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.
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.
