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Designed & Maintained By Carol Gingell
More of Donald Shield’s photographs from 1904
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The Ferry Inn at Horning.
This was probably taken along the River Bure.
Another atmospheric scene at an unidentified location.
The steamship “Queen Of The Broads” pictured on the River Bure in 1904. This famous
passenger steamer was built at Cobholm Island in Great Yarmouth in 1889, was 74 feet
in length with a 13 foot beam and was powered by a 70hp compound steam engine. The
Queen Of The Broads made daily return trips between Wroxham and Great Yarmouth, carrying
up to 180 passengers at a time and continued to operate in the Broads right up until
1976 when she was de-
Another Yarmouth drifter is being towed out to sea by a steam tug.
Another pair of fishing boats are being towed towards the harbour mouth by a steam tug. At the peak of the fishing industry during the Edwardian era, over 9,00 men were working on the drifters and fishing boats which operated out of Great Yarmouth. Alongside this were the ancillary services such as the shipwrights, net and rope makers, coopers, smokehouses etc., and the famous herring girls who prepared the fish.
It wasn’t just local boats which brought fish into Great Yarmouth. Here we see a pair of Scottish fishing vessels being towed into port by steam tug. The boat on the left is from Kirkcaldy in Fife, and the one on the right is from Banff in Aberdeenshire.
More drifters moored at the quay in Great Yarmouth in 1904. The tower of the town hall can be seen in the background.
For many visitors to the area in 1904, their entry point would have been via the paddle steamers which made daily trips to and from London and the South East coast, carrying hundreds of passengers at a time. Many Broadland cruises also made Great Yarmouth a stopover point whilst waiting for the tides to cross Breydon, or to pick up fresh supplies. The tourist industry was flourishing here with many new hotels and boarding houses springing up to cater for the demand, but fishing was still the main industry of the port. Here we see a local trawler making it’s way out of the harbour entrance at Gorleston in 1904.
