Chatham Directory of Inshore Craft: The Traditional Working Vessels of the British Isles Book

â??The new directory, Inshore Craft, is a spectacular achievement.’ Wooden Boat Magazine. This comprehensive reference work describes and illustrates some 200 types of inshore craft which once fished and traded, under oar and sail, around the coasts of the British Isles.The types are arranged by coastal area and each is described in terms of its shape and design, fitness for location and purpose, build, evolution and geographical distribution. Details of dimensions, rig, building materials, seamanship and the survivial of examples are given where known, while hundreds of line drawings and photographs show the vessels in their original forms.A team of twelve experts describe all these boat types and, in addition, contribute introductions to particular areas which outline the physical environment, fisheries and other uses of the sea that influenced boat design; maps of all the areas show ports and physical features.At the beginning of the last century sail and oar dominated fisheries and local trade; one hundred years later those craft have all but disappeared. This book brings alive for maritime historians and enthusiasts, traditional boat sailors, modelmakers and all those with an interest in traditional ways of life, the vast array of craft that once fished and sailed along inshore seas.