The Fishing Smack ‘Ann Hewett’

The papers of J J Neale, co-owner of the Cardiff fish merchants, Neale and West, include an extensive collection of maritime images that date from the late 19^th century. Alongside photographs of the Neale and West fishing fleet there are also several photographs of vessels that had little connection with Neale and West or Cardiff. It would appear they were selected and added to the collection because, in each case, they were considered to be ‘something special’.

Trawler LO77 under full sail (DX194/8/17)

On first inspection you might wonder why the photograph of a fishing smack was included in the collection given that, in the early 19^th century, there were thousands of small fishing smacks based in ports around the coast of Britain. From the registration number on the sail, however, it is almost certain that the photograph is of the Ann Hewett. Built in Gravesend for the Hewett family, owners of the Short Blue fleet, at a cost of £1200, the Ann Hewett carried the LO77 registration mark for over 50 years.

Loading catch from trawler deck to rowing boat (DX194/8/14)

Launched in November 1836 the Ann Hewett joined a fleet that by the mid-19th century was the biggest fishing fleet in the world. The Short Blue fleet was based at Barking, the home port for over a hundred fishing smacks in the 1830s. It is hard to believe now but, at that time, fishing smacks sailed up the Thames, almost into the heart of London, and unloaded their catch at Barking for sale at the Billingsgate fish market.

Emptying the net (DX194/8/73)

The biggest problem facing the Short Blue fleet and its competitors was that, unless the fish were salted, boats had to return to Barking every few days so that the catch could be transported fresh to Billingsgate. The Ann Hewett was built to a design, probably developed by the Dutch in the 18^th century, to address this problem. In many respects she resembled many other sailing smacks, being 60 foot in length, around 50 tons and with a crew of 8. However, she differed in one important aspect, in that she was built with a large well in the central section of the smack where fish could be kept alive until her return to port. Situated between the 2 masts and sealed from the rest of the boat by watertight compartments, the well was filled with sea water that entered through small holes drilled into the hull of the boat below the water line.

It was a design that, at the time, revolutionised deep sea fishing around the world. Known as ‘well smacks’, the new vessels were expensive to build and difficult to manoeuvre under sail. The costs, however, were more than offset, with the well allowing smacks to travel further out to sea and fish for several weeks before returning with fresh fish held in the well. Ironically, though, the Ann Hewett had to transfer her fish to hatch boats at Gravesend for transport to Billingsgate. Even in the first half of the 19th century, the Thames was polluted and allowing river water into the well would have ruined the fish.

Displaying a large skate (DX194/8/77)

Yet, even before the advent of the steam trawler, in the second half of the 19th century, the competitive edge of the well smack was being eroded. The development of ‘fleet fishing’, with large numbers of fishing smacks serviced by a constant shuttle of smaller boats taking the catch ashore, meant that the well was of less value. In addition, the use of ice, pioneered by the Short Blue fleet in England, provided other means of keeping the catch fresh while at sea.

Initially ice was imported, at some cost, from Norway, and stored for up to a year in deep thick walled ice houses built at the ports. Soon, however, supplies were secured from local farmers along the east coast of Britain who realised that money was to be made from flooding their land in the winter months and selling the ice to the fish merchants.

The Ann Hewett was sold after around twenty years’ service but continued to work as a fishing smack until the late 1880s. Our photograph was probably taken when she was under new ownership for there is no sign of the small square flag – the ‘short blue’ – flown at the mast head by the Short Blue fleet.

There are no records of the Ann Hewett visiting south Wales, but there was one connection. In March 1872 she was involved in a collision in the North Sea with the large Norwegian barque, Septentrio. One of her crew was lost overboard but picked up by the Septentrio. In heavy seas it was impossible to return to the Ann Hewett, so there was little option but for him to remain on board the barque. It just so happened that the Septentrio was carrying timber from Norway to Cardiff. It must have been a strange experience for a fisherman from the east coast of England, spending two weeks with a Norwegian crew and then being offloaded at the East Bute Dock when the Septentrio arrived in Cardiff on 2 April 1872. Let’s hope that Cardiff gave him a warm welcome before he set off on the long journey back to the east coast and the Ann Hewett.

The photograph of the Ann Hewett is one of a collection held with the papers of J J Neale at Glamorgan Archives under reference DX194. It can be accessed on line at http://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk/.

Tony Peters, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer

 

Fulton Dunlop Mahogany Room, St John Street, Cardiff

The ‘New Green Dragon’ was a public house located at the corner of Duke Street and St John Street, Cardiff.  Some sources suggest that it dated back to the early 18th century; it was certainly listed in an 1813 directory, when the proprietor was David Harris.  Its name distinguished it from the ‘Old Green Dragon’, also in Duke Street.

In 1859, the New Green Dragon was acquired by Fulton Dunlop & Company, who operated as wholesale and retail wine and spirit merchants, while still maintaining a public bar.  In February 1906, building approval was granted to the company’s proposals – drawn up by architect Edward Bruton – for major alterations to the premises.  Externally, Bruton’s building seems little changed, and is now occupied by a branch of Burger King.

Inside, the ground floor housed a wholesale department at one end, accessed from Duke Street, while the retail bar had its entrance in St John Street.  Between the two, also in St John Street, was a separate entrance, giving onto a stairway leading to the first floor.  At this level, Bruton created a grand double-height dining room.  Reports suggest that the room was frequented by some of Cardiff’s more prominent citizens; business deals and even Council decisions are said to have been made there.

Fulton Dunlop continued to trade until the 1960s, when the ground floor became a Wales Gas Board showroom.  Later it housed the Techniquest hands-on science exhibition, before becoming a fast-food outlet.  Through all these changes, the Mahogany Room – one corner of which appears in Mary Traynor’s sketch – has survived.  Twenty-eight feet long and seventeen feet wide, the dining room is lined with mahogany panelling, lavishly decorated in medieval style, and features stained glass in its windows.  Grade II listed, it now forms part of Burger King’s office space.

David Webb, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer

Sources consulted:

• Mary Traynor Collection (ref.: D1093/1/4)
• Cardiff Borough Records, plans for alterations to the Green Dragon, St. John Street & Duke Street, 1906 (ref.: BC/S/1/16146)
• Various Cardiff Directories
• http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/burger-king-secret-dining-room-4828524
• https://dicmortimer.com/2012/10/07/absent-friends/
• http://newsbucket.tumblr.com/post/139970599409/18-february-16-secret-room-above-st-john

Fairwater House, Llandaff, Cardiff

Fairwater House stood towards the western end of Fairwater Road, Cardiff, roughly opposite the present-day Ski and Snowboard Centre.

Designed by David Vaughan, it was erected in 1844 for Evan David, a significant landowner both in Glamorgan and elsewhere.  As originally built, the two storey house had two main living rooms, dining room and parlour, both on the south-facing side of the ground floor.  Upstairs were nine bedrooms of various sizes, and a ‘closet’.  No bathroom appears on the plan.  Outbuildings included a coach house and a stable with 4 stalls.

Evan David died in 1862 and his wife, Anne, in 1867.  Their son, Evan Williams David then moved into Fairwater House, which he is said to have enlarged and improved at considerable expense, though he was able to enjoy the house only for a relatively short period before his own death in 1872.

Evan Williams David had three children, including twins Evan Edgar and Jessie Anne, born in 1853.  Jessie married George Frederick Insole in 1878 and they lived in Fairwater House for some years.  However, the property subsequently passed to Evan Edgar’s son, Major Evan John Carne David, who served as High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1930.  After the Second World War, Major David moved out and Fairwater House became a local authority hostel for aged men.  It closed in the 1980s and was later demolished.  The site is now occupied by a modern housing development.

David Webb, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer

Sources consulted:

• Mary Traynor Collection (ref.: D1093/1/5)
• David Vaughan, Architect of Bonvilston Papers, Llandaff Fairwater House: plan and elevation for Mr. E. David, 1844 (ref.: DV/31/1-3)
• Family history of the David family of Fairwater (ref.: DDAV/1)
• Various Cardiff Directories
• Who’s Who in Wales 1933
• Williams, George: A List of the Names and Residences of the High Sheriffs of the County of Glamorgan from 1541 to 1966
• 1851 – 1891 Censuses
• England & Wales National Probate Calendars 1863, 1868, 1872 & 1927
• Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900

The Trawler Tamura

Photographs held at Glamorgan Archives include a number of the Neale and West fishing fleet that operated out of Cardiff and Milford Haven from 1888. Most feature the fleet of steam trawlers that were first introduced to Cardiff by the new company. With their steel hulls and fuelled by cheap local coal the steam trawlers quickly displaced the small sailing smacks and tug boats that had fished the Bristol Channel.  Steam power, allied with the use of ice to keep the catch fresh, opened up the potential for a Cardiff based fleet able to access deep sea fishing grounds. In addition, with industry and commerce drawing vast numbers of people into south Wales, there was a ready market for the fish delivered by the Neale and West trawlers to the Bute West Dock.

The Tamura in dock (DX194/8/76)

The photograph above is of the trawler Tamura. Many of the Neale and West fleet could be identified by the use of Japanese names. It is thought that this practice developed as a result of links with Japanese fishing companies and, in many respects, this rings true. At the turn of the century the Japanese were looking to modernise their fishing fleet and the design and methods used by the British trawler fleet were widely admired and copied.

Identifying specific trawlers can be tricky in that names were often reused, and two Cardiff trawlers carried the name Tamura. Part of a programme of refreshing the Cardiff fishing fleet with newer and bigger steam powered trawlers, the first Tamura was built for Neale and West in 1917 in the shipyards at Selby in the north east of England.  The new trawler was, however, immediately requisitioned by the Royal Navy and served until the end of the First World War as a minesweeper.

Of the Neale and West trawlers used by the Navy many were lost either to mines or attacks by U-Boats. The Tamura escaped this fate, but her time with the Cardiff fleet was short-lived. By 1919 she was back in Cardiff and was recorded, controversially, landing her catch at the Pier Head in a strike locked Cardiff docks. Four years later, however, she ran onto the rocks in fog, close to St Anne’s Head in Pembrokeshire. Although the captain and crew managed to get ashore safely, the trawler was lost.

Unidentified trawler grounded on rocks (DX194/8/68)

Within a year the Tamura had been replaced by a new trawler carrying the same name and again built in the north east, at Middlesbrough this time. It would seem that, at times, business was good. One report recorded the Tamura, with three other Neale and West trawlers, landing 1600 boxes of fish in one day at Cardiff. The Cardiff fleet largely brought home hake, but that day their catch included cod, mackerel, plaice, skate and bass.  It was evident, though, that the fleet was already having to go much further afield, with the Tamura often operating out in the Atlantic, west of Ireland.

Trawler men feeding out nets (DX194/8/5)

As always the risks were significant for her crew of 12 who were often away, exposed to the full force of the Atlantic, for two weeks or more.  In November 1927 the chief officer of the Tamura was washed overboard by a huge wave and drowned during a gale. In the same storm one of the crew, also from Cardiff, lost three fingers after his hand was trapped in a winch.

Trawler men landing catch (DX194/8/6)

Although Neale and West continued to operate from Cardiff until 1956, the Tamura was one of several trawlers sold to a Milford Haven company in 1931. She worked from Milford until 1939 when, like her predecessor, she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy. As HMT Comet she was, at one point, given the unenviable task of acting as a decoy to lure German U Boats to the surface so that they could be ambushed by the Royal Navy. Sadly, her naval career was to last only a year, when she was sunk after hitting a mine off Falmouth in September 1940.

There is a mystery associated with our photograph of the Tamura.  The records that we have been able to access give the Cardiff registration for the trawler launched in 1917 as CF47. We believe that the second trawler, until transferred to Milford, used CF12. Yet our photograph clearly shows CF13. Was it changed at some point due to a reluctance to sail a trawler registered with the number 13? If there is anyone who can help put this mystery to bed then please get in contact.

The photograph of the Tamura is one of a collection held with the papers of J J Neale at Glamorgan Archives under reference DX194. They can be accessed at http://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk/.

Tony Peters, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer

The Barque Favell – “My Little Bristol Beauty”

Amongst the many photographs held at Glamorgan Archives is a set of maritime images that were donated with the papers of J.J. Neale, co-owner of Neale and West, the Cardiff wholesale fish merchants. Many feature the company’s trawler fleet that operated out of Cardiff and Milford Haven. There is also a small collection of photographs of vessels that were seen, at the time, as ‘something special’ – and the Barque Favell certainly fitted that description.

The barque Favell entering Falmouth Bay, June 1930 (DX194/7/5)

Favell was the last deep sea sailing ship built in Bristol by Charles Hill and Sons, and was named after a great granddaughter of the founder of the company.  Launched in 1895 the barque, with her three masts, steel hull and sleek lines, was well matched for the trade between Britain and Australia carrying grain. The three photographs are all from 1930 when the Favell with up to 20 other vessels, referred to as ‘windjammers’, took part in the annual race from Australia carrying grain. She was the second windjammer to arrive at Falmouth that year having completed the trip in 115 days. It might have been thought that taking a sailing ship around Cape Horn was more than enough for her crew of 26 but, on the outward journey, a cyclone off the Cape Verde Islands had stripped the Favell of every sail but one.

The barque Favell ‘off the horn’, 1930 (DX194/7/4)

It was quite an occasion when Favell arrived at Cardiff docks on 11 September 1934 carrying two thousand tons of grain for Spillers’ Mills. There were photographs of the Favell in the local papers, along with an interview with one of her crew who had worked for the Hain Steamship Company.  The journey from Australia that year had taken 149 days and he described the ‘mountainous seas’ encountered after they had ‘flown’ around Cape Horn. At one point a member of the crew had been transferred to the liner Monowai by ship’s sling for medical treatment, yet he concluded that …sail life is grand and I would like to see it revived in our own country.

The truth of the matter was that it no longer made sound business sense to use sailing ships to import grain from Australia. The Favell had been sustained in its latter years by the opportunities that it provided for those who needed sailing experience as part of securing their mate’s certificates. From Cardiff she left for Helsingfors in Finland and the breakers yard. Passing Lands End on her final journey the local papers reported seeing the barque …with all her sails set providing a beautiful spectacle for those who were fortunate enough to see her.

The photograph of Favell entering Falmouth in 1930 is very similar to a photograph that was featured in the Pacific Steam Navigation Company magazine, Sea Breezes, in 1931. It was in an accompanying article that her captain, Sten Lille, described her as ‘My Little Bristol Beauty’.  Favell is still fondly remembered by the seafaring community in Bristol and features on the emblem of the Bristol Shiplovers’ Society. There is also a painting and model of the Favell in the city’s museum. Another model can be seen in London at the National Maritime Museum. The three photographs of the Barque Favell are part of the collection held at Glamorgan Archives under reference DX194/7/3-5.

Tony Peters, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer