Edgar J. March was a tireless marine historian who published half a dozen books on traditional working boats of Great Britain. Some of the titles were relatively narrow, like “Spritsail Barges of the Thames,” but surely his masterwork was the two-volume “Inshore Craft of Britain in the Days of Sail and Oar,” published in 1970, near the end of his long career.
Today we’d like to share a few images and details from Volume One of “Inshore Craft of Britain,” covering the northern and eastern areas of the British Isles—the Shetland and Orkney Islands and the east coast of Scotland, along with the whole east coast of England, including the Thames Estuary.
Tomorrow we’ll complete the celebration of March’s major work with Volume Two of his book, focusing on the Kent coast and whole southern coast of England, along with the Scottish west coast.
Both volumes of “Inshore Craft of Britain” are out of print but readily available from used bookstores and the usual online sources. While used-book prices vary wildly, from reasonable to insanely expensive, I recently found a copy of Volume Two for $25 including tax and free shipping…but I’ve seen some copies of Volume One for more than $400, which is crazy-high. (Used bookstore prices seem friendlier than what I’ve seen directly from Amazon.)
So, let’s take a look at some of the amazing traditional boats of Britain, starting in the far-north Shetland Islands, whose designs were strongly influenced by Viking seafarers from even farther to the north.
The Shetlands, Orkney Islands, Eastern Scotland and Northern British Coast
Suffolk Coast, and South to the Thames Estuary
The East Coast: Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk
The Essex Coast
The Thames Estuary
Tomorrow, Part Two — The Kent, Sussex, Dorset and Cornwall Coasts, and West Coast of Scotland.
After seeing that last sketch, I now understand what drew your interest to these boats! Looks so much like your wonderous , “Mouse”! Still painting, “Wren”. The rain ruined a section of my port side cove stripe two days ago. Touched it up yesterday , but still looks wavy, will do starboard side, hopefully better, and then see, if I have time to resand deeper and correct the flaw better today. Other than that, she’s looking beautiful enough, now, I think, to sit beside “Mouse” without much embarrassment!
After seeing that last sketch, I now understand what drew your interest to these boats! Looks so much like your wonderous , “Mouse”! Still painting, “Wren”. The rain ruined a section of my port side cove stripe two days ago. Touched it up yesterday , but still looks wavy, will do starboard side, hopefully better, and then see, if I have time to resand deeper and correct the flaw better today. Other than that, she’s looking beautiful enough, now, I think, to sit beside “Mouse” without much embarrassment!