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Old beach boat at Rye Harbour. Click on the thumbnails for much
larger photographs
It’s almost a tradition in our house to take a trip down to Rye Harbour on Boxing Day, if the weather’s bright and clear – see this post from the same day last year. This time Julie’s cold and my injured right Achille’s heel prevented us walking very far, but I did manage to grab a few shots.
A nice bonus was that the pub has this photo including singer, fisherman and ferryman Johnny Doughty on its wall. Johnny died in the mid-1980s, but although the publican couldn’t say who was in the picture, I was pleased to find there were still people in the bar who remembered the old fella living in the hamlet and singing in the pub.
There are more photos of the old boy and the ferry, and a host of great images of local beach boats being used and built at the Rye Harbour website – just enter the terms ‘Doughty’ and ‘boat’ in the search gizmo to find them.
Some time ago I put up a post some time ago explaining the story behind one of the songs most closely associated with Johnny, The Wreck of the Northfleet.
Above left: the channel to the sea. I suppose there’s not much call for pilotage
services when the tide’s low. Above right: the River Brede
Motor launch at a boatyard near Rye. It’s interesting to compare this motor launch
with the one shown in this post
Can anyone tell us something about this mysterious and interesting boat? Whoever designed it knew where a little extra standing room would cause the least harm to the boat’s sailing qualities
