Boats
Historic local boats
In their heyday, there were hundreds of wooden crab boats working off the beaches along the North Norfolk Coast. In the late 1800s and early 1900s they used oars and a dipping lugsail to work out at sea. Engines started being used in the twenties. Whelkers operated from harbours (mostly Wells) as they were bigger and went further afield. These boats and the work they did shaped the close communities of fishing, lifeboat and boatbuilding families and the seaside towns we see today.
Now there are about 20 wooden crab boats, and four whelkers afloat, used as pleasure boats. Whilst crab, lobster and whelk fishing happens now, there is much less of it and mostly in fibreglass boats. Our annual Maritime Heritage Festival celebrates these wooden boats and their stories.
