The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
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Stranded Ketch on Tamar
A Ketch named Wake in dug out of the mud and refloated.
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Overview
Royal Marines and locals help dig a wooden ketch called Wake out of the intertidal mudflats of the River Tamar. The two masted ketch has been aground for five years at Weir Quay. A ketch is a traditional sailing vessel distinguished by a forward mainmast which is larger than the after mast or the mizzen. It may be square-rigged or Bermudan-rigged. Weir Quay was built on the Bere peninsula to serve the silver mines.
Silver was discovered in the twelfth century and by the nineteenth century the area was part of the mining boom. Situated on the Bere peninsula near Weir Quay are the large village of Bere Alston with examples of miners' cottages and the smaller settlement of Bere Ferrers which lies on the banks of a tributary of the Tamar, the River Tavy. A boatyard and moorings still exist at Weir Quay. Royal Marines are the amphibious light infantry force and part of the Naval Service with the Royal Navy. They have barracks in Plymouth, Taunton and Chivenor. It is not clear what connection the Marines had to the ketch. Now all the crew of the Wake needs is new sails and warm winds.
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