lugger RX74 - Hastings - United Kingdom
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eilers1
N 50° 51.369 E 000° 35.690
31U E 330718 N 5636584
Lugger RX74 (Rye and Hastings) permanently on display near fishermen's museum at Hastings.
Waymark Code: WM108N1
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/22/2019
Views: 7
In the Hastings & St Leonards Observer (15-09-2013) you can find in interesting article about this fishingboat.
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Historic fishing boat gets a facelift at 94 years of age
AN HISTORIC Hastings fishing boat is being given a fresh coat of paint. The 94-year-old Edward and Mary RX 74 was the first Hastings boat to be built with an engine installed, and is now permanently on view on the beach next to the Fishermen’s Museum. The 28-feet-long lugger is being repainted by museum manager Jan Sellers and honorary curator Steve Peak. New lettering is by local craftsman Peter Thompsett and boat-builder Steve Barrow has repaired her hull. The Edward and Mary was built in 1919 on the beach opposite the London Trader pub for its landlord, Edward ‘Tiny’ Breeds, who named it after his two children. In May 1940 she was sailed to Dover to help with the Dunkirk evacuation if necessary, but in the end was not used. She left Hastings in 1957 and was last used for fishing in 1982, at Eastbourne. Steve saved the Edward and Mary from being broken up in 1983, and brought her back to Hastings. He said: “Although much of the hull’s planking has been replaced during her long life, most of the internal timbers seem to be original and are in good condition, which is remarkable for such an old vessel.
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Hastings has been a maritime centre for over a thousand years.
The shingle beach has always been called the Stade. The word dates from before the 1066 battle of Hastings and means ” landing place “. The Stade was originally a small area between today’s boating lake and coach park, but the building of the 1887 groyne at Rock-a-Nore and the 1896 harbour stopped shingle moving east along the coast. The result was that the Stade then steadily grew out to seaward, providing new room for the fishing fleet and many amenities.
On the Stade is Britain’s biggest fleet of beach-launched fishing boats. The boats have to be hauled out of the sea after each trip, which stops them being more than about ten metres long. This means that they can only carry small amounts of gear and travel just a few miles. As a result the fleet has always fished in an ecologically sound way.
Harbours built at Hastings have never given much shelter, so the boats have always had to be pulled up the beach. Each vessel has a shed containing an engine and winch, opperated by a ” boy ashore ” and tractors help push the craft into the sea, especially when the tide is low.
Harbours have been built here since the 1500s but all have had short lives. The current wall dates from 1896.