The Maritime Trust

Poets from Shakespeare to Masefield and popular songs from ' Rule Britannia' and 'Hearts of Oak' to 'All the Nice Girls Love a Sailor' attest to the place which ships and seamen hold in British affections and the long, intense relationship between Britain and the sea. Besides the Navy's warships and the ocean greyhounds of long-distance commerce, an extraordinary variety of vessels were built all round the coast for local conditions and specialist uses, from Polperro gaffers and Severn trows to Essex bawlies, Yorkshire billy boys, Tenby luggers and Scottish fifies. With the passing years has come the realisation that the vessels which once made Britain powerful and prosperous were vanishing, along with the skills that served them and unless action was taken, nothing would be left.