Tag: fishing boats

The banks and boats of the Deben at dusk

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A dreamy set of shots taken at Bawdsey Quay, littered with
fishing boats, tall-masted yachts and tenders. I hope you
find them suitably atmospheric. Click on the thumbnails for
much larger photos

Mouth of Deben Tenders at the mouth of the Deben Mud at the mouth of the Deben

Buoy at the mouth of the Deben

Dusk at the mouth of the Deben Anti tank blocks at the mouth of the Deben

Julie and I are just back from a few days in Suffolk, during which we took some photos, visited grand old churches and spent several very happy hours among the singers and musicians of The Ship at Blaxhall.

If you don’t know it, The Blaxhall Ship, as it always seems to be called, is a fabulous old fashioned singing pub where folks still get together on a Monday afternoon, every third Thursday and at other times announced via the pub’s website. There’s a well recorded history here too – read all about it at the Musical Traditions website.

I dare say more photos will follow…

Sussex luggers ‘for all the world like so many glow-worms’

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South Coast lugger

South Coast lugger, from HC Folkard’s The Sailing Boat published in 1870

I’ve been wanting to share a quote from Keble Chatterton’s entertaining history Fore & Aft Craft that I find rings in my head.

I’m hoping that you’ll find a similar appeal in it.

‘We spoke just now of the Sussex luggers. They are still to be seen in the English Channel. One meets them at work in Dungeness Bay, or off Fairlight, or between Newhaven and Selsey Bill, and at night the sea is dotted with a pattern of small yellow lights, as they pursue their calling, looking at a distance for all the world like so many glow-worms.’

The Science Museum has a splendid model of one of these craft from 1860.

More photos of the traditional wooden clinker-built fleet of fishing boats at Hastings

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modern boatbuilding, motor yachts and boats, small boats, traditional boatbuilding, working boats, history, wooden boat, hastings, fishing boats, clinker

modern boatbuilding, motor yachts and boats, small boats, traditional boatbuilding, working boats, history, wooden boat, hastings, fishing boats, clinker modern boatbuilding, motor yachts and boats, small boats, traditional boatbuilding, working boats, history, wooden boat, hastings, fishing boats, clinker

modern boatbuilding, motor yachts and boats, small boats, traditional boatbuilding, working boats, history, wooden boat, hastings, fishing boats, clinker modern boatbuilding, motor yachts and boats, small boats, traditional boatbuilding, working boats, history, wooden boat, hastings, fishing boats, clinker

As promised, some more photos from the working beach at Hastings (see my earlier set of photos). I haven’t much to say about them, except that I’m awestruck that these old wooden boats are still working in such numbers – at one time I would have said they were reducing in numbers so quickly they I thought they wouldn’t last more than a few seasons. But a few seasons later, here they are still…

These boats have hardly changed since the days of sail, and notice that there are plastic beach boats built along the old fashioned lines. Whether sailing or motoring, it seems there’s still nothing better for fishing off this coast.

modern boatbuilding, motor yachts and boats, small boats, traditional boatbuilding, working boats, history, wooden boat, hastings, fishing boats, clinker modern boatbuilding, motor yachts and boats, small boats, traditional boatbuilding, working boats, history, wooden boat, hastings, fishing boats, clinker

modern boatbuilding, motor yachts and boats, small boats, traditional boatbuilding, working boats, history, wooden boat, hastings, fishing boats, clinker