A COLLECTION of seafaring stories which date back more than 100 years have helped retired technical teacher Graham Hindle realise a long-standing dream.

A former nurse tutor at Calderstones Hospital, Graham has published a book of eight-years' of letters between a father and child separated by long voyages around the world.

Graham, of Moorland Road, Langho, explained: "The letters are between a sailing ship skipper, Tom Messenger, and his daughter Mary Adelaide, over a period of eight years from when she was eight to 16-years-old.

"They are fascinating on many levels and very powerful, especially a letter written as Tom navigates his way from South America to Australia through the Antarctic. He was forced to go that way because he was in the hands of the winds, but the boat hits ice, fog and gales and he spends hundreds of miles unable to see a thing.

"His descriptions of icebergs and the environment around him are amazing - they make the Titanic's encounter seem almost tame."

Graham, who was born and bred in the same Cumbrian town as Mary Adelaide, inherited the collection from her when she died some years ago.

He said: "My aunt befriended Mary and for a while she lived in the same house as us, which is partly why I am so fascinated by her life. I can identify with the family and the locality because my first school overlooked a shipyard.

"But I think many people will enjoy the letters, which go from Tom Messenger tackling the elements, including the frustrating calms, to his everyday life on the ship and with the ship's crew. The relationship between him and his daughter is also very powerful to read." The book, entitled Dear Daughter, The Messenger Letters, Voyages of a Sailing Ship Captain 1890 -1898, fulfils a long-standing ambition for Graham, who approached many publishers with the project.

In the end he has published it himself.

"Everyone thought it was very interesting but had a limited appeal, but I think there are many people who would like to read the letters, including those in the nautical field, ex-maritime people and academics, particularly in history or geographic studies.

"Sailing before the Panama Canal was opened, without steam power, radio or modern navigation aids, Tom Messenger tells of regularly rounding Cape Horn, crossing the iceberg-littered, fog-bound Southern Ocean, hitting submerged rocks in poorly charted seas, electrical storms and displays of southern lights, 60ft-long sea snakes, whales the width of the ship and regularly catching sharks."

The book, £16 plus £1.50 postage and packaging, is available direct from Graham at 39, Moorland Avenue, Langho, Blackburn, BB6 8HA or from Bookland, Blackburn, and Blackburn Library.

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