Name Provident

1. What is the vessel’s ability to demonstrate history in her physical fabric?

PROVIDENT was built in 1924 by Saunders & Co. on the R. Dart at Galmpton, Devon as one of the last such trawlers to be commissioned for working under sail. After 6 years working as a trawler she was converted by a new American owner into a yacht to a design by Morgan Giles. This fit-out and subsequent works, including having an engine fitted, reduced the amount of material surviving from her build. By 1986 PROVIDENT, by then owned by the Maritime Trust and chartered to the Island Cruising Club, was in very poor condition and was taken out of commission. A major refit in 1990/1991 which included internal joinery work resulted in a significant replacement and reworking of the vessel’s original structure and fittings. However the hull and rig  retain her original form alongside general arrangements reflecting her use as a sail training vessel.

2.      What are the vessel’s associational links for which there is no physical evidence?

PROVIDENT has several strands in her associational links. Built to replace an earlier vessel of the same name sunk by a U-boat in the First World War, apart from her time during the Second World War and subsequent cruising in the Baltic, she has sailed for almost all her life in and around Tor Bay and the Kingsbridge estuary, becoming a familiar sight to locals and visitors alike. John Bayley, who bought her in 1951 was a pioneer in developing sailing for young people, setting up the Island Cruising Club (ICC) in 1951, thereby placing Provident at the forefront of the sail training movement. She took part in the first Tall Ships race run by the Sail Training Association out of Torbay in 1956, and continued under ICC ownership until 1971, when the newly formed Maritime Trust acquired her in order to secure her future,  chartering her back to the ICC which continued to operate her. After the major 1991 refit, The Maritime Trust  sold PROVIDENT in 1993 to the Island Trust which in turn sold her in 2002  to another sail training body – Trinity Sailing – which remains her owner. Therefore the tradition of being a major force in the sail training movement continues to this day, informing how she is repaired, maintained and used, and playing a significant part in defining this vessel’s significance to the UK.

 3.       How does the vessel’s shape or form combine and contribute to her function?

Despite extensive rebuilding, PROVIDENT retains the hull form of the traditional sail-driven Brixham trawler designed both for speed, and to work well in the short seas of Torbay and the English Channel. PROVIDENT therefore incorporates a straight stem, slim deep hull, projecting counter stern and relatively generous side decks  reflecting her fishing pedigree. Her rig, originally designed to be handled by 3 men and a boy, is ideal for sail training as trainee crews have a multiplicity of tasks to be done as they learn the characteristics of this particular type of wind-driven trawler. An engine has been retained to meet modern training safety requirements. Down below, the fish hold and basic crew accommodation has been reconfigured to provide appropriate berths and facilities for trainees and professional crew.

4.      Status

 PROVIDENT is listed on the National Register of Historic Vessels (NRHV) as being of national significance and  is one of 6 Brixham trawlers with National Historic Fleet (NHF)  status. The Fleet comprises some 200 vessels of outstanding national significance out  of a total of 1200 vessels registered on the NRHV.