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Photograph Collections
Rescue Wooden Boats have been given the following private collections to scan and display on our website.
We’d like to take the opportunity to thank these individuals for sharing their precious memories.
Tim Ashby Collection
Tim Ashby is from Wells-next-the-Sea and owned the 1934 built hoveller Liberty II. A hoveller is smaller than a whelker, but larger than a crab boat.
See Gallery
Steve Barratt Collection
Now a crab fisherman, Steve Barratt once served on the Shepherd Lad, a liner from Lowestoft. He now goes to sea with John Davis. At one time Steve Barratt had the Ever Hopeful.
Roger Bullock Collection
Roger was married to a Grimes, a renowned Wells fishing family. He owned William Edward, Rose and Sally.
See Gallery
Melba and Peter Beck Collection
Melba Beck is the daughter of Wells-next-the-Sea fisherman Diddy Cooper.
Rob Brownsell Collection
Son of Jimmy 'Biddy' Brownsell, Rob Brownsell is a retired fisherman from East Runton. Rob served on the Cromer lifeboat and owned Pandora. The Brownsell family also owned Welcome Home and Welcome Home.
See Gallery
David Bywater Collection
David Bywater is a retired fisherman from East Runton, he owned crab boats George William, Miss Britain and Mary Louise.
David Chenery Collection
David Chenery took these photographs of Cromer and West Runton fishing boats between 1971 and 2000.
Audrey Cox Collection
Audrey Cox was married to Alan Cox, nephew of artist Jack Cox. Audrey's father-in-law was Loady Cox who owned Bessie.
Peter Devenish Collection
Peter Devenish was rescued by Lucy Lavers when his yacht Waterwitch got into trouble in a storm.
John Dowsing Collection
John Dowsing was a mussel and whelk fisherman from Stiffkey. He worked from his Scottish made, in the whelk boat style, Morning Flight. John's mother, Marjorie Dowsing was 'the last of The Cockle Women'.
See Gallery
Jonathan Emery Collection
The Emery family were prominent boat builders in Sheringham from the 1930s onwards. The family built many boats, including Harvester, Black Beauty, Knot, Blanche, Our Boys and A.C.E.
Andy Frary Collection
In 1981 Andy Frary was the first person to start crabbing commercially from Wells in Black Beauty. Before that he crewed on Tony Jordan's whelker, his brother Martin crewed with the Cox family and was in the lifeboat crew.
See Gallery
Dennis Gaff Collection
Cromer fisherman and lifeboatman Dennis Gaff owned William Robert, built by Billy May at Potter Heigham.
Ben Gedge Collection
Ben Gedge from Mundesley, shares with us his huge collection of photographs including Cromer lifeboat, crab and cod fishing.
See Gallery One See Gallery Two
Caroline Gittens Collection
Caroline Gittens is the granddaughter of Billy Cox and has shared her collection of Cox family photographs and newspaper cuttings with us.
Mark Harrison Collection
The Rescue Wooden Boats Maritime Heritage Centre is situated in the the Old Military Camp in Stiffkey
David Hewitt Collection
David Hewitt is a shipwright and boat builder specialising in wooden working boats.
John Jonas Collection
John Jonas, from Cromer, is the last working Norfolk fishermen using a wooden crab boat, Mary Ann.
Tony Jordan Collection
Former Wells whelk fisherman and crew member for the RNLI, Tony Jordan owned whelker William Edward and served on the Lucy Lavers.
Glyn Knowles Collection
Sheringham fisherman Glyn Knowles shares his collection, including crab boats Britisher, Liberty and Welcome Messenger.
David Leeder Collection
David Leeder is a fishermen who fished from Cromer in the 1960s and 70s, working on Miss Cromer and Carnival Queen.
Diana McCallum Collection
Diana's father Ernie 'Blucher' Jarvis from Wells was a whelk fisherman, he owned A.C.E (Alice, Clarence, Ernie) and Sylvia and served as shore crew for the Wells lifeboat.
See Gallery
Billy May Collection
Billy May was a boatbuilder from Potter Heigham, he built Nigella in 1959 and went on build many more, including Autumn Rose, Michaels Beauty and Provider.
Ben Middleton Collection
Ben Fuzz Middleton is a fisherman in Sheringham, as were his father and grandfather before him. He owned Good Courage and K.P & K (Katherine, Patricia, Kitty - after Shrimp Davis' wife and two daughters). Fuzz was the second coxswain on the Sheringham lifeboat.
Robin Nicol Collection
Roger Seago Collection
Roger Seago is a fisherman who fished from East Runton in crab boat Jonathan James.
Micheal Softley Collection
Cromer lifeboat Henry Blogg and Lucy Lavers feature in this interesting collection.
Cyril Southerland Collection
Brancaster fisherman Cyril shares his photographs of shell fishing.
Richard Thompson Collection
From Burnham Overy Staithe, Richard Thompson at one time owned Miss Cromer.
John Tuck Collection
A large collection of images documenting fishing life in Wells-next-the-Sea.
See Gallery One See Gallery Two See Gallery Three See Gallery Four
Graham Walker Collection
Harbour Master at the Port of Wells from 1989 to 2001 and Coxswain of Wells Lifeboat, Graham Walker's family have shared his photograph collection with us...
Sheila Warner Collection
Sheila's husband Sonny Warner was a whelk fisherman in Wells. He went to sea with Alan Cooper in Knot and ex-lifeboat Ann Isabella. Sonny also served in the RNLI. Here are Sheila's fascinating images documenting the 1978 floods at Wells.
Robin and Linda West Collection
The Wests are a well-known Sheringham fishing family. Henry West was Sheringham coxswain, Henry and Jack West owned both Our Boys and Black Beauty for a time in 1970s/80s.
Fishing stories
Our boats
Find out all about Lucy Lavers, Black Beauty, Bessie and Harvester, and their restoration works.
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