National Small Boat Collection

This rather unremarkable looking little boat was not created in a conventional boat yard, but was designed and built in 1950 by a firm of metal fabricators based in Birmingham. The Panelcraft Sheet Metal Co. Ltd, of King’s Heath, was established in 1941: the company’s proud claim was that it could make anything “from a…

Witch is a clinker built open boat with a transom stern, approximately 14ft long and was used for catching lobsters and crabs up to six miles out to sea. In his book ‘Working Boats of Britain’, Eric McKee lists her as an example of a typical small working boat from the Isle of Purbeck, similar…

Dinghy designers have often been driven to produce affordable practical designs which help to make sailing accessible to a wider audience. In 1935 the Yacht Racing Association – the forerunner of the Royal Yachting Association – created the National Twelve Foot Restricted Class. A Restricted Class limits possible adaptations within a set of rules.  The…

The 18 ft jolly boat was one of succession of sailing dinghies designed and built by the renowned Uffa Fox in the years running up to WWII.  Wizard was designed and built by Uffa Fox for Wing Commander E. J. P. Burling in 1932 who was the officer in command of the flying boats at…

This single handed sailing dinghy was designed and built by the well known Norfolk boat builders William Starling and Sons of Blakeney in 1929 for Miss Patience Hardcastle of Godalming in Surrey. She had been taught to sail by Mr. Starling whilst on holiday in Norfolk and had initially sailed in the family’s heavy boat,…

Triton is an open double ended clinker built ship’s lifeboat which previously belonged to the pre-war tug Triton, which in the 1970s was used as a seamanship school in St Katherine’s dock in London. When the school closed the lifeboat was given to the museum. Such craft have a rather colourful history, in one sense going back…

Little more than 100 years ago, herrings were so plentiful that, for a few months of the year, they were big business on the North Devon coast. The herring fishing season lasted through the autumn and winter, when the weather could be at its worst. Little boats no more than 16ft long, known as picarooners,…

  The origins of the International 14 class can be traced back to the early part of the 20th century, when the wealthy owners of steam yachts would race each other in their small dinghy tenders. Together with other regional dinghies the class soon developed into the leading dinghy racing class up to WWII. Uffa…

Granta, a British firm, was established in 1932. Between that time and the 1960s it sold thousands of canoes and kayaks from a range which peaked at 48 models. A number of its boats were built as folding models, probably to compete with the likes of German Klepper canoes. As the company’s publicity material proudly…