Ghostal Story #2: Arctic expeditions, transatlantic trade runs: the Lady of Avenel had already had a wealth of adventures before a furniture magnate turned her into his luxury yacht. Then things got... weird.

https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

Ghostal Story #1: After a stormy Atlantic crossing in 1874 a sailor roamed Greenock desperate to find a new ship. There was no way he was going back on the Harewood. 

https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

When 'John Bardoe' was cornered by police on a chandlery roof at St Katherine's Dock in the summer of 1859 it led to a court case that revealed a heartbreaking story of slavery and human degradation. This episode of Coastal Stories, in Black History Month, revives the tale of a forgotten life and restores the dignity, if nothing else, of a man's name. 

https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

One day during the 1860s an old man walked into a Norfolk photographer's studio and sat down warily in front of the camera. Behind the defiant eyes staring down the lens lay quite a story, encompassing some of the greatest moments in history and literature. 

https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

When two men ran naked into the women's bathing room on Margate sands in September 1801 people feared it was either the start of a French invasion or, worse, swimmers from Ramsgate. A hilarious dive into the pomposity of Georgian morals and a hint of the very real fear at the time that Napoleon was about to show up armed to the teeth. 

https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

In 1841 a man sailed into a harbour in the remote northwest of Scotland and never left, living happily as part of the community. When he died many years later locals realised they knew nothing about his life before he arrived. But a deathbed confession had revealed the secret of John MacLeod. 

https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

When William Miller, ship owner and timber merchant of Saltcoats, Ayrshire, died with his business affairs in disarray people predicted the workhouse for his daughters. They reckoned without the remarkable Betsy Miller, Britain's first woman sea captain. 

https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

Of the millions of oysters consumed in London every year during the early 19th century a considerable number were swallowed by the notorious Dando, the Oyster Eater. Class warrior or glutton? You decide. 

https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

In the 1970s kids at the Blackrock sea baths in Dublin would be awestruck by an old man executing dives of exquisite grace and elegance from the highest board. He was the remarkable Eddie Heron, the greatest Irish sportsman you've never heard of. 

https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

Love is great name for a king, and King Love Pritchard of Bardsey Island was a monarch like no other.