The Log of a Sky Pilot

It being a wet and windy Sunday my mind turned to the Rev T Stanley Treanor the Missions to Seamen Chaplain for the Downs in late Victorian times. He wrote three books about the Goodwin Sands the first being “Heroes of the Goodwin sands” which is mainly about the work of the Deal, Walmer and Ramsgate Lifeboats, it is already in print published by another publisher. The next being “The Log of a Sky Pilot” and then “The Cry From the Sea and the Answer From the Shore” both reprinted by me.

Treanor and his fellow crew members launched their open boat by sliding it down Deal beach on greased planks often jumping in at the last moment and getting the sail up before they were tossed back onto the beach by the waves. It is recorded that in one year he spent 250 days at sea, visited 400 homes and 890 ships. His work as a priest involved visiting the ships that were waiting off our coast for the weather to improve enough for them to continue on their voyages.

Here are some sample pages you may not feel so bad about the weather having read them, especially if like me you are in the warm and dry.

The Cry From The Sea and the Answer From the Shore

The Log of a Sky Pilot

The Cry From the Sea and the Answer From the Shore

Rev. T Stanley Treanor wrote three books about the Goodwin Sands the first being “Heroes of the Goodwin sands” which is mainly about the work of the Deal, Walmer and Ramsgate Lifeboats, it is already in print published by another publisher. The next being “The Log of a Sky Pilot”. Seamen call clergymen sky pilots. That book is mainly about his work as the Missions to Seamen Chaplain for the Downs and is published by us in A4 format. This is his third and final book on the subjects covering as it does his work and that of the lifeboatmen. At this time Treanor's boat the lifeboats and all of the other small open boats were either powered by the wind or by the crew of the boat rowing it.

Treanor and his fellow crew members launched their open boat by sliding it down Deal beach on greased planks often jumping in at the last moment and getting the sail up before they were tossed back onto the beach by the waves. It is recorded that in one year he spent 250 days at sea, visited 400 homes and 890 ships. His work as a priest involved visiting the ships that were waiting off our coast for the weather to improve enough for them to continue on their voyages. For those of us interested in the lives of the people who provided goods and services to the shipping off our coast his books are invaluable as he was the only one of these seafarers to write of his life. In Deal where he lived, and the lives of the seamen there and in the other costal towns in this area, many of the local people had shares in a boat and made their living from the sea by a mixture of fishing, foying (taking out goods and offering services to the shipping) hoveling (salvaging wrecked vessels or their cargoes) carrying goods from abroad or other parts of this country, and smuggling.

Click here to read some of the book and my notes on costal navigation