Mum's story part 3

The boat at Bristol Bridge

For Mum's Story Part 1 click here

Firstly all the food, which had already been sorted into categories and sealed, had to be carried from Tony's flat to the boat and as the interior cabins were rather on the small side and stowing space was under the floorboards, in lockers and under the bunks, we could only stow a little at a time. Also, as it was stowed, a list and chart was made so that they would know where everything was when they were at sea. A lot of food, such as sugar and rice had to be emptied from packets and stored in large plastic jars, medical supplies were all packed into one large box. A supply of sweets had been purchased for the journey and these were all packed in plastic bags containing a weeks supply for each of them.

As soon as the stores were being taken on board, Sim decided that it would be better if we slept on board, so for the last week before their departure we slept on the Stella Mira where she was moored at Bristol Bridge. One evening we were lying on the bunks reading and suddenly Sim said "This boat does not feel right, I don't think the weight is evenly distributed", so sections had to be taken out and restowed until he was satisfied that things were right and then we had to rechart and list everything that had been put in different locations. Needless to say, we did not get very much sleep that night! The very last job to be done was for all the fresh water containers to be filled, carried on board and stowed away and this job took practcally a whole day, as they had to have gallons and gallons of water for drinking and washing and this was taken in plastic storage tanks and gallon containers.