I can’t imagine whey anyone would not want to do this!
Tag: gun punt
Filming with Nigel Royall and his traditional Norfolk gun punt and lighter
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The geezer in the hat and the little green boat is Norfolk boatyard proprieter Nigel Royall; in these pictures he’s demonstrating the use of an old-fashioned gun punt with a 3ft beam and a small Norfolk Broads marshman’s punt or eel punt for a local film maker. Here’s what he had to say about the adventure:
‘Dear Gavin,
‘How nice to hear from you, I have often looked at bits and pieces on your web site.
‘Last week I recreated eel picking and sculling and firing a punt gun to fowl for a local amature film maker and we will put some photographs of this on our own website shortly.
‘It was most ‘interesting’ to see how my little gun punt Plover handled with an 11ft sculling oar and a rather large cannon balanced on her bows!
‘We are also slowly restoring a very old River Ant gun punt that is on long term loan to us from the Museum of the Broads that I hope to eventually refloat, again photos should arrive soon.
‘Nigel’
I’d like to see that recoil in action from a suitable distance and direction!
For an earlier post about Nigel’s adventures with gun punts click here. Also, for a piece about eel fishing in the old days, click here.
PS – There’s been some discussion about these photos at the Wooden Boat forum, which has prompted Nigel to send us some interesting remarks. To read what he has to say, click here: Wooden Boat forum contribution.
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Nigel Royall’s Broads gun punt
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These shots are of a 18ft by 53in gun Norfolk punt named Shoveler made by Nigel Royall, of Royall’s Boatyard at Hoveton on the Norfolk Broads, and fitted with a rig from a Coypu. My thanks go to Nigel for his permission to use them.
As a boatyard operator hiring boats to holiday-makers, Nigel’s had a few dealings with gun punts over the years and finally decided to make his own; he’s put a long post about the project on the Royall’s Boatyard weblog.
As he points out, in the old days most Broadsmen could only afford one boat, so a gun punt was not just used for wild fowling in winter. For example, they it might be used for eel picking or transporting a marshman to or from the dykes where he was employed in dredging and clearing dykes – which is called dydling and fying in Norfolk.
Nigel also explains that gun punts were open until 1824 when a Colonel Hawker introduced his new half-decked design and that the punt has hardly changed since then. Slightly different types developed at Hickling and on the River Ant and Breydon Water, but they all tended to be around 18ft with a beam of between 3ft up to 4ft, with the larger beams on the tidal water of Breydon.
They all had a long foredeck, a short aft deck and narrow side decks with low combings and 9in high sides, and they drew about 1½in of water. Where they varied was in the details of the big punt guns, such as their bore, whether they were muzzle or breach loading, and how they were restrained.
Nigel tells me that he has recently recreated eel picking, and sculling and firing a punt gun from another gun punt for a local amateur film maker, and says he was intrigued to see how it handled with an eleven foot sculling oar and a large gun on board.
My hearfelt thanks go to HBBR member Ian Ruston for tipping me off about this story, and Nigel’s entertaining and interesting weblog.
PS Check out the Nigel’s post about the Broads pleasure wherry Solace.
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