Not every homecoming goes to plan. La Malouine, a twin-masted brigantine, arrived in Manx waters this spring not as a visitor but as a new resident, and promptly made the most dramatic entrance the Island has seen in years. Caught by strong easterly winds at anchor off Ramsey, her anchor chain parted and she ended up firmly aground on Ballure Beach, between the Queen’s Pier and the Arches, where she became the Island’s most photographed temporary landmark.
Her story deserves telling. Built in 1959 in East Germany as an ice-breaking tug, she later lay abandoned in France, where she gained her name, before being bought at auction by Roy Kerr, who devoted ten years to restoring her and lived aboard until his death in February this year. She passed to his son John, a Ramsey resident, who was bringing her across to make Ramsey her permanent home port when the weather intervened. As entrances go, it was not the one he wanted, but there was something fitting about a ship meant for Ramsey refusing to be anywhere else, even at low tide.
We went up on 4 May to pay our respects, along with what felt like half the north of the Island. There was something oddly dignified about her, upright on the sand with her masts against the sky, patiently waiting for a tide high enough to lift her off.
Once the tide comes to re-float her, the hope remains to secure a permanent berth so that Ramsey can properly become her home. I very much hope that comes off. Every bay deserves a brigantine, and this one has already shown her commitment to the postcode.
Charlton Krentz 