Bull Bay, Anglesey, Wales

Bull Bay (Welsh: Porth Llechog) is a village on the northern coast of Anglesey, Wales. Its Welsh name, Porth Llechog, means "sheltered bay". The English name is derived from Pwll y Tarw ("the bull's pool"), which is located near the shore close to the bay.

The village is located on the A5025. It is the most northerly village in Wales and also contains Wales' most northerly golf course which was opened and funded by a local aristocrat in 1913. The island of East Mouse lies within the bay, the coastline of which is rocky and contains many caves. Some of these rocks are over 570 million years old which make them amongst the oldest in Wales.


Lowry refers to the golf course in his novel Ultramarine when Taff one of the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus says; "Amlwch I lived. I used to work in the forge near Bull Bay. I was a caddy on the links there for a time-" (Pg. 50)

Amlwch, Wales

Amlwch is the most northerly town in Wales. It is situated on the north coast of the Isle of Anglesey, on the A5025 which connects it to Holyhead and to Menai Bridge. The town has no beach, but it has impressive coastal cliffs. At one time it was a busy port, with boats sailing to the Isle of Man and to Liverpool. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the town in his novel Ultramarine when Taff one of the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus says; "Amlwch I lived. I used to work in the forge near Bull Bay. I was a caddy on the links there for a time-" (Pg. 50)

Board of Trade Lime Juice

Lowry refers to Board of Trade lime juice in his novel Ultramarine when Dana is cleaning floor of the messroom on board the Oedipus Tyrannus; "Here you are then. If you put some Board of Trade lime juice in that it'll come as white as a lamb's arse..." and "In the bucket is a mixture of soda and hot water. To this he adds three drops of lime juice, Board of Trade bottle, price 15s." - a task probably reflecting Lowry's time on the Pyrrhus. There are references that it made a good cleaning substance (See Ships Nostalgia)

All the ships were equipped with a medical locker which was stocked to the instructions as laid down by the Board of Trade which included Board of Trade lime juice, it was concentrated, very strong and it prevented scurvy, just as in the days of sail.  In later years the practice was discontinued as a result of better diet and food being better preserved with the benefit of ships fridges. The regulations were laid out in the Merchant Shipping Act 1894:

The anti-scorbutics to be furnished shall be lime or lemon juice, or such other anti-scorbutics (if any) of such quality, and composed of such materials, and packed and kept in such manner as Her Majesty by Order in Council may direct.

(2), No lime or lemon juice shall be deemed fit and proper to be taken on board ship, for the use of the crew or passengers thereof, unless it has been obtained from n bonded warehouse for and to be shipped as stores.

(3)Lime or lemon juice shall not be so obtained or delivered from a warehouse as aforesaid, unless—

(a)it is shown, by a certificate under the hand of an inspector appointed by the Board of Trade, to be proper for use on board ship, the certificate to be given upon inspection of a sample, after deposit of the lime or lemon juice in the warehouse; and

(b)it contains fifteen per cent. of proper and palatable proof spirit, to be approved by the inspector or by the proper officer of customs, and to be added before or immediately after the inspection thereof ; and

(c)it is packed in such bottles at such time and in Such manner and is labelled in such manner as the Commissioners of Customs may-direct.

There was even a folk song about the Act:

Now, if you want a merchant ship to sail the sea at large

We'll not have any trouble if ye have a good discharge,

Signed by the Board o' Trade an' ev'rything exact,

For there's nothin' done on a Limejuice ship contrary to the Act. (Read more)

Stan Hugill wrote:

The Merchant Shipping Act came out in the year 1894, and in it was laid down the amount of food, water, etc., Sailor John was allowed when on shipboard. This doling out of rations was known to John as "Pound and Pint". The Act also covered fines and punishments for delinquent mariners, such as "For concealing Knuckledusters, Slung-shot, sword-stick, etc. 5s. for each day of concealment', and many commandments and regulations in similar strain. But the item around which the sarcastic song was built was also the origin of the Yanks calling English sailors "Limejuicers." This was the daily issuing of limejuice to British crews when they had been a certain number of days at sea. Shanties from the Seven Seas 1994

Star Brush Company

Lowry refers to the famous brush making company, which was based in Eden Grove, Holloway, London in the 1920s, in his novel Ultramarine when Dana is cleaning floor of the messroom on board the Oedipus Tyrannus: "He then gets his scrubber - Star Brush Company - and his wad ...... and goes down upon his knees under the messroom table." (Pg. 50) - a task probably reflecting Lowry's time on the Pyrrhus.

Cammell Laird

The company was founded by William Laird, who had established the Birkenhead Iron Works in 1824, when he was joined by his son, John Laird in 1828: their first ship was an iron barge. The company soon became pre-eminent in the manufacture of iron ships and made major advances in propulsion.


In 1903 the businesses of Messrs. Cammell and Laird merged to create a company at the forefront of shipbuilding. Johnson Cammell & Co. had been founded by Charles Cammell and Henry and Thomas Johnson: it made, amongst many other metal products, iron wheels and rails for Britain's railways and was based in Sheffield. Between 1829 and 1947, over 1,100 vessels of all kinds were launched from the Cammell Laird slipways into the River Mersey. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the company in a list of signs on board the ship Oedipus Tyrannus in his novel Ultramarine; "Cammell Laird Shipbuilding Company, Birkenhead" (Pg. 54).

Lowry also mentions the shipbuilders in his poem 'Freighter 1940' (Collected Poetry Pg. 143);

A freighter builds in Birkenhead where rain
Falls in labourers' eyes at sunset. Then 
She's launched! Her iron sides strain as merchants gaze;
A cheer swoops down into titanic ways.

Nawab

This was the was the original name of the ship used by Lowry in an early draft of his first novel Ultramarine and the first edition of the novel. Lowry sometime in the 1950's changed the name from Nawab to Oedipus Tyrannus in penciled revisions made to his first edition. This alteration features in all the later editions beginning with the 1962 American Edition. Lowry made the change as part of his revision of Ultramarine, which was never fully realised, in order for the novel to become the first volume of the proposed The Voyage That Never Ends. The change of name would link Ultramarine to Under The Volcano.

The name may have been suggested by the S.S. Nawab owned by Asiatic Steam Navigation Company Liverpool. Built by Charles Connell & Company Scotstoun,Yard No 363; engines by Dunsmuir & Jackson Propulsion: T. 3-cyl. Launched: Wednesday, 30/12/1914 Built: 1915 Ship Type: Cargo Vessel Tonnage: 5430 grt., Length: 404.4 feet, Breadth: 52.8 feet, Draught: 25ft. Broken up at Bombay in February 1950.

Tvedestrand, Norway

Tvedestrand is a town and municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sørlandet.The town itself lies at the end of a picturesque fjord, Oksefjorden (originally Ufsefjorden, meaning the fjord with steep, rocky sides).The town as it now exists was built in the 19th century as a harbour for Norway's longest existing iron works, Næs jernverk. Lying in the parish of Holt, Næs jernverk has one of the largest and most significant of the surviving mansions in Sørlandet, built by Ulrich Schnell. Schnell bought up various iron works in the neighborhood and set up several sawmills in the district. He obtained a special license to export timber directly from Tvedestrand, establishing the basis for an international harbour.

Lowry refers to the port in his poem 'For Nordahl Grieg Ship's Fireman'; "Bare arms among the storm-tossed washing in Tvedestrand". Lowry refers 3 times to the port in his first novel Ultramarine; it is the birthplace of 2 of the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus- Andersen Marthon Bredahl and Norman Leif (Pg. 15), where the ship Oedipus Tyrannus was first registered (Pg. 51) and the home of Dana Hilliot - "The seasons changed quickly: spring plants were staring at the sun in Tvedestrand; there were bare arms among the storm-tossed washing; the soundless black depths of a fjord closed over my head. Home. (Pg. 98). There is no record of Lowry visiting the port on his 1931 trip to Norway.