Coastal Stories

A special edition in memory of Toby Carr, whom I met through his project to kayak the shipping forecast areas and who died on 10th January. I've paid a brief tribute to Toby, including how he was remembered by the shipping forecast itself on the day he died, then revisited an old episode about the forecast. He was a lovely man who'll be greatly missed. Toby's story: https://www.m-b-g-l.org/my-stor...

200 years ago this week, on 23rd December 1821, the occupants of the lighthouse at the end of the eerie shingle spit of Dungeness experienced something they would never forget.  Buy Coastal Stories a Christmas sherry here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

Charlie stands on a blustery beach and talks for a bit.  Vanishing Postcards: https://www.vanishingpostcards.com/ Sea Fever: A British Maritime Miscellany: https://amzn.to/3BYW4ps Buy Coastal Stories a pint: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

In the spring of 1777 Britain held its breath as the mysterious, terrifying 'John the Painter' embarked on a campaign to burn England's naval dockyards to the ground, one by one. If he hadn't been such a frankly rubbish arsonist Britain's maritime power could have been all but wiped out and history taken a very different course indeed.  Come and see Charlie telling Coastal Stories in Canterbury: h...

Most of these stories have some kind of happy ending. An epiphany, even. But that's nothing like the whole story of the sea. This week we recall some tiny tragedies; individuals taken by the sea then washed up on the shore. The claimed, the missed, the loved, the forgotten, a tiny sample of the sea's ruthless legacy of untold stories.  Come and hear Charlie telling some coastal stories live: https...

In March 1928 the King of the Afghans received the red carpet treatment when he arrived in Britain as part of a vast European tour. Progressive and liberal, King Amanullah and Queen Souriya arrived in Portsmouth apparently at the dawn of a new global era for Afghanistan.  Buy Coastal Stories a pint here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Hear Charlie telling coastal stories live in Canterbury: http...

For 500 years Winchelsea had been protected by a man with a telescope. For the half century before the Second World War that man was Chummy Barden, lookout, shove-halfpenny maestro and beer drinker.  Buy Coastal Stories a pint and help keep us going: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Come to Canterbury for Charlie's only live event for the rest of the year. Coastal, Channel and shipping forecast st...

When they embarked for Dublin from Greenock on the night of 8th October 1921 the Southern Syncopated Orchestra was one of the best known musical acts in Europe, bringing Black American music to a Britain and Ireland still processing the trauma of the First World War and leaving a legacy that influences Black British music to this day.  That night on the sea, however, would be the beginning of the...

This week's story takes us from Aldeburgh to Plymouth on the trail of a man and a large sum of money via a chance sighting through a telescope. Buy Coastal Stories a pint here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

You won't find many places more remote than Cape Wrath, stalwart of the inshore waters shipping forecast. In 1814 Sir Walter Scott joined a six-week lighthouse inspection cruise around the Scottish coast and islands, including a visit to Cape Wrath. Here's what Scotland's greatest writer made of the place.  Donate to help keep Coastal Stories up and running: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Follow...

Hardy women whose lives were governed by the tides. Gathering cockles was - and is - dangerous work.  Donate to help keep Coastal Stories going here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal Coastal Stories on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod

In part two of the special 50th episode coastal story we follow Betsy into her marriage to James Curry, whaling captain, a man with a link to one of the world's most extraordinary sea stories and one of its greatest books who leads Betsy through the rest of her remarkable century.  Donate to keep Coastal Stories running here; https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Follow Coastal Stories on Twitter: http...

Part one of a two-part story to mark the 50th episode of Coastal Stories.  In 1811 one man's fateful decision to steal a bale of cotton from the hold of a ship in Plymouth harbour changes lives and destinies for generations. Explore the remarkable life of Betsy Siverson, an ordinary girl whose life becomes extraordinary after her father turns to crime.  Buy Coastal Stories a 50th episode celebrati...

On a stormy afternoon in September 1889 passengers on a steamer from Liverpool to the Isle of Man caught sight of something unusual in the distance. It turned out to be a leaky lifeboat barely afloat that had been at the mercy of the Irish Sea for almost three days. It contained quite a story. Buy Coastal Stories a pint here, if you like:  https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories on Twitte...

In the first of two stories about sole survivors of shipwrecks, it's November 1930 and a man stumbles soaking wet into a post office on the coast at Weston-Super-Mare. When he recovers he has quite a story of remarkable survival.  Come and see Charlie telling stories in Canterbury: https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-channel/canterbury-rose-lane Buy Coastal Stories a frankly well-earned pint he...

For many decades during the golden age of sail coastal towns and communities lived in genuine fear of the press gangs who were sent out to abduct unwary men into the navy.  Donate to Coastal Stories here:  https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

When Lena Pearson bought herself an island to live on she needed a handyman to help her around the place, not to mention row her back and forth to the mainland through dangerous waters. Sydney Hicks was just the guy. But when his sister suffered an accident, something changed.  Charlie at the Folkestone Book Festival on 11th June: https://www.creativefolkestone.org.uk/whats-on/the-sea-pavilion/ He...

In July 1914 as the world teetered on the brink of war a man somewhere in London was not happy. Was he vexed by the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Angry at diplomatic shilly-shallying? No. He was fuming at the cost of his recent holiday at the English seaside.  https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

On May 13th 2021 Trinity House in a short 'notice to mariners' announced the decommissioning of the Channel Light Vessel, for forty years a director of Channel traffic and stalwart of the shipping forecast.  https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

After he'd spent 25 years in a Sussex lunatic asylum, the family of Prince Ahmed Saif ed-Din of Egypt was determined to get him out and across the Channel. It was just a question of how.  https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

Thomas Sinclair Leinster of North Shields might have been a master mariner but he definitely wasn't a master criminal. The story of his disastrous 1894 attempt at insurance fraud on the high seas is a tragic tale of farce, incompetence, high comedy and a fake beard. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

When a quiet, shy teenager from Abergavenny meets a charismatic Portuguese sailor in a Cardiff café in 1923, it leads to love, drama, global adventure - and a bullet in the leg.  https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

Coastal Stories is coming back for series three. I know! It's a game changer for the world of podcasting.  Twitter: @PodcastCoastal Facebook: Coastal Stories Podcast Donate here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

In the second and final part of Atlantic Stories we find Clarence about to reveal himself, Betty starting a spell in chokey and Vincenzo sailing serenely on towards New York. A two-part special brought to you by Coastal Stories, written, produced and presented by Charlie Connelly. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

In the first part of a bonus double header from Coastal Stories, Charlie Connelly brings you the tale of three very different transatlantic stowaways crossing an ocean for very different reasons. Meet Clarence, Betty and Vincenzo as they set out illictly across the sea in 1928. Different journeys, different motivations, extraordinary stories.  https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories