May
Liverpool Nobby
Length overall [less bowsprit]: 32ft 0in 9.75m Beam: 9ft 0in 2.74m
Length waterline: 28ft 0in 8.53m Draught: 3ft 6in 1.06m
Sail area: circa 650 sqft 61 sqm Displacement: circa 8000 kg
Headroom: 5ft 9in 1.75m Engine: BMC 1.5 diesel 1979
Builder: W. Crossfield & Sons, Hoylake, 1922
Launched 1922, sunk in the Second World War and restored in 1987 to win the Liverpool Nobby Race.
History of the Lancashire Nobby
[Thanks to Wikipedia]
The Lancashire nobby was born in North West England in the 1840s, primarily as a shrimp trawler, towing beam trawls to catch the common brown shrimp (Crangon Vulgaris), the pink shrimp [Pandalus montagui] and various flatfish. The nobby ranged in size from about 25 foot up to 32 foot for single handed boats and from 36 to 45 foot for two man boats. They were all pole masted cutters with gaff topsail. The design evolved from earlier straight stemmed, long keel boats into a beamy shallow hull with a pronounced reverse curve in the midship section and a cut away forefoot. The square tuck stern changed into an immersed elliptical counter, either by evolution or adoption of the Soutport form, the change being complete before 1880. All of the boats had wide side decks and a long cockpit, about a third of the beam in width, with low freeboard and a low rail to facilitate lifting the gear on board. These shrimp boats, about 32ft long, were fast and handy in the shallow waters of Morecambe Bay. The larger boats, over 40ft, were called 'prawners', though they were actually used to catch pink shrimps. A sub-type called the 'bay boat' developed for the holiday trade. The bay boat had a shallow draft so it could operate around Grange-over-Sands at the head of Morecambe Bay. Crossfields of Arnside were the most prolific builders with two yards at work. Later branches of the family started yards at Conwy and took over a yard at Hoylake. Many nobbies were constructed by Gibson at Fleetwood, later taken over by Liver and Wilding. In particular, William Stoba [18551931], a foreman shipwright with Fleetwood builders, developed the design and experimented with centreboards. Other builders were working at Annan, Millom, Crossens and Marshside near Southport. The nobby-type was adopted by fishermen from the Solway down to Cardigan Bay, and hundreds were built. The demand for boats was driven by the English taste for shrimps, which in its turn was driven by the English sea side holiday trade that boomed after the coming of the railways in the 1850s. There was no standard design of nobby, alterations were made to suit the ideas of the original owners. Two racing classes, the Royal Mersey Rivers class and the Fleetwood Jewel Class, were built by Crosfields on nobby lines. The difference between the two was that the Jewels were cutter rigged like a nobby and the Rivers had a single headsail. Fleetwood fishermen returning from the Great War switched to steam trawlers. During the long decline of the nobbies, engines were fitted and the midship section was filled out. Trawling was permitted with these engines from 1922 until 1925, but by 1938 new building had all but stopped. The engines drove through the quarter in most boats, to keep the propeller well away from the net during shooting and hauling. A small number of motor nobbies were built at Annan after 1925 with a center line motor installation and a stump mast for a derrick to handle the net. At other nobby ports the changing economics of fishing with engines meant that fewer new nobbies were built, so that most of the nobby builders retired from trade during the Second World War. Nobbies were sold cheaply and converted to yachts in the 1950s.
ALBION the last nobby to fish the Mersey was bought with a 1950s football pools win.
Pictured by Tony Hodbod at Garston in 1969
ALBION restored off Conwy.
MAY Pictured in the Conwy River in 2006 by present owners Barry Sherratt & Tony Burgham
GBP 25,000 brokerage sale
Coburg Yacht Brokers
Sealand Boat Deliveries Limited
Douglas Boatyard, Becconsall Lane, Hesketh
Bank, Preston,
Lancashire, England. PR4 6RR
Tel: 01254 705225
TeleFax: +44 1254 776582
International: +44 1254 705225
Internet address: http://www.coburgbrokers.com
e-mail: ros@poptel.org
1985623 England VAT Reg: GB 458 0236 50
Please note: in this case we are acting as brokers only. The vendor is not selling in the course of a business. Whilst every care has been taken in their preparation, the correctness of these particulars is not guaranteed. Particulars do not constitute a term of any contract. A prospective buyer is strongly advised to check the particulars and, where appropriate, at his own expense employ a qualified marine surveyor to undertake a survey and, if necessary, to undertake an engine test. Offered for sale subject to being unsold.
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