The National Transport Trust expresses its thanks to John Wylson of Lowestoft in Suffolk and the Excelsior Trust for alerting us to the restoration of a 1906 Yarmouth shrimper, named Horace & Hannah as a candidate for consideration.
Originally constructed in 1906, by Beeching Brothers of Gt Yarmouth, Norfolk, Horace & Hannah is one of the last surviving Yarmouth Shrimpers – boats that caught shrimps for the holidaymakers of Great Yarmouth. She is in relatively good condition having been rebuilt and restored to operational use in the 1980s. Later under new ownership she fell into disrepair and finally sank at her moorings after which she was donated to the Excelsior Trust for safe keeping. This Trust restored and operates the well-known Lowestoft Sailing Trawler Excelsior LT472 as a sail training vessel. She is one of National Historic Ships’ exclusive fleet of vessels of outstanding national importance, and over 33 years of constantly changing economic circumstances the Excelsior Trust has managed to maintain Excelsior in good condition, including surviving the recent pandemic. And the Excelsior Trust is spurred on by the desire to have Horace & Hannah back in use alongside Excelsior. Long-term she will act as a training vessel for the Excelsior Trust’s regular crews who will be able to run trips for the public from Lowestoft’s Historic Vessels Berth.
Great Yarmouth shrimpers were distinctive, small craft, developed in the first quarter of the 19th century to supply Victorian tourists with pink shrimp. It was a speciality of the town and they consumed hundreds of gallons every day of the season. From a fleet of probably two hundred there are four survivors. The best was sold to Germany a decade ago; one was recently sold for £10 as a 'project', whilst the other has been on sentry duty outside the Time & Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth, which does not bode well for her future. Working beach boats on this coast had a standing and dipping lugsail, but as these shrimpers had to make their way up the Yare to various quays where the boilers were located for cooking the shrimps in time for tea, they were given a more handy gaff rig with the mast stepped in a tabernacle and an unusual ‘gooseneck’ arrangement so that the mast could be lowered and raised easily to ‘shoot’ the bridges to reach the higher berths. Lowestoft Shrimpers were similar but none survive.
With the hull scraped down on the outside to enable inspection of the wood, the stem iron removed for re-galvanising and many small repairs already completed to the transom, progress, undertaken by volunteers under the watchful eye of a small number of boatbuilding experts, is excellent. The progress is impressive if, at times, challenging.
Nevertheless the Excelsior Trust is doing a fine job preserving a vessel with real, regional, historic importance, and for this reason is well deserving of a Restoration Award.