BOOKS
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AROUND THE GALLEY FIRE
The Memoirs and Paintings of a Master Mariner
Compiled and edited by Ann Thompson
Arthur John Booth DSC 1891-1980
Lieut. Commander (SCC) Late RNR
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
Hon. Life Member of Mercantile Marine Service Association
Captain Arthur John Booth went to sea as an apprentice in sail in 1908, transferring to steamships and qualifying as a Master in 1915, after which he volunteered for the Royal Naval Reserve. In 1917, while serving on a ‘Q’ ship which was torpedoed and sunk, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery. After demobilization in 1919, he lived in Folkestone, sailing the cross-Channel steamers until he moved to Mexico as the Assistant Wharf Master in Tampico. In 1925 he went to Africa, serving on steamers on Lake Victoria, Kenya, and Lake Albert in Uganda.
This book is a collection of his memoirs, paintings and three dimensional models that reflect his love of the sea and the passion with which he was able to share.
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FOREWORD
As Master of Trinity House I am pleased to write a foreword for this very readable book ‘Around The Galley Fire’. As a seafaring nation we have a long tradition of hearing about the ships and men of whom our country is proud. Many of these heroic tales and simple recollections have been told around the galley fire. In this book Captain Arthur John Booth’s affectionate memories of his long life at sea reach out to us not only through his own words but also through his vivid and expressive paintings.
Captain Booth, like Joseph Conrad’s Marlowe had ‘turned fresh water sailor for a bit’, spending 21 years working on the lakes in East Africa since 1925. In his retirement the veteran sea captain would sit by the galley fire as a humble night-watchman on ships in dock mesmerizing younger seamen with yarns of a lifetime at sea. Whether as an officer on epic journeys to the uttermost ends of the world or as an apprentice on four masted-barques in the heroic days of sail, his tales, as Conrad would say, “have a direct simplicity’. However, his writing style, like the sea, is unpredictable, with a free spirited narrative structure, rich with description, often humorous and sometimes philosophical. This was a man who had time to read widely in fair weather and think deeply under the stars.
We are richer for this life that was led to the full by a gallant British sailor. Captain Booth gave good service to his nation and we should be grateful that the story of his life and work can be shared with us all.
HRH The Princess Royal
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LETTERS TO MOLLY
Arthur John Booth DSC
A Collection Of Letters From A Nautical Father To His Four Year Old Daughter When He Was Away At Sea.
Compiled and edited by Ann Thompson
Captain Arthur John Booth went to sea as an apprentice in sail in 1908, transferring to steamships and qualifying as a Master in 1915, after which he volunteered for the Royal Naval Reserve. In 1917, while serving on a ‘Q’ ship which was torpedoed and sunk, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery. After demobilization in 1919, he lived in Folkestone, sailing the cross-Channel steamers until he moved to Mexico as the Assistant Wharf Master in Tampico.
Arthur Booth was a kind and wise man with a twinkle in his eye, and his childlike simplicity endeared him to all. He enjoyed reading, writing and painting, and this small book of letters and drawings is a prelude to the publication of his memoirs, together with his paintings and dimensional models.
FOREWORD BY LIBBY PURVES
We moderns sometimes think we have invented fatherhood, and that the generations of men who went before were stiff, distant, almost robotic in their manliness. Which is of course nonsense. Men have always loved their children, and yearned toward them through long absences.
When I first saw these letters, from Arthur Booth to his little daughter Molly, I turned the pages with tearful delight. A waste of oceans divided him for long months from his family, but in his letters the bond was forged and strengthened so that she has kept them all her life, and her sisters have shared the pleasure. Apart from the charming drawings, what is striking is in that every word he wrote this strong, professional seafarer knew exactly how to communicate with a small child. Sitting in his cabin or in some quiet corner of the deck, in heat and cold, surrounded by tough men he yet could share her vision. From the first moments of describing the ‘twinkling fairy lights’ on Leas as his ship moved out into the great darkness and noticing the Pilot’s little white collar, as a child would, he describes the oddities of his voyages, and expresses the risks and dangers of his life without alarming her: always conveying warmth, familiarity, the essence of Daddy still with his family yet so far away.
Because of the childlike perceptions he enters into, his letters offer us a view of his times too, more vivid and immediate than most nautical histories. But above all, they show us what it is to be a loving father, out in the world earning a living amid adult complications and stresses, yet able to turn to his child with the same innocent wonder that she herself would have. It is a portrait of mutual refreshment, and of family, and as such a precious document for us all.
Libby Purves
Maridadi Publishing
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COMING SOON
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SHORE LEAVE
Born in Bermuda in 1917, Earl Cameron has been for more than seventy years a widely respected actor on stage and screen, his career spanning a range of British cinema from his 1950 film debut in the Ealing Studios production ‘Pool of London’, now recognized as a British neo-realist classic, to his most recent appearance in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’.
However Earl’s life is far more than a mere list of credits. One of the first black actors to be given serious roles in film, his whole life’s journey reads like an adventure story with life imitating art and vice versa in a richly resonant double act. This book follows Earl from his childhood in Bermuda all the way to Buckingham Palace where he was awarded the CBE for services to drama, and beyond.
This book accompanies the dramatized documentary film entitled ‘Shore Leave’, which tells the life story of Earl Cameron CBE, D.Lit. Directed by Marcus Thompson, the film began shooting in London on 28th May 2009, the day Earl was presented his CBE by The Prince Of Wales at Buckingham Palace, for his ‘services to drama’. With excerpts from the screenplay and a wealth of still photographs from the film and seventy years in show business, the book celebrates the life and work of this veteran Bermudian Actor. Shot over a period of 7 years the film is witness to Earl’s triumphant return to the island of his birth, his faith, and the accolades bestowed upon the actor by a grateful nation, a proud island home, and film lovers around the world. This book is a fitting tribute to a gracious human being.
CODEX DIGITALIS
A digitally generated notebook spanning a lifetime’s obsession with doodling, drawing, photography, tape recording, film making, painting and graphics, accompanied by the handwritten scrawls and observations of the artist. The book accompanies the film, drawings and over 50 new paintings.
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Neat & Tidy
For two decades fans all over the world have bombarded TV stations with requests for re-runs or even a re-make of the action adventure series “Neat & Tidy”. This album, illustrated with original storyboards, set designs and production stills, celebrates the creative energy behind the series, how it was made and the trials and tribulations that befell the film makers as the production progressed.
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