a little, but preferred to fish so gave her to Arthur.

Named after a favorite fishing fly, she was built by Crossfield (who made Swallow), and Arthur admired “the most beautiful spruce for the planking and a really lovely bit of wood for the keel and stern and covering board.” She was taken by the Ransomes to Ipswich, but was rather heavy to row so they got the Queen Mary as a pram dinghy for the Nancy Blackett. 'Cocky" was kept in Levington Creek beside an old sluice, so Arthur could sail across to "Nancy" or to Pin Mill. She was also used by the Russell children.

A familiar sight on Coniston during the war years, she was laid up when the Ransomes moved south again. Ransome (who had owned her for 15 years) finally sold her in the mid-fifties to John Barnes, head of Arnside School, who thought she was “Swallow”. She was used for sailing lessons for the school and for his 12-year old son Edward. Eventually sold by Barnes, she went to the west coast of Scotland, and has disappeared.

The Scarab in The Picts and the Martyrs was loosely based on her (NBUS page 174).

ReferencesEdit

• NBUS pages 99, 107-108, 246