The reader may permit, however, a vision of our ultimate development. We have often desired to own a tug—having long been strong admirers of the indescribable fussiness and importance of tugs. We should keep steam up in our tug, and use her at moorings as a central heating plant. We should offer to tow the trading barges in and out of the creek, which would be one of the best pastimes imaginable, besides bringing us many devoted friends. And then when we wanted to shift our anchorage! You should just be there to see us start: first the tug, then the Ark Royal, then the Overdraft, then the other extra rooms, then the Perhaps, then the sailing dinghy, and lastly the duck punt. When the moment came to anchor again there would be no orders in the manner of ‘Let go the ’ook, Bill,’ but a dignified signal from the tug in the way described by the best of English sea songs:
‘Then the signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor.’
APPENDIX
DETAILS OF THE COST OF BUYING, ALTERING, AND FITTING OUT THE ARK ROYAL
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Purchase | 140 | 0 | 0 |
| Wood, match-lining, and flooring | 37 | 17 | 7 |
| Three-ply veneers | 15 | 3 | 11 |
| Insurance during alterations, £2; Registration, £1 1s.; Changing name, £3 18s. | 6 | 19 | 0 |
| Galvanizing chain, stanchions, blacksmith’s work | 8 | 15 | 9 |
| Two tanks of 400 gallons each | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Six mahogany doors and other fittings from shipbreaker’s yard | 5 | 4 | 6 |
| Pumps, bath, w.c., heating stove for bath | 13 | 16 | 7 |
| Brass fittings, tools, and sundries | 4 | 15 | 11 |
| Paint and varnish | 6 | 5 | 8 |
| Rope | 5 | 8 | 8 |
| Disinfecting at gasworks: formaldehyde, etc. | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Kitchen range, copper, etc. | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Linoleum, wash-hand-stand, brass fittings | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| Plumbing | 7 | 16 | 0 |
| Raising main cabin-top | 38 | 10 | 0 |
| Wages: two men for four months | 39 | 15 | 0 |
| Lamps, £2 10s.; Nails, £2 3s.; Saloon stove, £2 10s. | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| Caulking deck and buying and fixing second-hand skylight for boys’ cabin | 5 | 12 | 0 |
| Brass screws, hinges, and wire rope | 3 | 19 | 0 |
| Petty cash | 4 | 8 | 11 |
| —————— | |||
| £375 | 19 | 0 | |
| ============ | |||
A few words must be added in explanation of these bare figures.
As the cost of labour after the Ark Royal reached Fleetwick, with the cabin-top raised, was only £39 15s., the reader can understand how much was done by the owner’s hands. Help, however, was given by friends—in particular by a retired Civil Servant who displayed extraordinary skill as a carpenter. It was a mistake not to raise the main cabin-top ourselves. We probably could have done the job better, and certainly we could have done it cheaper.