The brainchild of James Ramsden the first mayor (1867) of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England who had visited Venice and seen large gondola-like passenger barges called Burchiello, the opulent steam yacht Gondolais a rebuilt eighty-six passenger Victorian era steam powered vessel. She operates on Coniston Water in the English Lake District. Built in Liverpool and launched in 1859, her lines clearly influenced by those of Venice’s Burchielli, she was built for the steamer service carrying passengers from both the Furness Railway and the Coniston Railway. She was in service until 1936 when she was retired, being converted to a houseboat in 1946. In 1979, by then derelict, she was given a new hull, engine, boiler and most of her superstructure by the famous and relatively nearby Vickers shipyard in Barrow. In 1980 she was returned to service on Coniston Water and is operated by Britain’s National Trust.
Having grown up in Barrow and its Lakeland environs and never having had the opportunity to sail on the Gondola until some years ago, I was excited at the prospect of stepping aboard whilst on vacation from Canada. I was with three friends, all of whom had also not previously sailed on the well loved vessel. As we walked down a long gently sloping pathway from which we could see the famous boat, we noticed that just short of her dock was a large sign at which all the many other would be Gondola passengers ahead of us were stopping. Each and every one of them then boarded another rather nondescript vessel tied to the adjacent dock. Clearly and frustratingly, especially for two of us who were returning to Canada the next day, the Gondola was out of service. Most likely we all agreed and in fairness to the operators, due to the ‘joys’ of maintaining and operating a steam vessel from the mid nineteenth century. What could go wrong? Of course plenty and then some.
We arrived at the sign and read it hoping that she would perhaps be ready to sail a little later the same day. Unlikely we thought, given the 100% exodus of passengers ahead of us to the other, it turned out, current generation run of the mill diesel powered boat.
Verbatim the sign read:
“Passengers intending to board the Gondola for the next sailing please note: a large party of Americans will be boarding the vessel. You are very welcome to join them however if you would rather not, please board the adjacent vessel which will sail at the same time”.
Like all those passengers ahead of us and without hesitation we four put our disappointment aside and boarded the other vessel. Long the case (back to when I was a child if not before) and thus correctly anticipated by the Gondola’s operators, this widespread British et al sentiment towards and discomfort with US citizens in close quarters and en masse existed many years before the malevolent individual currently and illegally (‘the fix’ of course having been in) masquerading as the US president was known to anybody other than viewers of junk reality television programs, Miss Universe contests, followers of shady real estate and casino dealings and those with an interest, vested or otherwise, in his four bankruptcies. Given his unrelenting nefarious and boorish activities and associations, clearly today there would be even more justification for such a sign. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
Just saying…
For fantastic interior and exterior photographs of the Gondola go to https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/steam-yacht-gondola
For great photographs of the English Lake District in general go to https://www.lakelandcam.co.uk