EXCELSIOR LT472

Boat Building and Marine Engineering

Wildfowling, Marshmen and Inland Waterways

Fishing

Index

Introduction

Fishing for herring dominated the fishing along the East Coast, especially at Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. But this is not the whole story. Following the coast from the Wash round to Essex, there were a number of different fishing operations, all set up to gain a living from the sea. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, whaling operated from King's Lynn, and along the north west and north norfolk coasts there was a thriving shell fishery, for mussels, cockles and whelks. At Cromer, crab fishing and longshore fishing dominated. Inland, on the Broads, freshwater catches such as eels were exploited. In Essex, at Mersea, Burnham on Crouch and Brightlingsea, whitebait and oyster fishing were of more significance.

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Fishing

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EXCELSIOR LT472

The Lowestoft smack EXCELSIOR was built by John Chambers of Lowestoft in 1921. A 77 ft. long sailing trawler with a crew of four men and a boy, she joined a fleet of around 200 similar vessels that fished the southern North Sea mainly for plaice.

Laid up in 1933 and a couple of years later sold to Norway where, like many of her contemporaries, she was converted to a motor coaster. When her owners retired in 1971 she was bought back to England for the long-drawn-out task of converting her back to her 'as built' appearance. This was completed by The Excelsior Trust in 1988 when she was re-commissioned as a sail training vessel by HRH The Princess Royal.

The following Spring, as a proving voyage, she set off on a non-stop trip around the mainland of Britain but, because of persistent head winds, had to take a short-cut through the Caledonian Canal in order to be able to enter that year's Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race (see photo).

Since then EXCELSIOR has sailed the equivalent of more than three times around the World taking c. 600 young people a year to sea. She has been north almost as far as the Artic Circle, south to Portugal, and east to St. Petersburg, attending maritime events throughout the western seaboard of Europe.

In 2000 she trawled again under sail as the star of Fish and Ships, one of the Channel 4's Real History Show series. The authenticity of her restoration was recognised by her inclusion in the National Maritime Museum's Core List of historic vessels of outstanding historical or technical significance.

Today, working with the Cirdan Sailing Trust she is part of the largest sail training fleet in the UK taking all sorts of young people to sea (see www.cirdansailing.com). Adults can also take a step back in time and experience sailing a Lowestoft smack - without the back-breaking toil of fishing (see www.excelsiortrust.co.uk)!

If you do not see her distinctive tan sails as she plies her trade up and down the East Coast, you can visit her on an Open Day when on display at Lowestoft's historical ships' berth or in Ipswich Wet Dock. (See www.excelsiortrust.co.uk for details)