nemaritimetrust.co.uk

1: Original Missing Archives post was about the years, 2011-2019, and I have managed to fill some of the gaps in them since the post about them was was made and I now wish to review the earlier gap of 6 years, Nov 2002 to Jun 2008. The post of November 2002 gives the reader the main reason for the existence of NEMT and I was one of the early volunteers helping to restore first the Rachel Doulas then the Favourite and during that time that I became a major party to the restoration of historic fishing vessels by the acquisition of Glad Tidings in 2003. It was not long after the purchase that I was told her original name was Peggy so when she was repainted and anti-fouled she was given back her original name and at the same time my name as her owner was painted on her port aft quarter:-

2: The name, M Dawson as the owner of Peggy remained on her port quarter while she was in the care of the South Shields Angling Boat Club and she sat on quayside at the Angling Boat Club for a good while before she could to put into the care of the only wooden boat restorer on the Tyne, Fred Crowell. In the meantime, I had to wait to put her into what I knew as Fred’s Shed because she had to join a queue because he had been asked, by more senior members of NEMT than I, to modify the seine-netters, Rachel Douglas and Favourite to make them more suitable for pleasure use and I made myself useful by helping with their restoration during that time.
I found after some research, mostly by looking at what had been done to put other cobles back into sail that it was relatively easy to determine how long the mast and yard to be compared to her length and while Fred made them out of old telegraph poles, a sailmaker was found to make the sails to fit them.

While Fred goes into some detail about how cobles are built, in his tale about the saving of Peggy, it is not until the 23rd page of The Saving of The Peggy that see much about the mast and yard and more importantly, we also see that the ownership now includes Tim Dawson and that’s him helping to remove the mast from storage so that it could be put back in her prior to the launch,i.e. leave the shed.

3. It appears that some of the wood used to replace some of Peggy’s planks had not all been properly seasoned but this was of no import for nearly all of her new planks were to be well painted, including the ones directly supporting the gunnels.

The gunnels have to be fixed by bolting them to the stempeice, then the knees connecting them to the thwarts and finally bolting them the plank across the stern which supports the rudder and is known as the scut.

The top plank and the gunnel are then rounded off to make them comfortable to sit on and care should have been protect them from the weather. Sadly, this was not done, either on my watch or when I sold her to the NFHT and she needed a major repaint and while that was being done the owner’s name was changed again – to Charlie Lowdon.

It was a good while before I discovered the lie that Charlie had ever owned Peggy by painting his name on the port quarter and was rather annoyed that both Tim and I had been written out of the history of her preservation by a sleight of hand. If I’d been asked by the NEMT member(s) who commissioned the change of ownership to Charlie they would have been given short shrift and I would have told them that as Charlie had done so much more to help with the preservation of the Henry Frederick Swan than he had with the preservation of Peggy.

I also felt that it would have been more honest to make a plaque for him to go on the aft cabin of the HFS next to the one awarded to J Dudman than to falsely claim that he was ever an owner of Peggy.

If the author of the lie that Charlie had ever owned Peggy had asked me for permission to write Tim and myself out of the history of Peggy’s preservation, it would have been denied as I knew there was a more honest way of honouring Charlie Lowden’s work for the NE Maritime Trust.

Mick Dawson
09-September-2026

PEGGY – Built 1924. 93 years.
Believed to be the oldest fully restored Northumbrian coble.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT – National Maritime Museum; small boat register
1. What is the vessel’s ability to demonstrate her physical fabric?
Peggy has not been compromised by alteration from her original build specification. Overall dimensions are 28′ long, 7′ 6″ beam and 2′ draft, though the rudder reaches 4′ below water level. Repairs and restoration have been undertaken to maintain original standards and materials. Framing is 60% original, planking 60%, masts and spars are replacements. Engine and gearbox have been replaced and the present engine is a Lister of uncertain age but probably dating from the 1950s.
The paintwork replicates that typically carried by this type of coble on the coast of Northumberland throughout the twentieth century. It has not been possible to obtain archive photographs or other evidence for the painting of this boat during her period of use in the fishing industry.
2. What are the vessel’s associational links for which there is no physical evidence?
Peggy, was built by the Harrison yard at Amble in 1924 “on spec” during a slack period. Unusually (for a coble) she was sold for pleasure use, the purchaser being a Mr Hall, resident of Beadnell in Northumberland. For this purpose Harrison’s fitted a cabin but it was not long before she lost her pleasure boat fittings, when sold on for fishing to Robert Rutter of Seahouses, as a typical coble with engine and auxiliary sail and registered BK7. She later worked back at Beadnell, then at Amble where she became BH177 and renamed Glad Tidings. Later in her history Peggy moved to Sunderland.
As a fishing coble she worked long lines, salmon nets and pots for crab and lobster. Upon leaving the fishing industry Peggy was used as a pleasure boat at Hartlepool, before being bought in poor condition by an NFHT enthusiast in 2007. Restoration was undertaken in 2008 at the boatyard then owned by Fred Crowell, at South Shields. Further comprehensive restoration led by Dave Parker was completed in 2017 by NFHT and NEMT volunteers at the same boatyard. Now kept on the river Tyne and in almost original condition she is in the ownership of Northumbrian Fishing Heritage Trust.
3. How does the vessel’s shape or form combine and contribute to her function?
Peggy is a typical Northumbrian coble of the kind used and built until the 1950s, to traditional specification similar to the sailing vessels of previous centuries. The design gradually evolved as engines became more efficient and fishermen sought cobles of greater proportions and versatility. These later cobles were built until the 1980s. The type, of which Peggy is representative, was built in large numbers and at one time several ports on the east coast had many such boats. Originally beach boats, their shape reflects many of the design and construction methods common in previous centuries. It is important to note that the hull design contains build elements of wooden North Sea craft of the sixth century and of British hide covered craft. – although such origins require further research.
There is no centre keel as such, though a part keel commences at the forefoot and extends almost to a point amidships. For the aft two thirds of the boat – which is largely flat bottomed – there are two droughts or bilge keels upon which the vessel rests on the beach. Lack of a keel is compensated by the stability afforded by a very deep forefoot and a deep detachable rudder. The rudder is mounted outside a transom that rakes at 45 degrees. Peggy’s old rig was carefully surveyed from photographs and drawings of similar cobles and faithfully reproduced. The mast is stepped forward in the boat and rakes aft so that the dipping lug sail is hung centrally. The mast therefore does not take up valuable space amidships. On beaching, cobles were usually floated onto a pair of wheels on a low slung axle to be led off the beach to a place of refuge. Peggy normally resides at St Peter’s Marina and is used for training in traditional coble sailing skills, gatherings and visits to other ports.

Footnote: Peggy is now one hundred and two years old.