In this tiny fragment of late 19th century film footage, we see smacks leaving Great Yarmouth. Shot with one of[…]
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Category: Working Sail
The UK has a strong maritime history, with many coastal communities relying on the sea for a living. This category includes tales of boatbuilders, fishermen, traders, pilots, ships of war and rescue as well as the changing use for many vessels now used as leisure craft.
Last of the Bristol Channel sailing coasters
Edmund Eglinton was just 13 in 1915, when he began to sail on the trows and ketches of the Bristol[…]
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‘Out punt!’: the Bristol pilot’s call
Captain George Buck recollects two night watches, five miles southwest of the Wolf Rock, waiting for an expected ship from[…]
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From Barge to London Restaurant: SB Pretoria, 1964
This Pathé archive film tells the story of Thames Sailing barge Pretoria which became a restaurant on the Thames in[…]
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Changing times for the sailing colliers, 1727
What would travellers from the days of sail make of Harwich Harbour in the 21st century? Daniel Defoe takes to[…]
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Albion, the oldest remaining Norfolk wherry
‘Albion’ was built as a Norfolk wherry and carried cargo on the inland waterways of eastern England. Jack Powley was[…]
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The British trawler fleet: 1940 – 1949
This ‘Instructional film’ from the Pathé Archive provides a clearly-presented overview of trawling in the 1940s, as steam began to[…]
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Trawling in Scotland: 1929 – 1931
This Pathé Archive takes us back to 1929-31 with footage of trawlers and fishing boats going out of a harbour[…]
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Sailing on the Norfolk Broads: 1948
Norfolk wherry, ‘Albion’ is one of just two survivors of the 300 ‘black-sailed traders’ which once carried cargo on the[…]
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Pilots in the Bristol Channel: 1930s
The tidal range of the Bristol Channel has always been a challenge to shipping approaching from the Atlantic, and conditions[…]
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