It’s funny the things or events that spark ideas for a project. A trip to an estuary in Brittany last year where a dozen or so boats had been beached and abandoned started me thinking. Why are they just left to slowly return to nature, is this the normal end for these often graceful boats and does this happen elsewhere?
I started in Dungeness and worked my way along the coast to Suffolk setting myself the brief of abandoned boats only. I was surprised to discover among all the abandoned boats there was a thriving community of houseboat dwellers. The brief had just got wider! Some were Dutch barges, some weren’t but all had been customised to their owner’s wants and needs. Then there are boats that are still used up and down the east coast, the oyster smack being one of them. The brief got wider still.
The boats that you see here are a mixture of the above; there are Thames Barges, Dutch Barges, WW2 landing vessels all were useful and beautiful in their way and now being reclaimed by nature.
I started in Dungeness and worked my way along the coast to Suffolk setting myself the brief of abandoned boats only. I was surprised to discover among all the abandoned boats there was a thriving community of houseboat dwellers. The brief had just got wider! Some were Dutch barges, some weren’t but all had been customised to their owner’s wants and needs. Then there are boats that are still used up and down the east coast, the oyster smack being one of them. The brief got wider still.
The boats that you see here are a mixture of the above; there are Thames Barges, Dutch Barges, WW2 landing vessels all were useful and beautiful in their way and now being reclaimed by nature.
© Deirdre Robinson