Why name a boat 'SWALLOW'? Yes, the boat is named after the bird (indirectly) and not what a person does when they eat. The beginning of this story goes back to why I became interested in sailing in the first place. I grew up in North Texas, well away from any large body of water. In school I was constantly drawing sketches of sailboats. When I was 10 or 11 years old I found a series of books in the library by Arthur Ransome about a group of English children and their adventures while sailing. The first book in the series was entitled 'Swallows and Amazons'. I credit these books for sparking my interest in sailboats. Arthur Ransome used some children of people he knew as a basis for the characters in his books and actual locations for the action. Although the books are set in England during the 1930's, they are still popular today and there are multiple web sites dedicated to discussing the various locations in the books.
A couple of good locations for additional information on Arthur Ransome are the
