National Small Boat Collection

This wooden canoe was one of many imported into this country in the early 1900s from North America by Rowland Ward & Co. and sold through large London stores, in…

This canoe was probably made by Sarazin of the Algonquin Reserve in the Ottawa Valley of Ontario. It is a modern interpretation of the most developed form of birch bark…

In the years following the Second World War, as rising living standards and increased leisure time led to an expansion in leisure boating, Fairey Marine was an important player. Employing…

The use of glass reinforced plastic (GRP) for boatbuilding began in the USA in the early 1940s, with the first dinghy produced in 1942. In Europe, however, despite wartime shortages…

In 1975 four members of the British Kayak Expedition completed a journey from Bodo to Nordkapp in Northern Norway, Europe’s most northerly point. Their chosen craft for this pioneering expedition…

The Merlin Rocket, a merger between the Merlin and Rocket classes in 1951, belongs to a  restricted class of dinghy, which means a considerable degree of latitude is allowed in…

The Essex One Design dates from 1919, when it was commissioned for the Essex Yacht Club, together with the nearby Alexandra Yacht Club, both sailing the tidal waters of Southend…

This single handed sailing dinghy was designed and built by Norfolk boat builders William Starling and Sons of Blakeney in 1929 for Miss Patience Hardcastle of Godalming in Surrey. She…

Claritie is a 1956-built typical example of the common wooden and later glass reinforced plastic (GRP) built pram dinghies. Designed and constructed by Austin ‘Clarence’ Farrar, Claritie was an early…