The shipping forecast turned 97 on January 1st 2021. In this final episode of the second series of Coastal Stories Charlie Connelly sums up what makes this iron horse of the broadcasting schedule so special. 

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https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

In 1849 American author Herman Melville was in London looking for a publisher. He'd just turned thirty and was wearing a strange green coat. By Christmas he was ready to go home to the US, his literary career on its uppers, but an idea forming for a novel about a vengeful whale.

In 1931 the bigwigs of Morecambe decided to cheer up the town by making a giant Christmas pudding, a monster twenty feet in circumference weighing in at half a ton. This wasn't just any giant Christmas pudding, however. This was a giant Empire Christmas pudding, designed to showcase Britain's global influence. On puddings. In Morecambe. 

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There's a truncated pier at Skegness these days and no hint of the theatre that used to stand out there above the waves, or the 75 foot tower from which Frank 'Peggy' Gadsby, the one-legged pier diver, would perform dives that thrilled holiday crowds. An elegy for a theatre, a pier and one of its favourite sons. 

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It's tiny, you can barely stand up on it, it's smack bang in the middle of nowhere and the seabirds of the North Atlantic use it as a toilet. Nevertheless Rockall, stalwart of the shipping forecast, was still conquered in 1811 by the British Royal Navy and by the extraordinary man who lent his name to its only tangible feature. 

Buy Charlie's book of his adventures around the shipping forecast here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/1255/9780349116037

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On the coast of Northern Ireland stands a curious building, apparently on the point of toppling into the North Atlantic at any moment. It's the last relic of an 18th Century scandal involving a remarkable bishop. A really remarkable bishop.

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Charlie's book 'The Channel', meeting all your Christmas gift needs:
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/1255/9781474607919

The coast has always had an attraction for hermits. The wide horizon, the sense of being at the end of somewhere, it's no surprise those seeking solitude away from the world have turned their backs on land to face the sea. Is it the romantic existence it seems? Listen to the stories of three coastal hermits and judge for yourself. 

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Some of Charlie's favourite books about the sea:
https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/some-great-books-about-the-sea

The St Kilda archipelago, far out in the north Atlantic way beyond the Western Isles of Scotland, was cut off entirely from the world for nine long, lonely months every year. During that time the islanders would trust letters and messages to the waves on the 'St Kilda mail boat'. 

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Some of Charlie's favourite maritime books:
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/charlieconnelly

15 year old Ethel Langton lived in a sea fort off the Isle of Wight where her father was the keeper of its lighthouse. When a fearsome storm hit while her parents were ashore, stranding her alone for three days at the mercy of the gales, the welfare of the Solent's mariners lay entirely in her hands. 

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Check out Charlie's books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/charlieconnelly

Ghostal Story #3: In the summer of 1918 an American submarine cruising off the southern coast of Ireland witnessed the mysterious demise of a German U-Boat. In fact its ending was probably the least mysterious thing about a vessel that many said was cursed from the start. 

https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories