A question that always seems to get asked a lot by new acquaintances is why is your boat called Dark Tarn?
The real answer is that I don't know.....for sure.
When she was originally built she was called Faysarc, a reference to her builder Paul Fay.
with all due respect to Paul, thats a rubbish name.
When I asked Chris, her second owner why he had changed her name he said it was because he needed to find a unique name as he wanted her to be a part 1 registered british ship, which she is. I couldnt believe that there were two Faysarcs, maybe there was a Faysarc 2?
However it remains a fact that there is only one Dark Tarn on the Registry of British Ships (part 1)
He also said he thought a dark tarn was a west country name for a sooty tern. Which it may well be.
I know that a Dark Tarn is a mysterious and wonderful thing unique to the northlands, its a mountain lake. It has many names in the ancient tongues, Douglas, Blackpool, Dublin, All reminiscent of ancient lore and power. Its the basis of the Arthur legend and the Lady of the Lake, In the days of the ancient Britons it was a place to make offerings of precious things like swords and gold, and sometimes people...
So thats the history bit, and to be fair the name alone was enough to agree a sale sight unseen for one of the joint owners.
To us, our boat is a way to explore the world, To me this is summed up, along with a whole bunch of unresolved spiritual stuff in a poem by Walter de la Mare.
Its called,
The Scribe
What lovely
things
Thy hand
hath made:
The
smooth-plumed bird
In its
emerald shade,
The seed of
the grass,
The speck of
the stone
Which the
wayfaring ant
Stirs -- and
hastes on!
Though I
should sit
By some tarn
in thy hills,
Using its
ink
As the
spirit wills
To write of
Earth's wonders,
Its live,
willed things,
Flit would
the ages
On soundless
wings
Ere unto Z
My pen drew
nigh
Leviathan
told,
And the
honey-fly:
And still
would remain
My wit to
try --
My worn
reeds broken,
The dark
tarn dry,
All words
forgotten --
Thou, Lord,
and I.
Walter de la
Mare
so there...........
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