Ireland’s oldest surviving sail trading ketch has weathered several thousand nautical miles to Greenland and back – without even opening its first-aid kit, reports Lorna Siggins. The 17m Ilen, which was built from timber 93 years ago, returned at the start…
Part 2 of the refit series: Superb-Us If it looks right, it is right – well, it will be at the Brixham Trawler Race! Skipper Alan Steer (left) and crewman Simon Evans alongside the Celtic slave console, which has been…
Over 210 exhibiting companies from 19 different countries will be exhibiting at Skipper Expo Int Aberdeen 2019 on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 May This will be the biggest Skipper Expo Int Aberdeen, highlighting the underlying optimism in Scottish fishing today. Sponsored…
At the turn of the 20th century, the town of Bridlington, East Yorkshire, had developed into a popular seaside resort, like many others around the coastline of Britain. Postcards from that era show the promenades and harbour piers thronged with…
Part 4 in the series A Trawlerman’s Reminiscences, written by Hull skipper William Oliver in 1953 (Photographs courtesy of Alec Gill) In March 1905, we sailed again in the Cecil Rhodes for Iceland. We had a terrible trip for weather,…
There have been a few people who have helped me along the way during my career within the fishing industry, but none more so than Reg Matthews, who sadly passed away on 22 January, 2019, aged 87. Reg Matthews was…
Des Pawson does knots. He does all sorts of knots. In fact, there can’t be many knots he does not know. And ropework; he does sailors’ ropework in particular, which is where knotting is and, more particularly, was the key…
The 25th Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, held at Portsoy over the weekend of 30 June and 1 July, in scorching weather more reminiscent of the Mediterranean than the Moray Firth, attracted an estimated record attendance of around 20,000 visitors, reports…
Lifeboat crew past and present, dignitaries and members of the local community came together on 10 June, 2017, to celebrate 150 years of lifeboats at Bembridge RNLI, reports Nicholas Leach. Above: Lifeboats parade at Bembridge to celebrate the station’s 150th anniversary.…
A new book on the history of Littlehampton lifeboats recounts the history from its opening in the late 19th century to the present day, reports John Periam. Littlehampton lifeboat station was closed after the First World War but was reopened…
