Ernie Coulthard
Ernie belongs to: Souter Lighthouse
Ernie was born in Gosforth, Newcastle. He served his apprenticeship at Vickers Armstrong at Elswick in the gun shops. After retiring Ernie began volunteering at Souter Lighthouse where he has a particular interest in the lighthouse's engineering.
Ernie was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 2 March 2006. The interview took place at Souter Lighthouse and lasted 10 minutes and 49 seconds.
The Collier's Chant
"What we’re trying to do is find out this shanty, the Collier’s Chant"
What we’re trying to do is find out this shanty, the Collier’s Chant. The Colliers used to chant it and it’s from London up to the Tyne, and it was all about the lighthouses. We can’t find the whole of this chant, we know small pieces of it, but we can’t find it all.
This part of the coast is from Whitby to the Tyne and the chant is:
Now the Whitby Light is in the bight
And there’s forty seven miles to the Tyne light
And if everything’s fair and everything’s reet,
We’ll be in the Tyne by the morrow neet.
And we would need to know what goes on before that. We believe there’s one after that which mentions Souter, but we haven’t been able to find it yet.
Ernie has 8 memories in the memorynet:
Apprenticeship at Vickers Armstrongs
The engineroom at SouterThis memory has these themes:
Music and Poetry
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