Swallow

From Arthur Ransome Wiki

there have been several boats called Swallow. This article is about the one owned by the Jacksons and sailed by the Walker family.

Swallow was the sailing dinghy owned by the Jacksons of Holly Howe, also owned by [[Walkers Limited for the rest of these holidays (SA1). In the metafictional stories Peter Duck and Missee Lee, Swallow appears to belong to the Swallows, to do with whatever they like, such as sail around the world.

Swallow is Morecambe Bay^{ref req} sailing dinghy with a small keel about six inches deep (SA11) and a brown sail (PM15). She was 13-14 feet long and fairly broad ... built for sailing in a shallow estuary (SA2).

She does not have a centreboard, so there is no centreboard case to get in the way. When Nancy says that according to Uncle Jim you can't do anything to windward without a centreboard, John says that he doesn't know Swallow. For the race, John and Susan have to lift her keel over the shallows by throwing their weight to the lee side (SD35).

Contents 1 Swallow's flag 2 Appearances of Swallow 2.1 Appearances of Swallow's flag 3 Native prototype

[edit] Swallow's flag

Swallow originally had a three-cornered blue flag; Titty Walker decided to make a much better one (SA2). The flag, unlike the boat, seems therefore to be owned by the Walker family; it travelled more widely than the boat, for example to Swallow Island (SW).

[edit] Appearances of Swallow

• in 'realistic' books: becomes flagship of the Alliance (SA), shipwrecked on Pike Rock (SD)
• in metafictional books: as tender to Wild Cat (with Amazon) (PD, ML).

[edit] Appearances of Swallow's flag

• SW

[edit] Native prototype

Swallow is based on Arthur Ransome's own sailing dinghy, also called Swallow^{ref req}.

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