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Designed & Maintained By Carol Gingell

In 1979, the yard changed hands again, and Ernest Collins and Sons Ltd was bought by local entrepreneur Leslie Trafford, who also owned Jack Powles and Co Ltd - history had now gone around full circle and the two businesses of the Collins family that had originally gone their separate ways were back again under common ownership. Ernest Collins did not remain under Trafford’s ownership for long as in 1981, the company was sold, together with the fleet of Jack Powles, to the Henly Organisation - 160 craft in total. Under the management of David Keable, one of the former directors, the Collins fleet moved from its historic yard in Staitheway Road to the old Powles yard on Riverside Road, on the opposite side of the river.  The old wooden boatsheds in the old Ernest Collins’ yard were demolished to enable a large new boat basin to be built.

The hire boat business on the Broads had had its heyday, and mirroring this trend, the Ernest Collins fleet went into gradual decline. Having failed to make the return on capital predicted, in August 1984 the Henly Group sold the Powles and Collins fleet to Herbert Woods Group plc, who also owned the ageing Herbert Woods fleet of craft.  David Keable moved to head office and Derek James, who had been with Powles for over 30 years, took over as manager. Within a year, the combined fleets of Jack Powles, Ernest Collins, Herbert Woods, Southgates of Horning and Heart Cruisers of Thorpe were trading under the name of “Pennant Holidays”, independently of Blakes and Hoseasons.

With an aging fleet of hire craft in a declining market, Herbert Woods Group plc got into financial difficulty and were bought by Mowat Group plc in 1991. Mowat invested over £500,000 in new craft and also sold the former Powles/Ernest Collins yard in Staitheway Road to George Smith and Sons (boatbuilders) Ltd, who were successfully building the “Sheerline” design of boats.  As part of the deal, a large order was placed with George Smith for a a significant number of Sheerline boats, but although some were delivered in 1991/92, Mowat plc got into financial difficulty and went out of business.  In August 1994, George Smith and Sons sold the old ‘Powles International Marine’ boatyard buildings and part of the old Collins yard to OfferDecor Limited for development, and the enormous boatsheds that for so long had been a landmark on the south side of the river were totally demolished, and replaced with “designer” houses. The last vestiges of the original Ernest Collins boatsheds had gone.

Len Funnell, who owned John Loynes yard, bought what was left of the Pennant fleet and the Herbert Wood yard in Potter Heigham, and in the following years, many of the craft that had once been part of the Ernest Collins fleet were sold off to private owners.

By the end of 2003, the only remaining Collins craft still in hire fleets were the three wherry yachts, “Olive”, “Norada”, and “White Moth”.  (See footnote) However, the classic lines of the Collins yachts and river cruisers remain much in demand today - in 2002, a superb replica of the Collins’ “White Emblem” design of river cruiser was built by Peter Applegate of Wroxham Marine, using a Sheerline 950 hull and a mahogany superstructure.

The legacy of the Collins family, and Ernest Collins in particular, lives on through all the proud owners of these fine craft.

Roger Wilson 2003

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The Collins Legacy

The History Of The Boatyards Of Robert Collins, Ernest Collins and Alfred Collins by Roger Wilson

By 1974, Latham had 22 new cruisers in his fleet, all made from the “Bourne” glassfibre hull, complete with the distinctive metal diamond emblem on the prow and varnished wooden superstructures.  The last remains of a proud yachting heritage in the fleet were the 34ft yachts “Silver Arrow” and “Silver Queen”.   The yard also built many cruisers for private ownership, and to this day, the Latham era cruisers are a distinctive and easily recognisable sight on the Broads. One such boat is “Fortuna”, a beautifully preserved Collins cruiser still kept undercover on the old Staitheway Road premises, which still looks as good as the day she was built.

Footnote:

Mike Barnes,  who has owned the sailing cruiser “Maidie” since 1984, has provided some further information from his own research into her history.  Maidie was launched in 1904 under her original name of Nathalie, she was renamed Madge in 1910 and then Maidie just after the First World war.  Her owner at that time was Sir William Mallinson, who was a timber magnate and the Managing Director of Mallinson & Denny.

Mike also mentions that there is still one other Collins craft which remains in hire today. The counter sterned yacht “Zoe” which was built in 1897 is still on the books of the Norfolk Broads Yachting Company who are based at Horning. She was originally called “Jubilee”, named after the fact that 1897 was the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.