We Eliminate The Competition


Well things didn't improve much over the following weeks as my two owners did little to get me working, Big Wessy had realised that the West Riding accent as he called,"hey up theer, art tha going aht in a lifeboat",did not inspire confidence to potential customers, compared to the locals way of speech which is perhaps as near to perfection as that of a BBC newscaster. All the Big Wessy could come up with was to undercut the fares to try and starve the smaller boats out. It was a strategy that paid off and the owner of "Sea Fog" found it unprofitable to run passengers and turned his attention to fishing commercially.

Lil Clouds boat handling skills didn't improve any either and he got me into many embarrassing positions, one time managing to leave me high and dry teetering on the edge of a 10ft drop, full of passengers who dare not move for fear of overbalancing me. Eventually they were rescued, with a ladder, when the tide ebbed away, Lil Cloud and his mate having secured me with a spider's web of mooring ropes. To my shame the local press came and took my picture and a report of the incident made front-page news. What would the lifeboat-men of Cleverly have made of this I wondered?

It was not long after that, one night when I had been tied up, that Victory was moored alongside me, it being the only berth available. I don't mind admitting that even though I was as brave as only a Lifeboat can be, I was scared bearing in mind the picture Big Wessy had painted of this boat and its Skipper.

I needn't have worried, fenders were put between us and with the ropes fastened in a seaman-like manner it wasn't long before Victory snuggled alongside me in a friendly manner. Before long we got chatting and eventually we got round to discussing Victory's skipper and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that he was an ex lifeboat man from the days when boats like me were crewed by fishermen, rather than the butchers, bakers and candlestick makers as seems to be the case today. Moreover he had been a crewman by invitation, by merit of ability, and not on a "Walter Mitty" type dream like so many that have come and gone.

Another gem of information that came to light was that although those within the square dealers network had done there best to gain sole control of the slipway trade for my owners, they hadn't counted on Victory's owner, a man by the name of Big Oggy, paying a solicitor to successfully establish that the slipway was in fact a public amenity for ALL licensed passenger boats.

Unfortunately for Victory and her skipper this was all too late because, Big Oggy, also had to realise that it had become difficult to compete with me, as I was much larger and carried a better payload, and he had no choice but to dispose of her. So it appeared that just when I had made friends with Victory she was going to be sold and I would be friendless again.

When Lil Cloud and Big Wessy found this out they were ecstatic with joy, more so at the thought of Al Legory being thrown out of work. However I was quietly pleased that they were wrong on this, because, Victory had confided in me that Al Legory planned to apply for a speedboat concession which was shortly to become available.

So as my first season drew to a close, things were looking up for me again as I would have just one competitor to dispose of next year, a pensioner, whom my owners regarded as a pushover. Yet again things were looking up and I couldn't wait to get started on my next season.


                                                                                     
                                                                                             Billy Inkwell Ashtray