Coble - Sea Salt (HFF Everyone)

The blue and white boat on the sand is a recently rescued and refurbished traditional local Fishing Coble that was built in 1963. ‘Sea Salt' regularly leaves Whitby Harbour to harvest the sea salt which in turn will help to preserve this valuable, traditional wooden fishing boat for generations to come.

The coble is a type of open traditional fishing boat which developed on the North East coast of England. The southernmost examples occur around Hull, the type extends to Burnmouth just across the Scottish border.

The distinctive shape of the boat — flat-bottomed and high-bowed — arose to cope with the particular conditions prevalent in this area. Flat bottoms allowed launching from and landing upon shallow, sandy beaches; an advantage in this part of the coast where the wide bays and inlets provided little shelter from stormy weather. However, fishermen required high bows to sail in the dangerous North Sea and in particular to launch into the surf and to land on the beaches. The design contains relics of Norse influence, though in the main it shows Dutch origin.

Local boat-builders constructed the clinker-built cobles locally as required, without the use of plans. The craftsmanship on many boats gave them a long working life. They had a reputation as dangerous to sail for an inexperienced crew, but in the hands of experts could move both safely and speedily.

Today, surviving cobles generally use diesel engines, removing the need for the distinctively shaped lug sail.