A classic riverside name – the ship, one of the oldest and most evocative of all inn signs, emblem of the sea, the river and the maritime nation
The Ship holds ten hundred and seventy-four reviews and a 4.0 – a solid, average score on a large sample – and it bears one of the oldest, most classic and most evocative of all inn signs: the ship, the great emblem of the sea, the river, and the deep maritime heritage of these islands.
The honest average, noted
First, the number, honestly: a 4.0 sits at this survey’s broad average – a decent, respectable, middle-of-the-road score. There is nothing wrong with a solid 4.0 across a large sample – it marks a decent, reliable, reasonably-liked pub, doing a perfectly respectable job. This survey notes the average score plainly and fairly, without either inflating or disparaging it, and turns to the classic and evocative name.
The great emblem
“The Ship” is one of the oldest, most classic and most beloved of all inn signs – and no wonder, for the ship is one of the great and universal emblems, especially fitting for a maritime and riverside nation like Britain. The ship is the great symbol of the sea and the river, of voyages and trade and adventure, of the whole vast maritime heritage that has shaped Britain’s history so profoundly. As an island nation, and a great seafaring and trading people, Britain’s story is deeply bound up with ships – the ships of the navy and the merchant fleet, the ships of exploration and trade and war, the whole great maritime heritage. “The Ship” flies this great emblem – the vessel of the sea and river, the symbol of the maritime nation, one of the most classic and evocative of all inn signs. It is especially fitting here by the river – the ship of the working Thames, the emblem of the maritime and riverside heritage.
The maritime heritage
“The Ship” evokes the whole deep maritime heritage of Britain – one of the great themes of the nation’s history. Britain’s story is, in large part, a maritime story – the great voyages of exploration and discovery, the trade that spanned the globe, the navy that ruled the waves, the whole vast maritime heritage that made Britain a great seafaring and trading nation. The ship is the great emblem of all of this – the vessel that carried the explorers and traders and sailors, that fought the great sea battles, that built the trade and the empire, that embodies the whole maritime story. As a riverside pub name, “The Ship” flies this great maritime heritage – the ships of the river and the sea, the great seafaring story, the deep maritime character of the nation and the river. There is genuine history and evocative power in it – the great emblem of the sea, the maritime heritage, the ships of the working river.
There is genuine history and evocative power in the name – the great emblem of the ship, the maritime heritage of the nation, the ships of the river and the sea, one of the most classic of all inn signs. Whatever its solid, average score, the name is a fine and evocative one, rich with maritime history and riverside character. Its average score across a large sample marks it as a decent, reliable, reasonably-liked pub, worthily bearing its classic name. The Prat’s desk salutes the great emblem of the ship, imagines the vessels of the working river, and raises a maritime glass.
The pub
A decent, average pub doing a fair 4.0 across a large sample, classically named “The Ship” – after the great emblem of the sea and the river, one of the oldest and most evocative of all inn signs.
Verdict
Decent and average by the numbers, but classically evocative – the Ship, flying the great maritime emblem of the sea and the river.
Have a pint at the Ship by the river, and enjoy the classic name – the ship, the great emblem of the sea and the river, one of the oldest and most evocative of all inn signs, flying the deep maritime heritage of the nation.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
