These boats were based on the Thames working skiffs but were more heavily built, and were used by watermen for various uses including ferrying, fishing and taking people out for pleasure trips at Margate, Kent in the summer months.
Haughty Belle was reported to be the last Kentish Wherry to be used at Margate in 1982.
The design and construction combines the heavy workman like qualities of the Thames skiff and the more graceful lines of the north Kent Wherry. It had a dipping lug rig and would have been launched off the beach using a two wheeled pole truck. With the big old cartwheels bystanders could give a hand by turning the spokes.
