Name Britannia

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

Evidence for designs, functions, techniques, processes, styles, customs and habits or uses and associations in relation to events and people.  How early, intact or rare these features are may impact on significance.

BRITANNIA has a radical design for a vessel of her kind, evidenced through her slender, deep hull which resulted from consultations between her owner, Alfred Rake and the builders, the Worfolk Brothers of Kings Lynn.  She was strongly built of single grown oak frames sourced from Sandringham Forest, the Worfolks being Royal boatbuilders.  This made her as much as 30% lighter than similar sized craft.  Her frames have survived intact, as have part of the beam shelf, knees, bilge stringers, sternpost, keel, stem, keelson and all the floors, as well as some 30% of her planking which was built from 2 inch Siberian redwood and Scottish larch, fastened with 5 inch galvanised spikes.  In the 1920s and 1930s, she was adapted for use as a power trawler and her interior was later changed for use as a charter vessel.  Her broken bulwarks and heavily scarred hull timbers were replaced during the 1970s and other conservation work using like-for-like materials was also carried out at this time.  She was originally rigged as a gaff cutter, although she later changed to a cutter and has since been fitted with a Volvo D130 engine with hydraulic drive.  Her mast was of 10 inch diameter pitch pine, but neither her rig nor her deck fittings survive today.

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

Associations with people or places.  Off-ship research.

BRITANNIA was a Boston smack, commissioned by Alfred Rake, a local fisherman who lived and worked in Kings Lynn, and has a strong association to the East Coast. The tradition for East Coast fishermen to name their boats after J class yachts may have meant that Alfred once crewed on the King’s yacht BRITANNIA.  She was the last and largest Class One smack to be built by the Worfolk brothers and the largest vessel built in the Friar’s Yard for 40 years. In her early life, BRITANNIA was involved in several incidents, first running aground on the Long Sand in the Wash, then bringing home the crew of a Russian ship found in distress.  She was later caught in the ice when the Ouze froze over in about 1918.  As the last and largest whelker to be launched and carry a topmast, BRITANNIA is significant for telling the story of the decline in the fishing industry in the Wash during the two World Wars.  In later life, she was owned by the Samuels family for over 25 years. 1979, she featured in the HTV series, “Smuggler” and had bronze cannon from Berkeley Castle fitted to her bows.  She won the Concourse D’elegance award in 1995 at Falmouth Classics event, for the best kept working boat.  She is well documented with newspaper articles of her launch, registration documents, photographs, handwritten letters, and log books from the 1980s-1990s.  Models of BRITANNIA survive in Kings Lynn Museum and one is owned by a relative of Alfred Rake living locally.  She has been recorded on the National Register of Historic Vessels since 1997.

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

Overall aesthetic impact of the vessel, her lines, material she was built from and her setting.  Does she remain in her working environment?

BRITANNIA’S primary purpose was as a whelk trawler, although she was later used as a motor fishing vessel and then a charter yacht.  She was the longest whelk trawler ever built at 60 feet and, unusually she was fine and deep drafted, unable to dry out on the sandbanks as was normal practise for a vessel of her type.  Instead, she carried an open boat on deck, anchoring off the sandbanks for her crew to catch whelks from this boat, then returning at speed to port with her load.  Her lines were similar to those of revenue cutters and she was very fast enabling her to reach harbour ahead of others, thus securing the best price for her cargo.  She retains this shape today and is aesthetically pleasing with long slim lines.  BRITANNIA is flush decked and has little headroom down below which is a legacy from her original function as a workboat.  She is now stabilised out of the water under cover in Gweek, Cornwall waiting for conservation work to return her to operational use as a charter boat (in which guise she spent almost 50% of her life). 

Source: NHS-UK team, 15 December 2016. 

This statement was developed as part of the Heritage Lottery funded First World War project. http://www.ww1britainssurvivingvessels.org.uk/