A Brixham trawler is a type of wooden, deep-sea

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...

first built in

Brixham Brixham is a coastal town and civil parish in the borough of Torbay in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. As of the 2021 census, Brixham had a population of 16,825. It is one of the main three centres of the borough, along with ...

in Devon, England, in the 19th century and known for its high speed. The design was copied by boat builders around Britain, and some were sold to fishermen in other countries on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. The Brixham trawler was a heavy displacement boat of some 60–80 ft length on the deck, with a long straight keel, a straight vertical stem, usually a fantail stern, and a low freeboard to ease the handling of the nets, though this feature was disguised by high bulwarks. Brixham trawlers carried a tall gaff rig, often ketch rigged though also simply a large sloop, that was powerful enough to carry them quickly to and from the fishing grounds and to tow large trawls. Renowned yacht aerodynamicist and sailor C. A. Marchaj commented on the type, "With little area of keel surface, these boats lacked weatherliness as compared with the Quay Punt… Not without reason, fishermen of the north-east coast swore that the forefoot took them to windward." Brixham once had a fleet of 400 such vessels, whose distinctive red sails were coated with local red ochre for protection. Other fleets were at Lowestoft with 375 trawlers, 450 at Hull, 625 at Great Yarmouth and 840 at Grimsby, with smaller numbers at other places. Only five remain afloat. One of them, ''Provident (BM28)'', took part in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, ''List of vessels taking part'' In 2020 just two existing Brixham Trawlers are based in Brixham. Both built by J W & A Uphams. ''Pilgrim'' (1895) and ''Vigilance'' (1928). in 2022, ''Vigilance'' received a grant of £2,000 towards her renovation from the Royal Warrant Holders Association charity fund as part of the Queen's Platinum Jublilee awards.

In popular culture

In the 1968

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social crit ...

novel '' Colonel Sun,''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

says he once spent several months serving aboard a Brixham trawler, suggesting Operation Postmaster.

Rescue

On 1 January 1915, the crew of ''Provident BM291'' rescued 71 sailors from , torpedoed and sunk by a German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

during the night in a gale.

In popular culture

Rescue

References

External links