PICKING UP SURVIVORS.

Long before the building of the last trading wherry - Ella - in 1912, the wherry fleet's fate was sealed. The railway linking Great Yarmouth to Norwich had opened back in 1844, and ever since had been gradually taking business from the wherries on their most important route.

It was the old story of speed and efficiency brought by new technology. From the moment that goods could be carted from sea-going vessels to rail heads in Yarmouth and Lowestoft and then moved quickly not only to Norwich but to other parts of the country, there was no doubt that rail was the future, at least until road transport would overtake it in turn.

The transition, nevertheless, was slow. Wherries continued to be built - 30 or so were launched after 1890 - but there was a bit of the rearranging of deckchairs about it. By then, business was irreversibly in accelerating decline. In 1908, there were 67 wherries still working, but six years later only 56 and by 1929, just 16.

There was one final attempt at survival, prompted by the beginnings of what was to become the burgeoning tourist industry. With more people getting interested in leisure excursions on the Broads, some wherry skippers turned to sweeping out their holds in the summer months and installing a few tables and chairs to accommodate them, reverting to cargoes once the holiday makers had gone. The fashion began in 1863 with Blanche and the idea proved so popular that a number of struggling skippers turned entirely to pleasuring, their holds being decked over and the space being divided into passenger accommodation.

Then, towards the turn of the century, purpose-built pleasure wherries began to appear, seventy or more slipping out of the yards before that genre also fell foul of basic economics, the relatively short season not giving an adequate return on such big, expensive boats. Like the wherry yachts which followed and were the final form of the wherry line, those which did survive would do so only by becoming the playthings of the rich. The mass market would be increasingly for smaller craft.

Today, a total of seven vessels of the wherry species survive through a combination of niche marketing, private ownership, charity and dogged determination.

There are two traders. One is Albion, built in 1898 at Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, and the only trader ever carvel built. She was rescued in 1949 by the Norfolk Wherry Trust which was formed that year after a meeting at the Norwich bookshop of Roy Clark, author of the classic work, Black Sailed Traders. The Trust's sole purpose was to preserve at least one trader to ensure that the trading heritage did not disappear completely.

Albion was mastless when the Trust acquired her - at the time, her name had been changed to Plane - but after refitting, she sailed again that October and even persevered with the trader ethic, for a year or two carrying such cargoes as the Trust could get.

She continued to do so until 1961 but after two sinkings while loaded with sugar beet, the Trust decided that she would concentrate on passengers.

So they did what some of the old skippers had done which was to sweep out her hold and go passenger chartering. Scouts or sea-scouts groups were early takers but Albion has carried passengers ever since, working regularly from spring to early autumn each year carrying groups who want to experience the old days for a week or a weekend.

The other trader is Maud, built in 1899 at Reedham on the River Yare. Like many wherries, she was scuppered when beyond repair but was raised in the early 1980s and restored in an 18 year labour of love by Vincent and Linda Pargeter. She sailed again in her centenery year, almost certainly in better condition than when first built. This year, she will be on exhibit at various places on the Broads and may even carry the odd cargo although there are no plans to install passenger accommodation which means that, apart from day sails, passengers will not figure much in her activity.

There are then two pleasure wherries, built specifically to take passengers. One is Solace, built in 1903, also at Reedham and probably conceived originally as a trader but finally built as a pleasure wherry. She is now based on Wroxham Broad. After the Second World War, she was acquired by the Rudd family and remains very much in original condition as John Rudd points out.

"Above all, Solace has been a 'family' boat since she was built and must be considered as extremely original, the only concessions being electricity, water heater, gas cooker (1949 vintage) and shower. All WCs are original, as are tip-up basins in each cabin."

The other pleasure wherry is Hathor, (pronounces Heart-or), another Reedham craft, built in 1905 for two sisters of the Colman family of mustard fame.

The name is that of the Nile craft - a dahabeah - on which their brother died in 1897 in Egypt where the family had taken him in an attempt combat his tuberculosis. Hathor was an Egyptian goddess of love and joy.

Hathor retains her original interior decor featuring motifs of teak inlaid in sycamore and based on Egyptian hieroglyphics and mythology. Since 1985, she has been owned by Peter Bower of Wherry Yacht Charter and is chartered from late spring to late summer.

Peter also owns and charters the carvel hulled wherry yacht, Olive. Built by Ernest Collins at Wroxham in 1909 as a charter boat, she remained so until 1958 after which she became a house boat before being restored to sailing in 1964. She was bought by Wherry Yacht Charter ten years later.

The Olive's sister, the Norada, was built by Collins at Wroxham in 1912 and is slightly smaller, having been designed to pass under Potter Heigham Bridge. She was chartered until 1950 when she went into private ownership, subsequently being acquired by her present owner, Barney Matthews, who bought her in 1964. She is also available for charter through Wherry Yacht Charter.

The last wherry yacht ever built is White Moth, launched in 1915 as another part of the Collins hire fleet. She remained available for hire until 1960 when she became a houseboat before falling into sunken dereliction. Restored in 1986, to be for charter through the Norfolk Broads Yachting Company in conjunction with Blakes Holidays, but now is just for private use.

There is one other pleasure wherry, Ardea, restored in 2006. Built in Lowestoft for a local philanthropist and the last wherry of any type, she was taken to Paris in the 1950s was spotted in the early 1990s on the Seine, dismasted and used as a house boat.

But the seven surviving Broads-based wherries are probably the strength of the Broads fleet for the foreseeable future; none of the rotting hulls to be found around the backwaters now looks like another restoration project, even if someone with the time, application and money were to appear. There is occasional talk about building a new one, a small one perhaps of the size that used to work to the villages and country towns on Broadland's small northern rivers of Broadland. And it could happen, but don't hold your breath. The important thing is that survivors from the old days have been picked up and should now keep the link with the past.

Contacts:
Norfolk Wherry Trust: 01508 470992
Wherry Yacht Charter 01603 782470
White Moth 01692 631330
Maud 01277 352264.

Further Reading:
Black Sailed Traders - Roy Clark.
Wherries and Waterways - Robert Malster.
Albion; the Story of the Norfolk Trading Wherry - Martin Kirby/Norfolk Wherry Trust.

This article originally appeared in the magazine, Traditional Boats & Tall Ships, www.tallship.co.uk

Reproduced by kind permission of John Worrall © 2002