Description
Maritime Norfolk Part Two is the accompanying volume to Maritime Norfolk Part One, Robert Malster’s comprehensive work on the maritime history of the county. With 272 pages and over 300 illustrations in A4 format, this volume complements Part One by concentrating on the fishing port and trading harbour of Great Yarmouth, together with a section on steamers on the river Yare to Norwich. Whether your interest is primarily in the maritime history of the east of England or more generally concerned with Norfolk’s heritage, you’ll want this book in your library.
The focus of this volume is entirely on the maritime life of Great Yarmouth, its place as a North Sea port and as an entrepot for Norwich. In the last thousand years there have been seven – though perhaps now with the outer harbour we should say eight – access points to the sea for trading, fishing and passenger vessels coming in and out of Yarmouth harbour. The author has been a regular visitor both to Yarmouth itself and to the county and national archives which hold the records of the hundreds of vessels and the businesses which thrived in times gone by. And as an avid reader of newspaper records, he has drawn together many stories where the paperers give us the information that flesh out the facts and figures of those records.
The book is copiously illustrated from the author’s considerable collection of images to show a fret variety of types of vessel. The wooden drifter, perhaps the epitome of fishing boats from Yarmouth is represented through his collection of photographs and cards from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whilst the curious specialist exploration and drilling vessels of more recent times are amongst those captured by his own camera. The classic Yarmouth shrimpers are pictured and paintings recall the trading vessels of earlier years. The steam vessels that took on the drifting role are now nearly all gone except in photographs. Steam powered journeys to and from Norwich are illustrated through adverts and woodcuts whilst the glorious lithographs of Staniland and his contemporaries recall the time before photography.
Also included is background to the lives of the beachmen, the establishment of lifeboats on Yarmouth foreshore and the subsequent service from Gorleston.
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