Sarah Brandon, née Bentley, grew up on Nancy Blackett. During Nancy Blackett’s fitting-out weekend earlier this month, she revisited the boat of her childhood after a gap of over 25 years. For Sarah, the elder daughter of Bill Bentley, who owned Nancy between 1965 and 1988, it was an emotional reunion, writes Peter Willis.

Growing up with Nancy Blackett

“I grew up with Nancy,” she told me. “I was very close to my father during this time – he and I sailed and maintained her together. One of my jobs was polishing the oil lamps – not to mention lifting the ballast out of the bilges!

“Nancy was my childhood,” she added. “There was never a day when I wasn’t aboard her or thinking about her. I had many winters in the old goods yard sanding her hull and deck ready for a new coat of paint and varnish. “Sailing Nancy,” my father used to say, “was a bonus for our hard work, her appreciation to us. She never failed to impress him. Upon returning from each sail it was always the ‘best day’s sailing’ to him.

Holidays, Holland, and storms

"Nancy headed into a storm and we were ordered below"

“I often used to sleep aboard her in the summer holidays,” she added. “That was my bunk.” She pointed to the portside bunk in the forepeak, known to Ransome fans as Titty’s bunk. And yes, she recalls sailing to Holland with her dad. “We went over when I was about eight, probably in 1976. Dad was an accomplished sailor, a talented and interesting individual who I admired for his many skills, most self-taught. He was very passionate when telling his stories of times sailing with my mother and friends.

“These became a regular part of our Sunday evenings long before TV was popular. Later in life I know it was a very special time for him to reminisce, especially to my children when they were little. His favourite Saturday sail was from Scarborough to Whitby and many summer holidays were spent there. One summer returning, Nancy headed into a storm and we were ordered below.

"Too late to turn back we carried on and made it safely back… less one dinghy! Dad just said ‘shame we lost that’. It was only later in life he admitted we were lucky to be alive as he did not think she would make it back. That was the last time I can remember my mother ever sailing with my father. It was rather a frightening experience for us all, though Dad never let it show.”

The beginning of the end

"She drifted into a part of the harbour called ‘the pit’"

The owner of a neighbouring boat berthed in Scarborough, Garth Thomas Way also knew Nancy Blackett well, said Sarah. “We would spend summers together the three of us, Dad, me and Garth. I had a very privileged childhood, I will always be thankful and appreciative of the many sacrifices that went with owning Nancy, it certainly shaped my life and the person I am today. I am very proud of my father, his dedication to Nancy and I will cherish those memories.”

Sarah last sailed Nancy over 30 years ago when she was just 11 years old, in 1979. Money had become tight for the family, by then with three children. It became harder even to cover the harbour dues, let alone maintain Nancy or sail her. Sarah got a job in a hotel – chamber maiding in the mornings and waitressing in the evening, “to put money in the Nancy pot”.

Then in 1986, during a storm, Nancy Blackett broke loose from her moorings – it is thought children had cut loose the moorings – and she drifted into a part of the harbour then called ‘the pit’, an area that was rarely dredged in those days. As the tide went out and Nancy settled on the bottom, her bilges found a metal spike sticking out of the harbour bed. It penetrated her hull, and she was sunk.

A new beginning

"It was a reluctant decision"

By this time Michael Rines had begun to take an interest in Nancy Blackett, and Bill Bentley was eventually persuaded, for her own good, to sell her. It was a reluctant decision. “My dad was a proud man, and he loved Nancy, we all did. Letting go was hard. The day he signed Nancy over was the day a part of Dad died too,” explained Sarah. “He watched from a distance as the Trust took her over – he remained intensely proud of her.”

Sarah also filled in a few gaps in Nancy’s Scarborough history. Her father was not a greengrocer, as sometimes reported. “He was a successful business man. He went onto build the first houses in Gomersal in the West Riding, which is where he met my mother.”

He later became an antique dealer and rented a small shop on Seamer Road in Scarborough next to the coal yard, and later worked in Chapman’s auction house in the town – in fact there was a rumour that when he bought Nancy he paid for her with a mix of cash and antique furniture. His shop did later become a greengrocer’s, and then a newsagent’s, which may explain that story.”

Although Sarah was an enthusiastic sailor in her young days, aboard Nancy Blackett, she abandoned it after Nancy was sold. “That time had gone” she said. “Dad I’m sure always felt he let us down in some way by letting Nancy go, but I’d say ‘No dad you’ve saved her, she will be there for many more to enjoy her and that is a good thing’.”

Bill Bentley died in 2010, aged 82. He is survived by his wife Eunice, reputedly an accomplished sailor in her day.

As for Sarah, now that she has been reunited with Nancy, she has been spurred to get back into sailing again – on Nancy Blackett, of course.