Goldenray - the “Golden” in “Golden Duck” - was a 50-foot wooden houseboat moored at Woodbridge on the River Deben. In August 2023 she finally reached the end of her days and was towed up the river to be scrapped. Julia wrote about it in her blog Goodbye Goldenray

History

Goldenray’s history was mostly unknown. She was a former Scottish MFV (Motor Fishing Vessel), believed to have been built in the 1940s and to have worked in the Isle of Skye, but beyond that little else is sure. In her years moored at the Ferry Quay she provided a welcome home for various people in times of need. She was a wonderful place to think and write but also challengingly hard work as her wood rotted and fastenings failed. She sunk more than once.

On one such occasion Julia wrote a blog about reading Jon Tucker’s book Snow Petrel, to divert herself, as she recovered from a inundation. n the other side of the world Jon picked up the idea and used the name Goldenray for the floating home with unreliable bilge pumps in his children’s adventure story Those Sugar-Barge Kids. cf Goldenray & ‘Goldenray’: a tale in two hemispheres

Cameo

In books 4 (The Lion of Sole Bay) and 6 (Pebble) of the Strong Winds series, Goldenray appeared as an old wooden fishing boat called Lowestoft Lass whose owner struggles with her maintenance(!) In the Lion of Sole Bay her Ferry Quay neighbour, the Dutch Barge Cromarty, was cast as the sinister Dree Vrouwen — but this was with the consent of her then owners and no aspersions are intended.