Great Yarmouth Fishing Industry.

Great Yarmouth is steeped in history and by walking around the town you will see remnants of its history from the old Roman walls and the buildings.  As you walk along the Quayside, little remains of the fishing industry, but it was once a thriving, bustling place that was alive with people lined along the Quay cutting and gutting the herring that came into the port.

The Fisher Girls

The herring fishing trade had reached its peak in 1930.  It was said that you could walk walk from one side of the river to the other as there were that many boats in dock.  Although there were men and women come to Gt Yarmouth from all over the Country, they mainly came from Scotland.  The men would go out on the Drifters to fish, and the women would stand by the Quayside gutting fish, very similar to this picture.  This was extremely hard work, especially in the winter months when it was cold, as you can only imagine.  The fishing industry, however, can be dated back as far back to the 10th Century when Great Yarmouth was known as a fishing settlement.  In the early part of the 20th Century the average catch was around 530 million fish.  That's extrodinary, isn't it?  With new rules and regulations coming into force preventing the fishermen from fishing, the industry died.

Lydia Eva

The Lydia Eva is the last surviving steam powered herring drifter.  This is now docked in Great Yarmouth and is a free to enter museum depicting the life of the fishing industry and how the men would fish on a daily basis.  The ship isn't that large and from visitng this, you can get an idea of life was on board.  This drifter was built in Kings Lynn and was in use as a fishing drifer for 9 years when it was sold at the end of 1938.

Lydia Eva

The fishermen usually fished at night.  The reason for this was because the fish tended to rise to the top of the ocean at night.  They would throw the nets out and drag the fish in this way.

  

The Fishermen

From this picture, you can get an idea of what life was like on a drifter.  The nets would be thrown in to the sea vertically.  Once their nets were full the ships would make their way back to the dock slowly as to keep the nets in a straight line.

Life was definitely hard for both the men and the women back then.  But it was certainly a very enriching and rewarding era for the town .  

The Lydia Eva

Time & Tide Museum