HORACE & HANNAH YH321

Horace & Hannah was built in 1906 by Beeching Bros., the famous Great Yarmouth lifeboat builders. She was one of a fleet of 60 shrimpers working the fearsome offshore sandbanks off Yarmouth until the late 1950s, when she was sold to Essex.

She was meticulously restored to original sailing condition in 1987 by Graham and Dan Hussey but encountered numerous problems a few years later, sinking and having to be recovered on more than one occasion.

She is presently at the trust and awaiting funding to complete her restoration. Restoration began during the 2020 pandemic when Horace & Hannah was worked upon in isolation by volunteers. So far, her hull has been sanded to locate areas where her planking has rotted and timber is being replaced. Once this is complete, her interior will be restored and an engine fitted.

We hope to have the funding to complete restoration in 2022 and return this lovely vessel to the water for the public to enjoy. Although she is powered by sail, the addition of an engine is necessary as a safety measure when sailing at sea.

Yarmouth Shrimpers

A Yarmouth Shrimper is a half-decked sloop with a little cuddy to shelter the crew from the worst weather. They were only at sea for a few hours at a time – catching shrimp, landing them, getting them cooked and taken to market – and so they didn’t need to accommodate their crew in the same way that Excelsior did.

Though mainly used to catch shrimps for the summer tourists, these boats also landed Dover soles and other flatfish.

You can see another example of a Yarmouth Shrimper at the Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth. Coronation YH671 was built in 1902, also at Beeching Bros., and after restoration she became a permanent exhibition at the Time and Tide Museum.