We preserve the Nancy Blackett, the favourite yacht of "Swallows and Amazons" author Arthur Ransome, and celebrate Arthur Ransome's East Coast stories.

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I Did Mean to Go to Sea: Sailing Nancy Blackett in Holland – Part 2

Sophie Neville, President of the Arthur Ransome Society and “Titty Walker” in the 1974 “Swallows and Amazons” film, spent a week sailing Nancy Blackett in Dutch waters earlier this summer. Here’s the second half of her story… Nancy Blackett, the 28-foot cutter that Arthur Ransome bought with Spanish gold, as he called his royalties from […]

I Did Mean to Go to Sea: Sailing Nancy Blackett in Holland – Part 1

Sophie Neville, President of the Arthur Ransome Society and “Titty Walker” in the 1974 “Swallows and Amazons” film, spent a week sailing Nancy Blackett in Dutch waters earlier this summer. Here’s the first part of her story… This summer, I grabbed the chance to sail Arthur Ransome’s favourite little ship, the Nancy Blackett. If you recognise […]

Arthur Ransome: an East Coast Celebration

The Selina King exhibition at Anthony Cullen’s Pin Mill Studio was featured in the June edition of “Essential Suffolk“. The feature article, “Arthur Ransome: an East Coast Celebration”, was written by Anne Gould and tells the story of how the exhibition was created. It also explores Arthur Ransome’s connections to Pin Mill, including Nancy Blackett, Selina […]

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Arthur Ransome’s East Coast

  • Download the Arthur Ransome Walking Trail (pdf)
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    • Welcome

    You can visit and sail the Nancy Blackett, once owned by “Swallows and Amazons” author Arthur Ransome and the star of his novel “We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea”, the seventh book of his “Swallows and Amazons” series, and probably his best sailing novel.

    Nancy Blackett, lightly disguised in the book as the Goblin, was named after the “Amazon” pirate girl character who featured in “Swallows and Amazons”.

    Nancy Blackett was Arthur Ransome’s favourite yacht and is now owned by the Nancy Blackett Trust, preserving her as a living part of the Arthur Ransome heritage. Each year many Ransome fans enjoy the experience of sailing her, and many more visit her at maritime events.

    Explore our website to find out more about Nancy Blackett’s history, how you can sail her, how you can help support her, and the mission and work of the Nancy Blackett Trust.

    You can keep updated with e-mail alerts by clicking here.

    Nancy Blackett passes Pin Mill, June 2017.
    Photo: Bill Wallace-King.