Swallow, was a dinghy owned by the Collingwood family. She was the first boat named Swallow associated with Arthur Ransome, and the boat in which he was taught to sail by Robin, Barbara, and Dora Collingwood. They also used a larger boat, the Jamrach, borrowed from Miss Holt at nearby Tent Lodge (CFT1).
Arthur was working in a publisher’s office in London in the 1900s. He went North when he could afford to, sometimes staying with the Collingwoods at Lanehead. Doreen and Barbara would row Arthur from Coniston Pier to the Lanehead boathouse and help carry his things up the steep pathway to Lanehead (CFT2).
Arthur said in a letter from Reval to Barbara about his first voyage in Slug that the boom is as per Swallow, but the rig is not quite the same as Swallows or Jamrachs (CFT7).