thick solid larch with massive iron bands and weighing about 3/4 tonne.
Years before we opened the cafe, we were sailing the Caribbean on our
3-masted ketch Primrose when she foundered in the legendary hurricane
Norma. She went down quickly but luckily the rudder came free and we
were able to cling to it and, surviving the storm, we made landfall in
Tortuga Bay after three days, wet, parched and exhausted. The rudder
stayed where it had beached for several years before we decided to use
it as the centrepiece of our new business venture.
We travelled back to Tortuga Bay in 1993 and with the help of one-eyed
Captain Bob, a local stalwart, we managed to persuade the crew of a
tramp steamer to haul it back over the Atlantic for us - you may
remember seeing it being towed up the river Avon on Points West.
Much sanding and varnishing later, it ended up where it is today,
doing sterling service in the Primrose Cafe since we opened and with
no doubt many more years' life left in it. It's never forgotten its
origins, though, and when it's dark and windy outside and all the
customers have gone, you can hear it creak and groan and, if you put
your ear to the metal and listen carefully, you can still hear the
sound of the waves...
