You are here: Shopping >
Books > Victorian and Edwardian Maritime Album
Fraserburgh, Herring Boats c1900 (ref. F63003) | There are several stories as to how the zulu got its name, but the first of the type does appear to have been built
around 1879 at the time of the Zulu War. It was as a direct result of changing to carvel building that the overall length
of zulus increased. The masts had no standing rigging, being supported by the sail halyard and burton stay tackle.
Note the mast on PF114: at deck level it appears to be at least two feet thick. The zulu beam to length ratio was in
the order of 1:4. In later variants the tiller was replaced by steering wheels; steam capstans, which were used to work
both rigging and the trawl, came as standard.
|  Add your own Memory
 Add to your Album |
Fraserburgh, Herring Boats c1900 (ref. F63002) | The zulu is considered to have been one of the finest fore- and mizzen-
rigged lugger designs of the late 19th century. The craft was a hybrid,
incorporating features of the scaffie and fifie, and ranging in size from 60ft
to 80ft in length, though a number of 120-footers were eventually built.
Zulus carried a large amount of canvas, and the bigger boats had holds
capable of taking 70 to 80 tons of herring. The subject of our picture
mounts a double flywheel hand capstan.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Dunoon, 'Columba' 1904 (ref. 52621) | Launched on 11 April 1878, the Clyde paddler 'Columba' was the
last vessel built for David Hutchinson & Co; the firm changed its
name to David Macbrayne the following year. Ordered for the
Glasgow-Tarbert-Ardrishaig run, 'Columba' was not only the first
Clyde paddler fitted with full-width passenger saloons, but she also
had a bookshop, hairdressing saloon, fruit stall and post office. Her
design speed of 18 knots at 36rpm was improved upon in 1900
when she was fitted with haystack boilers, making her capable of 19
knots at 40 rpm. In September 1936 she was laid up at Greenock
for the last time and sold the following March for scrap. She was
broken up at Dalmuir.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Bristol, the Quay 1887 (ref. 20133) | No longer England's second port, Bristol was still busy handling
imports for the west of England. By 1887 sail was far from
finished; the new Bessemer steel-making process opened a
window of opportunity for merchant sailing ship owners with the
construction of large steel-hulled full-rigged ships. Fitted with
labour-saving devices such as steam-powered windlasses and
halyard winches, these big ships found employment in the bulk
cargo trade; they carried nitrate, coal, grain, guano and timber.
In 1887 the British merchant fleet carried 140 million tons of
cargo, of which 49.3 million tons was coal; 12.1 million tons
timber, and 19.2 million tons grain.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Clifton, Bridge 1900 (ref. 45555) | A screw tug prepares to assist a steamer to its berth in the Floating Harbour. Bristol developed to become a major
centre for the importation of timber for use throughout the west of England. In 1870 it handled 105,000 tons, and
by 1900 it was dealing with over 170,000 tons a year. During the same period, annual tobacco imports through the
docks rose from 349 tons in 1880 to 2278 in 1910, and by the mid 1920s the average was 24,000 tons a year. As well
as tugs, other service vessels included dredgers and lighters. Of the latter were the 'Garth', 'Maesteg', 'Rhymney' and
'Rhondda', between 156 and 170 gt and belonging to the Bristol Lighterage Co (a subsidiary of Elder Dempster).
These small vessels undertook lighterage between Bristol and Avonmouth for Elders ships.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Jersey, St Helier, the Harbour and SS Gazelle 1893 (ref. 31629) | In 1889 the Great Western Railway took
over the Weymouth & Channel Islands
Steam Packet Co, immediately ordering
three new ships, 'Lynx', 'Antelope' and
'Gazelle', from Laird Bros, Birkenhead.
To save time, an off-the-shelf Laird's
design was chosen; the three-ship deal
cost the GWR £100,000. They were to
be the first triple-expansion twin-screw
packets to operate scheduled services
in the English Channel. 'Antelope' and
'Lynx' were delivered in July 1889,
'Gazelle' at the beginning of
September. All three had interesting
and varied careers. On 10 June 1890
'Antelope' was holed on Cavale Rocks,
Guernsey; during a gale in November
1893 she ran out of coal, but managed
to get into shelter in Swanage Bay
where she was refuelled. On 5
September 1890, 'Lynx' was rammed by
the tanker 'Oevelgonne', which did not
stop - she was subsequently arrested on
a visit to Falmouth. During the Great
War, both 'Lynx' and 'Gazelle' served as
Royal Navy minesweepers, 'Gazelle'
taking part in the Dardanelles
campaign. 'Antelope' had been sold in
1913, but by March 1920 the surviving
sisters were back on station for the
GWR, though both were used for cargo
runs only. 'Lynx' made her final run to
Jersey in March 1925; she then sailed
for Plymouth, where she was laid up.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Sark, Creux Harbour 1894 (ref. 33872) | The Guernsey Steam Tug & Trading Co's 'Assistance' appears to have been on a luggage run, as cases and trunks are
being unloaded and placed upon a cart. 'Assistance' undertook towing and general work around the Channel Islands. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Runcorn, the Docks c1900 (ref. R67301) | The construction of the Manchester Ship Canal resulted in access
to Runcorn Docks having to be made by way of locks opposite the
town's waterfront, or through the Eastham Locks. By far the most
important trade at Runcorn was china clay from Devon and
Cornwall, bound for the Potteries. Most of the clay came from
Fowey, Par or Charlestown; the traffic remained one of the last
strongholds of coastal merchant sailing ships well into the 20th
century. Runcorn was also a coal port, handling traffic from
Lancashire and Staffordshire pits. Seasonal traffic included cargoes
of fish in May and June, bound for the curing houses of Stornoway,
Peterhead and Wick.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Hartlepool, the Beach 1903 (ref. 49993) | The crews of the fishing boats prepare to hoist sail once they have cleared Hartlepool. The paddler giving them a
tow is an example of what had become the classic design for this type of vessel: a tall funnel immediately abaft of two
large paddle-boxes. Her power plant would be a one- or two-cylinder half side-lever steam engine, the cylinder(s)
mounted vertically, which meant that the piston rods drove upwards. Among the paddle-tugs working on the Tees in
1903 were the 'Sir Joseph Pease', built in 1896, and the 'Isaac Wilson' and 'Salt', both of 1889.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Bude, Canal and Harbour 1890 (ref. 23782) | Opened in 1823, the Bude Canal served a large area of north
Cornwall. The canal itself extended some 35 miles inland, though
by the time this picture was taken much of it had already closed. Its
most striking feature was its inclined planes; the nearest one to
Bude was at Marhamchurch, where the incline rose 120ft in 836ft.
The canal's tub-boats were fitted with wheels so that they could
travel up or down the inclines by means of cables; it was a method
that saved an absolute fortune on building locks, and represented a
practical solution to what otherwise would have been an
engineering and financial nightmare.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Bude, Lock and Breakwater 1893 (ref. 31893) | This is Bude Canal Sea Lock in 1893, two years after the waterway had been reduced to the 1.25 mile stretch to Rodd's
Bridge; in reality it was little more than an extension of the harbour, which continued to handle cargo for the area.
Note the lock gates, which are operated by manually worked crab winches.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Calstock, from Ashburton Hill 1890 (ref. 24549) | These ships are topsail schooners and what might be an inside or outside Tamar barge at Calstock, 17 miles up-river
from the sea. This small but busy inland port was heavily used by the local mining and quarrying industries. The
inside barges, or Tamar sloops, carried cargoes between the various wharves and landing stages along the river; the
outside barges, which were bigger and carried a topsail, were capable of undertaking coastal work between Plymouth
and Falmouth and the Channel Islands. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Charlestown, Harbour 1904 (ref. 53050) | The principal export from the tiny south Cornish port of Charlestown was china clay, much of it bound for Runcorn;
from there it would be forwarded on to the Potteries. The principal import was Lancashire and North Staffordshire
coal from Runcorn. A vessel arriving from Runcorn would discharge at a coal berth and then move over to a china
clay berth to load. That was the theory, but the harbour could be so jammed up with ships that the move could involve
several other vessels all being shunted around in a series of moves choreographed by the dock master.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Falmouth, Harbour 1895 (ref. 37047) | This photograph was possibly taken around the time of the regatta, though Falmouth was always a busy place. In the
distance is an excursion paddler, though also in the picture are a Falmouth oyster catcher, a quay punt, and a number
of transom-stern pilchard drivers. The smartly turned out crew of the boat pulling away from the quayside could be
from a private yacht or even a warship.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Falmouth, Market Strand 1890 (ref. 24208) | Like Greek waiters standing outside their tavernas, crewmen do their best to tempt tourists into parting with a shilling
or two. As well as excursions up the Fal, ferries operated to Flushing and St Mawes Castle. Larger excursion steamers
were employed on runs to the Lizard and Penzance. The boat on the far right might be the River Fal Steamship Co's
'New Resolute', built at Malpas, Cornwall in 1882. Of wood construction, she weighed 40 tons. She was later fitted
with an enclosed wheelhouse.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Falmouth, the Jetty 1904 (ref. 53033) | By 1900, steamships well and truly dominated the world's merchant fleets, accounting for 72 per cent of world
tonnage. Between 1900 and 1910 Britain's merchant fleet (not including the Dominion and colonial fleets) rose from
13.2 to 17.5 million tons. Over the same period the number of sailing ships in the fleet fell from 1.7 million to 750,000
tons. In 1905, freight rates for coal from the Welsh ports to the Plate varied between 6s 3d and 12s per ton. The rates
for grain from Australia to the UK varied between 22s 6d and 26s 3d per ton.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Fowey, 1898 (ref. 41958) | The crew are sorting the catch. Many
boats were half 'n halfers of 30ft to 40ft
in length, and suitable for drift netting
pilchards, herring or mackerel.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Fowey, from Hall Walk 1901 (ref. 47696) | Fowey is crowded with all manner of craft,
from rowing boats to private steam yachts.
The ships anchored in the foreground
are waiting to load with china clay. Their
galley houses have been unbolted from
their main decks and moved to one side
in order for the ships to clear
the clay tips.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Looe, from the Bridge 1893 (ref. 32374) | As a port, Looe declined with the coming of the railways, though it continued to maintain a fishing fleet; there were
also exports of granite from local quarries, which was used for harbours, breakwaters and bridges. At the cutting edge
of equal opportunities, even in the 19th century, the women of Looe, as well as looking after the children, cooking,
washing and everything else, were expected to assist with loading and unloading cargo.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Looe, Fishermen 1906 (ref. 56415) | This is one of Frith's posed groups. The
fisherman on the right is well protected
from the elements. His heavy seaboots
would have been made of leather, and
would have to have been greased
regularly in order to keep them both
supple and waterproof.
| Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
