Nick Stone has published some stunning mid-19th century images of Great Yarmouth on his weblog Invisibleworks.co.uk, and has kindly allowed me to include some of the more boat-related ones here.
I guess it’s a good time to mention that if you click on the images, you get a carousel image viewer type thing. Underneath each one you’ll find a link to a larger and nicer image…
They remain his copyright, as he has not only scanned them but also done a good deal of detailed restoration etc.
Of this group, I especially liked the folks on the jetty with the lifeboat, and what I take to be one of the famous East Coast beach yawls in the background. There’s a story told that one challenged the America to a race but the Americans declined on the grounds that the boat was a professional thing, not an amateur corinthian kind of operation, though I can’t dredge up a reference just now.
Maybe I’ll recall where I read it in the next few days. In the meantime, please click on the images to enjoy the actors by the boats, the fisherman with his impressive hat and barrow of nets, and of course the fishing boats on the beach by the jetty…
Thanks Nick!
PS – It’s been pointed out to me by boat builder Nick Smith that the vessels on the beach show a characteristic hump in the sheerline forward – look at the line of the top-most planks. In one pic I reckon I can see the famous ‘Yarmouth hump’ in a stern also. Thanks for the tipoff Nick…