Nobby (boat)

Last updated
Nobbies in the dock - geograph.org.uk - 144408.jpg

The nobby is an inshore sailing boat which was used as a traditional fishing boat around Lancashire and the Isle of Man. The Lancashire nobby originated in Morecambe Bay about 1840 and around Southport. It subsequently came into widespread use down the north west coast of England. The Manx nobby first appeared in the 1880s and was used around the Isle of Man. Many localities on the coast of Great Britain developed their own type of fishing boat adapted to local fishing and sea conditions, and the nobbies are examples of this. [1]

Contents

Lancashire nobby

The Lancashire nobby was primarily a shrimp trawler towing beam trawls sized for common "brown shrimp" ( Crangon crangon ), "pink shrimp" or "Aesop prawn" ( Pandalus montagui ), or flatfish. The nobby ranged in size from about 25 to 32 feet (7.6 to 9.8 m) for single-handed boats and from 36 to 45 feet (11 to 14 m) for two-man boats. They were all pole masted cutters with gaff topsail. [2]

In the north west of England the Morecambe Bay nobby emerged about 1840 as the local type. Houldsworth illustrated them as a sloop rigged craft with a square tuck stern [3] A report in the Lancaster Gazette of 7 November 1840 indicates that Southport smacks were also fishing in Morecambe Bay, providing another progenitor of the nobby.

The design evolved from earlier straight-stemmed, long-keel boats into a beamy shallow hull with a pronounced reverse curve in the midship section and a cut away forefoot. The square tuck stern changed into an immersed elliptical counter, either by evolution or adoption of the Southport form, the change being complete before 1880. All of the boats had wide side decks and a long cockpit, about a third of the beam in width, with low freeboard and a low rail to facilitate lifting the gear on board. These shrimp boats, about 32 ft long (9.8 m), were fast and handy in the shallow waters of Morecambe Bay. The larger boats were called “prawners”, though they were actually used to catch pink shrimps (Pandalus montagui). In addition to the larger prawner (called "sprawner" at Morecambe) a subtype called "bay boat" developed for the holiday trade. The bay boat had a shallow draft so it could operate around Grange-over-Sands at the head of Morecambe Bay.

Crossfields of Arnside were the most prolific builders with two yards working. Later branches of the family started yards at Conway and took over a yard at Hoylake. Many were constructed by Gibson at Fleetwood, later taken over by Liver and Wilding. In particular, William Stoba (1855–1931), a foreman shipwright with Fleetwood builders, developed the design and experimented with centreboards. Other builders were working at Annan, Millom, Crossens and Marshside near Southport. [4]

The type was adopted by fishermen from the Solway down to Cardigan Bay, and hundreds of nobbies were built. The demand for boats was driven by the English taste for shrimps, which in its turn was driven by the English sea side holiday trade, which came to prominence with the railways in the 1850s. There was no standard design of nobby, alterations were made to suit the ideas of the original owners. Three racing classes, the Royal Mersey Restricted class, the Royal Mersey Rivers class and the Fleetwood Jewel Class, were built on nobby lines by various local boat builders. The difference between these was that the Royal Mersey Restricted class and the Fleetwood Jewels Class were cutter rigged same as a Nobby and the Royal Mersey Rivers Class had a single headsail. [4]

It is important to understand that the two types (Manx and Lancashire) are completely different. The shrimping boats (Morecambe Bay, Liverpool etc.) are shallow draught vessels [typically 3 to 4.5 feet (0.91 to 1.37 m)] designed to trawl in the shoal waters of the Solway Firth, Morecambe Bay etc.

In contrast, the Manx Nobby is a herring lugger, a deep-water vessel typically drawing 6 ft plus (1.8 m) and built to lie to nets in deep water while drift net fishing for herring and mackerel.

The Manx Nobby is similar to the cornish luggers.

Period of decline

External image
Searchtool.svg Gallery of converted Nobbys

At other nobby ports the changing economics of fishing with engines meant that fewer new nobbys were built, so that most of the nobby builders retired from trade during the Second World War. The nobbies went into gradual decline, and were eventually sold cheaply and converted to yachts [4]

Over the last 20 years the Nobby Owners Association has restored to sail some 20 nobbies, which are basically Morecambe Bay inshore sail fishing boats, associated with the North West coast of England and which evolved to their present graceful form through the 19th century. [5]

Manx nobby

External image
Searchtool.svg Model of the Manx nobby Gladys

The Manx nobby was a double ended standing lug-rigged herring drifter. It was preceded by the "nickie", which had a dipping lug rigging. Standing lugs have yards that remain on one side of the mast and the tack is set close to the mast, while dipping lugs have yards that dip around the mast when going about so that the sail draws away from the mast on each tack. The Nickies were copies of Cornish herring drifters that visited Man. The Manx Nickie was so called as Nicholas was a common Christian name amongst the Cornish crews whose boats they copied. The change to standing lug was driven by a shortage of experienced crew. [1] This type of craft was then commissioned by The Congested Districts Board to provide a decked fishing craft to be used in Connemara, Ireland in the 1890s. [6]

The vocabulary of the Anglo-Manx dialect quotes the first Manx nobby in 1884 receiving its name because it was “a rale nobby little thing”. Other nobbies may have received their name in the same way, as smart sail fishing boats.

Notes

  1. 1 2 March (1969)
  2. Miller (2009)
  3. Holdsworth
  4. 1 2 3 Burbo Bank Wind Farm Information, April 2008
  5. Ireland's boating heritage - the future?
  6. Scott

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yawl</span> Type of boat

A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig, to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catboat</span> Type of sailboat

A catboat is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast set well forward in the bow of a very beamy and (usually) shallow draft hull. Typically they are gaff rigged, though Bermuda rig is also used. Most are fitted with a centreboard, although some have a keel. The hull can be 3.7 to 12.2 metres long with a beam half as wide as the hull length at the waterline. The type is mainly found on that part of the Eastern seaboard of the USA from New Jersey to Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lugger</span> Type of sailing vessel

A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or more masts. Luggers were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Luggers varied extensively in size and design. Many were undecked, open boats, some of which operated from beach landings. Others were fully decked craft. Some larger examples might carry lug topsails.

The Jersey Skiff is a beach launched boat first appearing around the end of the 19th century. They were first used as fishing boats, to be launched through the surf, sailed to the fishing grounds and then retrieved through the surf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrimp fishery</span> Fisheries for shrimp and prawns

The shrimp fishery is a major global industry, with more than 3.4 million tons caught per year, chiefly in Asia. Rates of bycatch are unusually high for shrimp fishing, with the capture of sea turtles being especially contentious.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fifie</span> Sailing boat

The Fifie is a design of sailing boat developed on the east coast of Scotland. It was a traditional fishing boat used by Scottish fishermen from the 1850s until well into the 20th century. These boats were mainly used to fish for herring using drift nets, and along with other designs of boat were known as herring drifters.

<i>Crangon crangon</i> Species of shrimp

Crangon crangon is a species of caridean shrimp found across the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Its range extends from the White Sea in the north of Russia to the coast of Morocco, including the Baltic Sea, and appears also throughout the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Commercially important, it is fished mainly in the southern North Sea. Common names include brown shrimp, common shrimp, bay shrimp, and sand shrimp, while translation of its French name crevette grise sometimes leads to the English version grey shrimp.

<i>Reaper</i> (sailing vessel) Restored Fifie fishing boat

Reaper is a restored historic Fifie herring drifter which is registered by the National Historic Ships Committee as part of the National Historic Fleet of the UK, and currently operates as a museum ship.

The Scottish east coast fishery has been in existence for more than a thousand years, spanning the Viking Age right up to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drascombe</span> Family of British sailboats

The word Drascombe is a trademark that was first registered by John Watkinson who applied it to a series of sailing boats which he designed and built in the period 1965–79 and sold in the United Kingdom (UK). They comprised the Coaster, Cruiser Longboat, Dabber, Drifter, Driver, Gig, Launch, Longboat, Lugger, Peterboat, Scaffie, Scaith and Skiff, together with a few other one-offs. They have wide and deep cockpits, adaptable boomless rigs and high bulwarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drifter (fishing boat)</span> Type of fishing boat

A drifter is a type of fishing boat. They were designed to catch herring in a long drift net. Herring fishing using drifters has a long history in the Netherlands and in many British fishing ports, particularly in East Scottish ports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing vessel</span> Boat or ship used to catch fish

A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sgoth</span>

A Sgoth or Sgoth Niseach is a traditional type of clinker built skiff with a dipping lug rig, a Lateen style sail, built mainly in Ness, in the Western Isles of Scotland. The boats were traditional fishing boats, particularly for line fishing, during the 19th century and until the early half of the twentieth century. There are several still owned, used and maintained by community trusts.

This page is a list of fishing topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traditional fishing boat</span>

Traditionally, many different kinds of boats have been used as fishing boats to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Even today, many traditional fishing boats are still in use. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), at the end of 2004, the world fishing fleet consisted of about 4 million vessels, of which 2.7 million were undecked (open) boats. While nearly all decked vessels were mechanised, only one-third of the undecked fishing boats were powered, usually with outboard engines. The remaining 1.8 million boats were traditional craft of various types, operated by sail and oars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrimp</span> Decapod crustaceans

A shrimp is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – typically belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are also referred to as "shrimp".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prawn</span> Common name applied to some types of crustaceans

Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs, some of which are edible.

<i>Matchless</i> (pleasure yacht)

The Matchless was a British pleasure yacht which sank in Morecambe Bay, off north west England, in 1894 with the loss of 25 lives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lug sail</span> Type of sail

The lug sail, or lugsail, is a fore-and-aft, four-cornered sail that is suspended from a spar, called a yard. When raised, the sail area overlaps the mast. For "standing lug" rigs, the sail may remain on the same side of the mast on both the port and starboard tacks. For "dipping lug" rigs, the sail is lowered partially or totally to be brought around to the leeward side of the mast in order to optimize the efficiency of the sail on both tacks.

References