How an historic Hastings fishing boat was saved from being scrapped

This Saturday (May 20) is the 40th anniversary of the return to Hastings of one of the town’s oldest fishing boats, the Edward and Mary RX 74.

She was saved from being scrapped by local writer and historian Steve Peak who writes: ​She was the first Hastings fishing boat to be built with an engine and was constructed in late 1919 on the beach opposite the London Trader pub for landlord Edward ‘Tiny’ Breeds. She is 22.6 feet long on the keel and 28 feet overall, and was named after Tiny’s daughter Mary and his son Edward (always called Ned) who worked the boat.

The Edward and Mary left Hastings in 1957 operating from nearby ports until the early 1980s. By then she was much altered, renumbered and renamed. In late 1982 she was laid up in Eastbourne and stripped of her engine and the rest of her gear.

In April 1983 I happened to be walking along Eastbourne seafront when I saw what I thought was an old Hastings boat lying amongst some sheds, clearly about to be scrapped. By chance the owner was there, and told me she was the Edward and Mary. Not wanting to see this historic boat broken up, I purchased her and brought her back to Hastings on 20 May 1983, under tow by Rod Knight in his boat Andrew Peter RX134. For a month she sat in Rock-a-Nore car park, where I partially restored her. I offered to donate her to Hastings Museum, but unfortunately they declined. As I could not leave her in the car park, I decided to put her on a vacant and derelict-looking piece of beach next to the Fishermen’s Museum, where she is today. So early in the morning of 8 July, myself and two friends - Cliff Gander and John Randall - pulled her along Rock-a-Nore Road with John’s tractor and put her where she has been for the last 40 years.

That area in Rock-a-Nore Road received little attention from Hastings Council, with most of the net shops in a poor state of repair and the surrounding beach rich in weeds and rubbish. But the siting of the Edward and Mary prompted them into rethinking their policy, resulting in a proper restoration scheme for the net shops, plus improvements to the beach and Stade around them. The Shipwreck Museum, the Blue Reef aquarium and the Contemporary Arts Gallery have all come into being since then. Several years ago I donated the Edward and Mary to the Fishermen’s Museum, and hopefully she will survive another 40 years.

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