National Small Boat Collection

Commander John Watkinson, an experienced and accomplished Naval Officer, left the Royal Navy in 1958 and bought a boatyard, Kelly and Hall, to try his hand at a new venture.…

In 1961, at a time when dinghy sailing was hugely popular, the Sunday Times decided to sponsor a dinghy class of its own. The prime object was, as usual, that…

Foyboats and boatmen have been traditionally associated with the rivers of Britain’s north east coast for at least three hundred years. Throughout the age of sail their main task, undertaken…

Curraghs are traditional Irish boats, unique to that part of the world. Built around strong wooden frames, their hulls are formed with waterproof canvas or leather. The curragh men, their…

White Owl, a boat typical of the thousands of small craft built in Falmouth yards over the last few centuries, was built by Thomas Jackett in 1908. cost of the…

In 1954 a group of dinghy sailors from clubs in the Solent area collaborated with Fairey Marine’s Charles Currey, an Olympic silver medallist in Finns, in an attempt to come…

Witch is a working boat used for catching lobsters and crabs. In his book Working Boats of Britain, Eric McKee lists the boat as an example of a typical small…

  The Dghaisa has been the chief work boat of Malta for centuries and its origins can be traced back thousands of years. High ended boats such as these have…

On 4-5 June 1976, Derek Hutchinson (leader), Tom Caskey and Dave Hellawell paddled their kayaks from Felixstowe Ferry, Suffolk to Ostend, Belgium, over 100 miles of open sea in 31…