Category: heritage

  • Size Matters

    The typical Whitstable Oyster Yawl was between 40 and 45 foot in length. There were exceptions, for example the Rosa & ADA (F105) was 47 foot and Thyra was only 36 foot. For the yards along Island Way these were relatively small. Much larger craft were built on the slipways and then let down in to the sea at a time when there was no sea-wall.

    If you are interested in learning more about the larger vessels, then the Merchant Ships of Whitstable by Wallace Harvey (Emprint Publications, 1993) is a good source. 

    Some larger sailing ships registered as Whitstable built

    NAMEBUILDERBUILTTYPETONS
    BELMONTWhitstable Shipping Co.1895Schooner139t
    EQUIVALENTJames Daniels1847Schooner187t
    FANNY GANNThomas GannSchooner97t
    GRATITUDEWhitstable Shipping Co.1875Barquentine298t
    HANNAHWilliam Blackman1841Schooner113t
    MARY ANN GANNThomas Gann1847Schooner177t
    NELLIE S.George Henry Gann1876Brigantine282t
    SUNSHINEWhitstable Shipping Co.1890Ketch119t
    TANKERTON TOWERGoldfinch Bros.1884Schooner118t
    ZEBRINAWhitstable Shipping Co.1973Schooner156t
    Mary Ann Gann

  • Stormy Petrel

    Stormy Petrel (F71) was built in Whitstable as an Oyster Smack/Yawl in 1890 by Richard and Charles on Island Wall. She was owned and fished by her builders, dredging oysters in the summer and used for stow-boating in the winter. This continued until 1928 when she became a watch-boat for the Seasalter and Ham Company, moored at Pollard Spit overlooking their interests in the oyster fishery east of the Isle of Sheppey.      

    Stormy Petrel 1972

    After World War Two, Stormy Petrel was sold to a barge and smack skipper, and author, Bob Roberts of Harwich. He subsequently sold her to Bernard Rozier, his third hand. In 1962 she was bought by Dick Norris on the Medway and in 1998 he began a refit lasting 3 years. Then in  2018 she was sold to Luke Powell (who trained as a Shipwright in Faversham) and she is now based on the Fal Estuary in Cornwall.

  • Money, Yawls & Oysters

    Gamecock is one of the finest examples of her type, but why build a boat dedicated to a single purpose – the dredging of oysters? The answer is money.

    Gamecock is a graceful boat with curved lines running from bow to stern but her design is very functional. The hull is lacking in space because she rarely worked overnight. Her single keel was protected by a metal gutter to avoid damage on the hard sea bed. Most of the work was undertaken on the deck so it was extended to the rear by a counter-stern. Her design was the result of her function and working environment.

    Gamecock was not built until 1906/7 when there were still over 70 Whitstable Oyster Yawls in the fleet. In 1862/63 The Company of Free Fishers and Dredgers of Whitstable sent 60 million oysters to market at a value today of £91,000, equivalent to £11.5 million today. Not every year was as bountiful but Allan Collard, writing just before Gamecock was built, reckoned that the Whitstable Company annually sent 10 to 15 million oysters to market: (quoted by Derek Coombe in Fishermen from the Kentish Shore, published by Meresborough Books 1989).

    With such a precious product lying on the sea bed there was more than one company interested in dredging the Swale, not to mention possible poachers. The main competitors were The Faversham Oyster Co, The Ham & Sea Salter Co, and The Whitstable Oyster Company. To mark their respective territories the oystermen agreed ‘transit lines’. David Roberts, Chair of Whitstable Improvement Trust, has recently researched these navigation aids which he explains as follows.

    The old iron post, now leaning over, situated at the end of Island Wall, on the edge of the Village Green at Saxon Shore, has been in this position since its installation in 1865. It can be safely assumed that there was a marker beacon of some kind in this location long before this date.

    This post functioned as the front marker (landmark) which could be lined up, by fishermen out at sea, with a back marker called the “Cross” (removed in the 1960’s) situated on higher ground just beyond the railway foot bridge at the end of West Cliff.  This line, called a transit line, defined the boundary between the beds owned by the Company of Free Fishers and Dredgers of Whitstable and the Seasalter Oyster Fishery Company.

    The Whitstable Improvement Trust assisted by Canterbury City Council, The Whitstable Oyster Company, The Whitstable Museum and Timescapes Kent considered it important to bring the existence of the last surviving oyster bed boundary marker to the attention of the public by recently making it more visible and installing two information boards to explain its significance. 

    It was one thing to mark out the territory, it was another to police it, especially at night. So the oyster companies employed ‘watchboats’ to guard their oyster beds. These were usually vessels too old for work and the crew were paid a bonus for being on duty overnight or at weekends.