Object of desire

I have no illusions, Miss Olga, about the survivability of such ships in storms at sea. Many have survived, and survived horrendous conditions--HMS Beagle being a case in point. However, loss of ships with their entire crews at sea was so common that naval gazettes published annual reports of how many ships had been lost, and naval officers congratulated themselves on years in which the figures were relatively low. In the example of HMS Beagle, she was on of a type of brig officially known as a Cherokee class, ten gun, flush deck brig. These ships (when unmodified) foundered so commonly that they were known throughout the Royal Navy as "coffin ships."

I expect we'd have a much better shot given modern satellite-based navigation and weather reporting. Still and all, it would one of those "a hell of a way to go" kind of things.

(You're going to think I'm sucking up to you, Robert. Well too bad if you do .. but ....)

I honestly think you are going to do way more adventurous things & yes, possibly bigger even than Google, before your time is up. I mean it.

... but will this bring you peace & sanity?

Well that's a completely different question, isn't it?

Certainly would, Setanta.

Beats dying in front of the fire, in your slippers & dressing gown, watching Survivor!

I didn't know how to respond to this, Seed.
The love, the best of intentions & plans ....
I am so sorry that you won't be able to realize this cherished dream.
Your parents are lucky to have a son like you. (No, maybe that's not right. Maybe they brought you up with enough love that you simply want to reciprocate.)
But I suspect (trip or no trip) they know exactly how you feel about them.

Oh wow, that was the best seed!

Yes, indeed.

If you worry about value and maintenance, then you cant afford one.

If you buy a brand new automobile, when you drive it off the lot, you lose from 40% to 60% of it's purchase price. I don't consider depreciation to be a valid objection to owning a boat.

You wouldn't want a houseboat? I would love living on one like this:

One can move one's residence in case of a extinction level event like an asteroid hits the land. Or avoid some of the devastating consequences of global warming and the subsequent global wide coastal flooding.

Please feel free to continue.
I've talked far too much here already ...

One of my deepest insecurities is the fear of becoming homeless. So to have a permanent address that can move along with me wherever I go? That would be a great form of relief.

And living on a boat would help me face my ambiguous feelings towards big bodies of water.

Plus traveling up and down the Atlantic coast to visit my family ... my sister in Florida and my parents in Massachusetts. I need to remake stronger connections with my family and such a travelling residence would be a great incentive of sorts.

Fitzroy was a very able seaman. When Beagle got to Valpariso, they learned of the foundering of the Man-of -War Challenger. After the commodore of the HMS Blonde refused to go to rescue the Challengers crew, Fitzroy took over (He was a close friend of the Challengers captain) and sailed the Blonde as pilot and rescued the crew through several harrowing experiences at sea and on land . The Blonde returned to Cociumbo (about 500 mi from Valpariso) where it was prearranged to have Darwin just go nuts collecting as a favor to to the naturalist who, at that time was really getting a woody over all the fossils in the ANdeian altoplana>SO the Beagle's mate captained the Beagle to Cociumbo where they met the Blonde over 3 months later. (Sounds frighteningly like the entire "collecting" diversion from captain and Commander doesnt it?)

ANYWAY, the safe handling of the BEagle was due , not in small part to Fitzroys talent and strict seamanship. He also was given a fairly good sized check to basically rebuild the Beagle from when Fitzroy took command and had sailed her to South AMerica the year prior. She took months more to refit and caulk because Fitzroy was adamant about what kind of seaworthiness hed need when sailing the Straits of Magellan. He was no fool.He was cautious and took no second guessing. He was a personal hero to me in piloting (cept for the suicide thingy). Ive often stayed two more days when we needed a prop straightened and we were gonna be setting into more turbulent water

Course Fitz was a hothead, theres a statue of him in MOntevideo where he was fired upon by a Guardship on Rio Plata and how he responded by threatening a glass of cannonade.

My first car was a white 1965 Ford Mustang with a 289 V8. It was sadly a clunker. But at least I learned how to drive a manual because I learned on it.

I have a friend who lives on a Houseboat near Seattle and hes always bitchin about how he keeps pouring money into what is essentially a floating box that is busy thinking up new ways to sink.

You know, that makes perfect sense to me, tsar!

A mobile home.

Me, I count myself pretty fortunate to have a fully paid up home (though needing work!), but it's all about knowing there's shelter, isn't it?

I wish I could float my little Victorian cottage up & down the eastern coast of Australia, though!

you need to get an old AIRSTREAM. These are not depreciating assets. In fact they are turning into a hot collectible that you can live in.

Well home owners still need to pour money into their landlocked homes as well.

Ha. Tell me something!!!!!

Have you considered getting Howl's Moving Castle? Since it's magical it's much nicer looking inside!


Or the Tardis would do nicely as well!