Tag: fisherman

River Tamar fisherman and great character Allen Jewitt passes away

Alan Jewitt obituary Tamar fisherman

Weir Quay Boatyard has published a tribute to River Tamar fisherman Allen Jewitt that can only be called beautiful.

The Tamar has clearly lost one of its characters, and many of his neighbours will miss a treasured friend.

Allen Jewitt, who died suddenly a few days ago at the age of 70, lived on the water for many decades and was the last full-time net fisherman on the river until that business had to be ended in order to sustain stocks. From that time he  caught eels until just last year.

In reading the Weir Quay folks’ obituary, I feel I can almost hear the snap of another link with history being lost forever.

YouTube has a nice documentary in which he talks about his life and demonstrates how he made his living catching eels in the lovely River Tamar, and it’s immediately clear why he was held in such affection by his neighbours on the river.

I particularly like one line that makes me smile in particular: ‘They call these things danbuoys – they must have been named after a man called Dan Boy.’

Boxing Day at Rye Harbour

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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.

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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

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Motor launch at a boatyard near Rye. It’s interesting to compare this motor launch
with the one shown in this post

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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

Swale photos… I’ve got to get them off my chest so here they are!

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Smacks in Faversham Creek

Rather like the way a bundle of unexpected money can burn a hole in one’s pocket, for several days these photos have been nagging me to put them up. They’re scenes from a day’s sailing around the Swale, as locals will immediately know, and I hope they provide some interest and entertainment before we get back to the usual intheboatshed.net menu!

Thames barge Repertor

Homes at Shellness, Isle of Sheppey

North shore of the Isle of Sheppey

‘Receptive’ buoy at the southern end of Horse Sand

A fisherman in the Swale

Jetskis playing in the wake of an enormous
powerboat. Forgive them, Oh Lord, for they
know not what they do… I guess they were
having fun, but their noise and disturbance
shook my teacup and rattled the teeth I was
trying to use to eat cake!