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Isabel Deborah
A unique fishing vessel built especially for the conditions at Brancaster Staithe
harbour has been saved from destruction. She will be used by the National Trust to
show young people the natural history of this area of outstanding natural beauty.
The Isabel Deborah was commissioned by Mr. Cyril Loose of Brancaster
Staithe in 1949 because he wanted a 'decked' boat for his whelk fishing. Local whelk
fishing had been previously done inshore using open clinker built boats. As it
became necessary to go farther out to sea to find the shellfish, Mr. Loose wanted a safer
boat.
He had taken a fancy to the herring boats at
Berwick and went up on an early mail train in March of that year to have a look. The
Herring Boat was far too large for Staithe Harbour conditions, but Mr. Loose found a
boatbuilder, W.M. Weatherhead & Sons of Eyemouth who agreed to build him a boat based
on the Scottish Ringnetter but scaled down with a suitable draught of 3'6" for
Staithe.
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Cyril Loose with his brother Ernie and brother-in-law Fred Southerland travelled
back to Eyemouth in October of 1949 to take delivery of the newly built Isabel Deborah.
They left for their home port sailing down unfamiliar coastal waters to safely reach
Brancaster Staithe 3 days later.
Carrying a crew of 2 or 3, the Isabel Deborah fished these waters for
the next 48 years. Mr. Loose retired in 1975 and sold her to Mr. Cyril Southerland
who continued to fish for whelk, mostly on the Race Bank, until the industry changed in
1996 leading to the demise of the local industry.
When she was decommissioned at the end of 1996, she was to be destroyed.
Quick action by local people and a sympathetic National Trust representative managed to
avoid this wanton destruction of a boat, unique to whelk fishing in Norfolk and which
represents a way of life that is now fast disappearing.
The Isabel Deborah was given to the National Trust
by Cyril Southerland and is now a registered vessel of the National Trust, but is
maintained under the supervision of a local Committee. Donations from local people and a
group of National Trust Members has enabled the committee to buy the engine and materials
for painting the boat and also to fit her out to the required safety standards. There is
still more work to be done to her masts and sails.
(click on thumbnail for larger image) |
Specifications:
Carvell built with oak frame
35 feet in length
beam
draught 3 feet 6 inches
powered by a Ford 90hp engine
and carrying a mizzen sail
Isabel Deborah as a working vessel on Fisherman's Hard at low tide
Cyril Southerland has been heard to describe her as a
"lovely boat and so good for pot whelk fishing. She can turn around in her own
length", he says.
Cyril Loose died in 1981 but Ernie Loose well remembers
the occasion when he went with his brother to Eyemouth to find this 'one off' whelk
fishing boat.
Now on her own mooring, the Isabel Deborah can be seen in
Brancaster Staithe harbour and when fully restored and fitted out with the appropriate
safety equipment, she will be used by the Brancaster National Trust Millennium Centre to
take parties, mainly of schoolchildren but also some adult parties, to study the area. |
