A wherry is a type of boat that was traditionally used for carrying cargo or passengers on rivers and canals in England, and is particularly associated with the River Thames and the River Cam. They were also used on the Broadland rivers of Norfolk and Suffolk.
London passenger wherries evolved into the Thames skiff, a gentleman's rowing boat. Wherries were clinker-built with long overhanging bows so that patrons could step ashore dryshod before landing stages were built along the river. It is the long angled bow that distinguishes the wherry and skiff from the gig and cutter which have steeper bows following the rise of the Royal Navy, and the building of landing stages.
The use of wherries on the River Cam in Cambridge was common and is described by Daniel Defoe in his journey through England. The use of wherries on the River Cam preceded the popularity of punting by Cambridge University students. [1] By the late 18th century, a name was given to the Norfolk wherry, a kind of sailing barge with large sails which was developed to replace an earlier cargo boat, the Norfolk Keel.
The term wherry is also associated with a particular type of lighter used on the River Tyne largely in connection with the coal trade. The last complete example Elswick No.2 is owned by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums service. [2] [3] There is a well documented study of the last surviving wrecked examples as surveyed in 2009. [4]
There is firm attestation that the term was used in the Irish Sea. Vessels like "Manx wherries" and "shell wherries" (the latter evidently based in Kirkcudbright for the shell fishery) are recorded in the early 19th century. Three shell wherries at least were active in 1810 and known to be of 10–12 tons and clinker built. [5]
Wherries were used by the fishermen of Skerries and other ports of the Irish sea north of Dublin in the 18th and 19th century. These wherries generally had two or three masts with a mainsail on the aft mast, and a foresail on the forward mast. Due to the lower height of the rig, they were more manageable in strong winds. [6] The east coast Wherries from Rush, Skerries and Balbriggan were famously decked, clincher built, and schooner rigged. Many of them travelled as far as Scotland and some were even employed in the smuggling trade.By 1866 they had been replaced by more efficient boats of carvel construction. [7]
The term "wherry" or "wherrie" was a regular term used for a boat as the Coverdale Bible of 1535 speaks of "All whirry men, and all maryners vpo the see…" in the Book of Ezekiel.
Wherries along the tideway in London were water taxis operated by watermen and in Elizabethan times their use was widespread. A wherry could be rowed by two men with long oars or by a single waterman using short oars or 'sculls'. An Act of Parliament in 1555 specified that a wherry should be "22½ feet long and 4½ wide 'amidships'". [8] and could carry up to five passengers. [9] According to one account concerning Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, "Patrons were transported across the River Thames to Southwark by 'wherry boats'. At one time over two thousand wherries made their way to and from the theatre district."[ citation needed ]
During the eighteenth century rowing competitions for watermen became established on the Thames, and the prize was often a new wherry. The Sporting Magazine describes an event on 6 August 1795 as "the contest for the annual wherry given by the Proprietors of Vauxhall by six pairs of oars in three heats". In 1822 Bell's Life reported on a contest on 30 June between eight watermen belonging to the Temple Stairs for "a prize wherry given by the gentlemen of the Inns of Court" and on 31 July "the anniversary of the Grand Aquatic Regatta of the inhabitants of Queenhithe", when "a handsome Wherry" and other prizes were contended for by "six of the free watermen belonging to those stairs". [10] In 1820 there were still 3,000 wherries plying on the Thames, while in the same year there were only 1,200 hackney coaches. As late as 1829, the usual means of crossing the river from Westminster to Vauxhall was by boat, but the wherryman's trade came to an end when new bridges were built and cheap steamboats were put on the river. [11]
In North America, particularly in the Penobscot Bay region of the Gulf of Maine, wherries became the preferred boat for the longshore Atlantic salmon fishery. The Lincolnville Salmon Wherry, the Rhodes Wherry, the Duck Trap Wherry, and the Christmas Wherry are still being built for recreational use. [12] They are generally long and narrow, with a straight stem, a wineglass stern and usually carvel planked (smooth sides). John Gardner writes that the single characteristic that distinguishes a wherry is its flat bottom that allows the boat to ground out in an upright position and serves as a shoe for dragging the boat up and down the beach. [13] The boat usually has two seats, one for the rower, and one in the stern sheets for the passenger, although longer ones can have a third seat forward. The term "shell wherry" was recognised in 19th-century America. [14]
The Norfolk wherry is a type of sailing boat used on The Broads in Norfolk and Suffolk, England. Three main types were developed over its life, all featuring the distinctive gaff rig with a single, high-peaked sail and the mast stepped well forward.
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.
Carvel built or carvel planking is a method of boat building in which hull planks are laid edge to edge and fastened to a robust frame, thereby forming a smooth surface. Traditionally the planks are neither attached to, nor slotted into, each other, having only a caulking sealant between the planks to keep water out. Modern carvel builders may attach the planks to each other with glues and fixings. It is a "frame first" method of hull construction, where the shape is determined by the framework onto which the planks are fixed. This is in contrast to "plank first" or "shell first" methods, where the outer skin of the hull is made and then reinforced by the insertion of timbers that are fitted to that shape. The most common modern "plank first" method is clinker construction; in the classical period "plank first" involved joining the edges of planks with mortise and tenon joints within the thickness of the timbers, superficially giving the smooth-hull appearance of carvel construction, but achieved by entirely different means.
The Company of Watermen and Lightermen (CWL) is a historic City guild in the City of London. However, unlike the city's 111 livery companies, CWL does not have a grant of livery. Its meeting rooms are at Waterman's Hall on St Mary at Hill, London.
A cutter is a name for various types of watercraft. It can apply to the rig of a sailing vessel, to a governmental enforcement agency vessel, to a type of ship's boat which can be used under sail or oars, or, historically, to a type of fast-sailing vessel introduced in the 18th century, some of which were used as small warships.
Clinker-built is a method of boat building in which the edges of hull planks overlap each other. Where necessary in larger craft, shorter planks can be joined end to end, creating a longer strake or hull plank.
A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats, usually propelled by sails or oars. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for work, leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have developed into high performance competitive classes. Many of today's skiff classes are based in Australia and New Zealand in the form of 12 ft (3.66 m), 13 ft (3.96 m), 16 ft (4.88 m) and 18 ft (5.49 m) skiffs. The 29er, 49er, SKUD and Musto Skiff are all considered to have developed from the skiff concept, all of which are sailed internationally.
A punt is a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers and shallow water. Punting is boating in a punt; the punter propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole. Punts were originally built as cargo boats and as platforms for fowling and for fishing, such as angling; whereas now punting is boating for pleasure.
A waterman is a river worker who transfers passengers across and along city centre rivers and estuaries in the United Kingdom and its colonies. Most notable are those on the River Thames and River Medway in England, but other rivers such as the River Tyne and River Dee, Wales, also had their watermen who formed guilds in medieval times. Waterman can also be a person who navigates a boat carrying passengers. These boats were often rowing boat or boats with sails. Over the years watermen acquired additional skills such as local pilotage, mooring vessels at berths, jetties, buoys, and docks, and acting as helmsman aboard large vessel.
The 18 ft Skiff is considered the fastest class of sailing skiffs. The class has a long history beginning with races on Sydney Harbour, Australia in 1892 and later in New Zealand. The boat has changed significantly since the early days, bringing in new technology as it became available. Because of the need of strength, agility and skill, the class is considered to be the top level of small boat sailing. Worldwide this boat is called the "18 Foot Skiff". It is the fastest conventional non-foiling monohull on the yardstick rating, with a score of 675, coming only third after the Tornado and Inter 20.
Henry (Harry) Clasper was a professional rower and boat builder from Tyneside in England. He was an innovative boat designer who pioneered the development of the racing shell and the use of outriggers. He is said to have invented spoon-shaped oars.
Iffley Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England near the village of Iffley, Oxfordshire. It is on the southern outskirts of Oxford. The original lock was built by the Oxford-Burcot Commission in 1631 and the Thames Navigation Commission replaced this in 1793. The lock has a set of rollers to allow punts and rowing boats to be moved between the water levels.
The Sunbury Amateur Regatta is a regatta on the River Thames at Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, England with a rare visitors' boats lights display and fireworks event. It is for mainly traditional wooden types of boats with a few events for small sculling boats since its instigation in 1877 taking place by convention on a Saturday in early to mid August. The Edith Topsfield Junior Regatta takes place the following day.
A Thames skiff is a traditional River Thames wooden rowing boat used for skiffing. These boats evolved from Thames wherries in the Victorian era to meet a passion for river exploration and leisure outings on the water.
Medieval ships were the vessels used in Europe during the Middle Ages. Like ships from antiquity, they were moved by sails, oars, or a combination of the two. There was a large variety, mostly based on much older, conservative designs. Although wider and more frequent communications within Europe meant exposure to a variety of improvements, experimental failures were costly and rarely attempted. Ships in the north were influenced by Viking vessels, while those in the south by classical or Roman vessels. However, there was technological change. The different traditions used different construction methods; clinker in the north, carvel in the south. By the end of the period, carvel construction would come to dominate the building of large ships. The period would also see a shift from the steering oar or side rudder to the stern rudder and the development from single-masted to multi-masted ships. As the area is connected by water, people in the Mediterranean built different kinds of ships to accommodate different sea levels and climates. Within the Mediterranean area during the Medieval times ships were used for a multitude of reasons, like war, trade, and exploration.
A single scull, abbreviated as a 1x, is a racing shell designed for a single person who propels the boat with two oars, one in each hand.
Albion is a Norfolk wherry. Built in 1898, she served as a trading vessel and then as a lighter, until being acquired by the Norfolk Wherry Trust for restoration and preservation in 1949. Since 1981 she has been moored at the Norfolk Wherry Trust wherry base at Womack Water near Ludham. She is listed on the register of National Historic Ships in the United Kingdom as part of the National Historic Fleet.
Skiffing refers to the sporting and leisure activity of rowing a Thames skiff. The skiff is a traditional hand built clinker-built wooden craft of a design which has been seen on the River Thames and other waterways in England and other countries since the 19th century. Sculling is the act of propelling the boat with a pair of oars, as opposed to rowing which requires both hands on a single oar.
The Norfolk Wherry Trust is a waterway society and UK registered charity number 1084156, based at Womack Water near Ludham in the Norfolk Broads, Norfolk, England.
The Humber keel was a type of single-masted, square-rigged sailing craft used for inshore and inland cargo transport around Hull and the Humber Estuary, in the United Kingdom, particularly through the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Media related to Wherries at Wikimedia Commons