Hawkins - Forensic Investigators

Snow Goose of Aranaen

The name - why 'Snow Goose' and where, or what is Aranaen?

I wanted to call our boat Snow Goose because I only ever enjoyed one set book at school and that was 'The Snow Goose' by Paul Gallico. It's a short story and only takes about half an hour to read if you fancy getting hold of a copy. I found it very moving and have read it many times since school. In fact I tend to make it a house rule that anyone who stays the night on board must read it!

The book is set in the marshes of the East Coast, our home cruising ground and local people appeared as extras when they made a film of the book starring Richard Harris and Jenny Agutter (a clue to why I liked it perhaps!). Until recently there was a local boatman at West Mersea who would tell us about his role every time we stopped there for the night.

The film is extremely hard to get hold of and I saw it when I was at school in the seventies and again later, on the television. It's extraordinarily moving and a bit dark so if you ever get the chance then watch it. There is also an album by Camel giving their idea of the music that should go with it. I can't say I can recommend it, but each to his own.

The Aranaen bit is slightly more complicated. Snow Goose is a registered vessel and has to have a unique name, which 'Snow Goose' is not. Standard practice is therefore to add '...of Somewhere' after the name to make it unique. Aranaen is a huge natural arena on Ymer Island in Central East Greenland.

This is the area where I did the field work for my PhD and which I particularly liked (my daughter is named after another, particularly beautiful part of East Greenland). The area is not frequented by Snow Geese. Finding one there was clearly the result of it getting badly lost just as in the book in which the main character Rhayader, names the Snow Goose 'La Princesse Perdue' because she too has been blown completely off course.

Somehow, it all just seemed to fit particularly since it's a good name for a boat with a white hull and white sails and it sounds clear and unambiguous over the radio. I have never been asked to spell it! And of course most importantly it was acceptable to the rest of the family which some of my other choices were not!

Thanks to Gustaf Samelius and Philip Mugridge for the Snow Goose photos and a huge thank you to Helen Foster for designing my Snow Goose logos on this site and on the boat itself.