Scapa Ferry

220 pages

Charles Coull

Scapa Ferry was first published in 1957. An account of the complexity of running the logistical support to the rebuild of the naval base at Scapa Flow, it is written by Antony Bridges, a lawyer and Corinthian yachtsman who had been invalided out of the Royal Navy after an injury sustained playing football at Dartmouth. It is republished now by Golden Duck, a small publishing house that has published or republished a number of books which explore the lesser-known aspects of the war at sea, with a particular interest in Reservists and the contribution of women to the war effort.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Antony Bridges attempted to rejoin the Navy but his injury continued to prevent his ability to serve in uniform. Instead, he and his future wife Margaret Townsend took a contract to run explosives between Wick and Scapa Flow to assist with the refortifying of the naval base. To do this they sailed the ex-King’s Lynn pilot cutter Mermaid from the south coast of England up the west coast and eventually to the Pentland Firth.  The account of that voyage alone in the early years of the war would have made an excellent book but the challenges of the business that they had contracted to undertake once North are the real meat of this tale.

Written in the pacy style of yachting “yarns” of the pre and post war era, it describes in detail the extraordinary complexity of the logistics required to support the rebuild of Scapa Flow at a time of huge change and challenge. The book charts the development of their small endeavour into a company running three vessels and recounts the immense bravery of the fishermen who crewed these vessels in difficult seas and foul weather.  It also describes with some humour the inevitable bureaucracy which often seemed bound to thwart the very taskings it was created to support.

This is a welcome republishing of an excellent book which is both a stirring tale and a fascinating record of a little known naval logistical challenge. (The reviewer has also written this version’s foreword.)