4084 – Selling the Wind Picture
- Physical description:
- A reproduction of a colour photograph of Graham King, then Director of the Museum, selling the wind to a sailor in Boscastle harbour in 1998. On foamboard with text.
- Museum classification:
- Sea Witchcraft
- Size:
- 115 x 260
- Information:
There is a local tradition that Boscastle witches used to sell the wind to sailors by tying knots in a rope on a windy day - the sailors would then be able to get a fair wind by untying one of the knots. This picture shows the Museum's Director Graham King briefly reviving the tradition in 1998.
The accompanying text reads: "On the 13th of May 1998 the sailing boat 'Salus' was becalmed on her way from Brittany to Scotland. The Skipper approached the owner of the museum and asked to 'buy the wind'. The wind was tied in three knots in a rope and sold. The knotted rope can be seen tied to the mast stay; each knot also holds a gull feather. The boat sailed the following morning."
- Resource:
- Picture
- Materials:
- Paper, foamboard
- Copyright ownership:
- MWM
There is a local tradition that Boscastle witches used to sell the wind to sailors by tying knots in a rope on a windy day - the sailors would then be able to get a fair wind by untying one of the knots. This picture shows the Museum's Director Graham King briefly reviving the tradition in 1998.
The accompanying text reads: "On the 13th of May 1998 the sailing boat 'Salus' was becalmed on her way from Brittany to Scotland. The Skipper approached the owner of the museum and asked to 'buy the wind'. The wind was tied in three knots in a rope and sold. The knotted rope can be seen tied to the mast stay; each knot also holds a gull feather. The boat sailed the following morning."