Beckfoot plumbing.

In PP, when Dick has lunch before conducting his aqua regia test, Mrs Blackett remarks "I expect you'll all be glad to get back from the desert and have proper baths again".

As there a 8 explorers and presumably at that time Beckfoot would have only had one bath, it is going to take some considerable time for them all to have baths especially if they need hot water to really remove the dirt.

How do they resolve their problem? Quick cold baths, bath sharing, walllowing in the river?

Any ideas please?

Hi Owen,

We're told at the start of chapter 7 that they "bathed" in the river before setting off for High Topps. John mentions it'll be their last chance. I suppose AR may have used the word "bathed", rather than "swam", to indicate that the river level was too low for proper swimming. But it may have been that the Amazons regularly bathed in the river - at least during the summer holidays - as a more exciting alternative to an indoor bath. I don't think AR has made any other references to this (other than mentioning an upstairs bathroom in PM), so beyond that point we're reduced to guesswork.

Presumably people who were alive and growing up in the 1930s can remember how bathtimes were organised and could cast more light on this. I certainly recall sharing bath water with my brothers (in the 1960s & '70s), which would have saved on the heating requirement and time to empty and fill the bath. Back in the 1930s I expect that John, at least, would have been pretty familiar with cold baths and showers from his time at school.

Beyond that, I'll have to await other people's thoughts...

Interesting thoughts, Geraint.

I would have thought "proper baths" involved some form of activity in a tin or enamel bath.

I have never been covered in charcoal dust, but would have imagined that coal dust is similar. When working on a preserved railway years ago, I was covered in coal dust unloading coal from wagons. Even a shower undera water column did not remove all the dust, which remained until I had a proper bath.

Certainly as all the S&As boarded, they would have been well used to cold and multiple bathing.

Thanks, Owen.

I'd missed the word "proper": I'm sure you are right and that in using it Mrs Blackett almost certainly meant an indoor bath, rather than "bathing" in the river.

AR does seem to suggest that cold water (and a mirror) could work wonders. See Pigeon Post Chapter 30, where Mrs Tyson makes Peggy wash "under the pump", with the result that her "hair was wet, and her face was scrubbed and shining".

Beyond that, I'm not sure Ransome gives us any clues. Except, perhaps, for Nancy's mention of pumice stone in Great Northern? in respect to John's fake goggles. Perhaps the charcoal burners would have been looking forward to a mass pumice stoning (or could that be pumicing?), when they returned from High Topps? Maybe that was what Mrs Tyson had already inflicted on Peggy?

That's a good point - it was something to do with John and Titty thinking they should keep the soap dry, but Susan disagreed?

Although my initial thought was that the Amazons might well have used the river for "bathing", and that Mrs Blackett might have accepted that much of the time during the holidays, I'm not too sure that she would have regarded a "proper bath" as anything other than scrubbing yourself in a tub indoors. That does seem to me the most likely "native" definition of a "proper bath". So, on the balance of probability, I'm inclined to think that Owen is right in that.

Having said that, AR doesn't provide difinitive proof, so we're all speculating.

I think that the meaning or usage of the 'bathing' has changed over the years.  I interpret AR's use of it as meaning 'immersing oneself in water' without any connotation of the purpose for the immersion.  So that there would be recreational bathing [which may or may not include the strenuous activity of swimming] and there would be the bathing-for-cleanliness kind, done in a tin bath in front of the fire, and involving the use of soap.

David Bamford

I remember reading how Ivy would wash AR in a tin bath whilst he read a book, absent-mindedly holding the same leg up twice to be soaped!

She would also clean out his mice cages I believe. I must have a word with my wife...

Previously Geraint Lewis wrote:

That's a good point - it was something to do with John and Titty thinking they should keep the soap dry, but Susan disagreed?

Although my initial thought was that the Amazons might well have used the river for "bathing", and that Mrs Blackett might have accepted that much of the time during the holidays, I'm not too sure that she would have regarded a "proper bath" as anything other than scrubbing yourself in a tub indoors. That does seem to me the most likely "native" definition of a "proper bath". So, on the balance of probability, I'm inclined to think that Owen is right in that.

Having said that, AR doesn't provide difinitive proof, so we're all speculating.

Susan got all native about the soap in the morning after they had camped at Halfway camp on Kanchenjunga in Swallowdale.

I suspect that they would have had proper baths in the bathroom, there may have been a second one available but the limiting factor would probably have been the amount of hot water, though Cook could have been asked to heat up some on the stove.

And there is no indication of a timeframe so I suspect that if they were still camping in the garden as there weren't enough bedrooms at Beckfoot, doing it over a couple of days would have been possible.

Previously David Bamford wrote:

I think that the meaning or usage of the 'bathing' has changed over the years.  I interpret AR's use of it as meaning 'immersing oneself in water' without any connotation of the purpose for the immersion.  So that there would be recreational bathing [which may or may not include the strenuous activity of swimming] and there would be the bathing-for-cleanliness kind, done in a tin bath in front of the fire, and involving the use of soap.

David Bamford

I think this is certainly correct.  You'll find various references in early twentieth century writing (and certainly earlier writing) to 'bathing' and 'sea-bathing' that is certainly referring to swimming and wallowing, rather than getting washed.  Swallows and Amazons is a particularly good example.  At the start of Chapter 7, Susan concludes that Roger 'might bathe too'.  He had certainly washed prior to this experience (in the landing place on the first morning) and this is referring to a more recreational activity.  Of course, we talk about 'swimming baths' and 'public baths' today.