Welcome to the official website of "Narrow Boat QISMA".  After years of just dreaming of a new boat in which we can both retire, a number of unforeseen events in our lives have meant that our dreams can now become a reality.  This site will allow you to join us in that dream and follow us on our adventures. Watch the boat grow from an aspiration in our mind, into a design and onto the drawing board, to the steel being rolled and its keel being laid by Jonathan Wilson and then the shell fitted out by Milburn Boats Ltd. Join us on its basin and canal trials and subsequently onto the adventure of a lifetime, with our continuous cruising of the canals and rivers within the UK and then if all is well onto Europe.  Taking each day as it comes, without any deadlines or schedules, just relaxing and enjoying the peaceful countryside.

QISMA

QISMA, is the Arabic name for Fate and is similar to the English version of KISMET, being the Intermediate Deity of Fate, governing over aspects such as foresight, knowledge, love, luck, secrets, and wisdom. 

Admiral Lord Horatio NELSON Royal Navy was a follower and great believer in QISMA.  He believed "What is meant to be, will be" and "we are just small pawns in a much larger cycle of life, in which we all have some form or part to play". 

On his death bed following the wound he received at the Battle of Trafalgar NELSON said his last words "QISMA, Hardy, QISMA", to the Captain of HMS VICTORY, meaning "its fate Hardy, what has happened is meant to be".

Some who heard these words, reported them incorrectly, but as NELSON served many years in the Far East and the Med, he was familiar with the Arabian concept, which is still practiced today in the Middle East and is referred as "QISMA" and not the English version of KISMET as many have also reported at his death.