Watchet Market House Museum. Maggie Watkinson

Arriving at the old Teignmouth Pavilion, the place was packed and it was as if the audience was waiting to re-live its history. Crowhurst’s gent, Rodney Hallworth, hearing that Crowhurst had reached the Sargasso Sea, had had the town decked in ‘Welcome Home, Donald’ banners. People were expecting him any day. The film was watched in rapt silence. Like the line in ‘And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda’, they had come “to grieve, and to mourn and to pity.” There was a question and answer session at the end of the film. Simon Crowhurst, Donald’s son, and the directors, Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell, were present. One old fellow got up and said he was speaking on behalf of the pilot on the day Crowhurst left, who was now very ill and bed-bound. But the pilot had very much wanted to tell the audience that when Crowhurst, having been towed out of the harbour, tried to raise his foresails, the jib sheets were attached to the wrong sails and were tangled round the buoyancy bag at the top of the mast. The pilot boat brought him back in to get them sorted them out. The pilot said to Mrs Crowhurst, “You must stop him.” And she replied, “I can’t”. To mourn…

Scavenger

A snippet

A Nautical Trivia Website: among the websites offering nautical trivia, both humorous and curious, is ‘King's Strange Navy and Sea Tales’ compiled by Kimberly King, an ex-U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer https://motomom.tripod.com/sea For example: ‘Admiral (Sir John) Wallop of King Henry VIII's navy gained notoriety after he and his ships were sent to the French coast (in 1513) to retaliate for the burning of Brighton (by the French fleet). He so thoroughly destroyed his enemies that his name now indicates a 'mighty blow'.’ See also: www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ JohnWallop.htm

Clive Charlton

Watchet Market House Museum

Watchet has two museums which cater for those interested in all things maritime. The Market House Museum is in what used to be the market house, hence the name. The upper floor was converted into a mission church and is now the Holy Cross Chapel. The ground floor became a shop and then the museum in the 1970s. A Court Leet lock-up remains at the back the museum. The building is somewhat diminutive but packed with displays, which change over time (I remember seeing some small model barges a few years ago, but they have been changed for other ship models); I believe the items not on display are safely stored because of the lack of room to display everything the museum owns.

Picture by Maggie Watkinson, with permission from Watchet Market House Museum The exhibits include a wonderful array of nautical