What a day!
A bright sunny day on Derwentwater. I wore what was my favourite costume, not least because I had the option of wearing a vest beneath the blouse and I didn’t have to worry about the divided skirt. I went to such an old fashioned school that I owned a pair of grey flannel culottes myself, to wear on the games field, and thought them very much the sort of thing Titty would have worn.
The cotton dress and buttoned up grey cardigan were a bit crumpled by the time I dropped Amazon’s anchor off Cormortant Island.
Roger, meanwhile was in long shorts or knickerbockers as the real Altounyan children would have called them, kept up with a snake belt. His even longer underwear was an item requested by Claude Whatham the director who, being born in the 1920s himself, had worn exactly the same sort of underpants as a child. As the day warmed up Claude stripped down to a pair of navy blue tailored shorts and sailing shoes. We were on a desert island after all. Even if it was a desert island in the Lake District.
In Arthur Ransome’s book of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ the hunt for the treasure is slightly different and Captain Flint’s trunk lies buried under rocks. I wasn’t expecting the set-up with the tree trunk, although I think it works well and looks good, giving movement to the sequence. The only hesitation was that Claude didn’t want me to get hit by the rocks as they slid off. This was a pity as I would have jumped aside.
I am not sure why the Amazon had not been bailed out. I can remember having to lie in the bilge water, which proved cold and uncomfortable. Perhaps it gave my performance an edge. Titty would have been cold and stiff after a night wrapped in the sail. Great grey clouds were gathering by then and we were all getting tired.
Being together in a confined space becomes difficult to endure after while, not least when the space is a pontoon on a lake with not much to sit on. Small boys tend to muck about and become annoying when they are bored. The time had come when someone was going to crack – and they did. The result was silence. A sobering moment. And one very wet pair of knickerbockers.
In the end three of us went home in wet underwear. Gareth Tandy, the third assistant director – who I think was only about 18 – was pushed in to the lake, this time to great hilarity.
The big question, of course, it what is the name of the island on Derwentwater that we used as the location for Cormorant Island? Duncan Hall has written in to suggest it is called Lingholm Island (or possibly One Tree Island). What is the name of the larger island, seen in the background of shots, that represents Wildcat Island? Is it Rampsholme Island?
I have one behind-the-scenes clip of the crew on the pontoon – shot on a sunny day. It looks most bizarre. It was. You can see how cramped and overloaded we were and guess at the patience demanded of us all. Imagine how long it took to set up shots, while exposed to the elements. It was quite a stable raft but when we went for a take it was vital that everyone kept completely still or there would have been camera wobble. We used a conventional boat with a cabin when we filmed ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’ on the Norfolk Broads ten years later in 1983. It proved much easier – but had more wobble.
You can read more about ‘The Making of Swallows an Amazons’ direct from the publishers.
The ebook on ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974)’ is available on Amazon Kindle and other platforms. You can read the first section for free here:
Sophie Neville 
I thought that Cormorant Island was filmed on Silver Holme on Windermere, with Blake Holme in the background (as Wild Cat Island). Was it really on Derwent Water? I’ve no idea which island it was in that case! (Although Rampsholme on Derwent Water is used on a few shots, I think (such as the initial view of Wild Cat from Darien?)
In her (excellent) book ‘Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint’s Trunk’ Christina Hardyment has a photograph of me sorting out Amazon’s sails whilst moored near Cormorant Island. The caption names the islands as Silver Holme and Blake Holme on Windermere. I’m afraid this is incorrect. We were filming on Derwentwater. I am pretty sure the larger island used also for the introductory, title sequence shot of Wildcat Island is Rampsholme, but I do not know what the smaller island is called. It does look more like a Cormortant Island than any on Windermer I have been to. Perhpas Mrs Ransome suggested it as a location. She took Richard Pilbrow around.
This one maybe? I think it’s called Lingholm Island (or possibly One Tree Island)
It looks right! 39 years on.
How horrible, to have to lie in bilge water. It must have been very uncomfortable to say the least. I love the story of a crew member finally erupting – great!
Both were indications that the crew were getting frustrated! There could have been another accident.
II suppose so. Fortunately there wasn’t.
Not that I knew of!
Poor you, ending up laying in the water, how actors suffer for their art! I have worked with some children when we filmed a biopic of the writer William Barnes and they can be like herding cats. Fortunately we had a crowd of chaperones who were marvellous at keeping them amused before we were ready for a take. It’s the hanging about that gives kids a hard time, the adults are bad enough! We had a church congregation scene and with the massive amount of Victorian costumes on a very hot day tempers were getting frayed by the end of the day. Never have I been so glad to hear the Director call, ‘That’s a wrap everyone.’
I really enjoyed the day on Cormorant Island but in those days no one knew the effect of food colourants and sweets. Orange squash is not a good drink for a sunny day out on the water.