Royal Diadem II is a general purpose motor coble with auxiliary sail. Briefly her history is:

Built by Harrison’s of Amble in 1948.

First owners William and Albert Silk.

First port Newton by the Sea, then Craster (same owners).

Sold to Boulmer where the owner was William Ralph Wood. The boat may have also been owned by James Carse at this same location, before or after Mr Wood.

Sold to unknown person at Blyth or Cambois.

Sold to Harold Chamberlain at South Shields.

Came into the ownership of NEMT in 2007

Registration number was BK255.

Original main colour was Valspar Indian Red.

Original engine was a Kelvin 12/14 petrol/paraffin, supplemented with main and mizzen lug sails.

New Kelvin P4 diesel fitted by R. Dawson and Sons at Seahouses circa 1960.

Golden Gleam was built in 1948 by Ralph Dawson of Seahouses, Northumberland, for a fisherman called Main Downey who lived in Boulmer.

The boat was a Northumbrian coble, 29 feet long, powered by a (secondhand?) BMC car engine, adapted for marine use. The vessel had a mast and auxiliary sail. She was one of the earliest boats built by Dawson’s and appears to have been a copy of the older cobles in use at that time. Dawson’s mainly built larger craft: ringers, seiners and trawlers; not many cobles.

Golden Gleam subsequently was sold several times, moving to Blyth, Sunderland and Cullercoats before becoming a pleasure craft at Redcar.

In 2000 Golden Gleam was purchased by an NEMT member without a fixed engine and rigged for sail. He has refitted her with mast, sails and rig in traditional local fashion as far as possible. The boat usually has an outboard engine fitted in a well near the stern. She is kept at Seahouses most of the time.

Though not an exact restoration, the vessel follows Northumbrian tradition as closely as can be achieved: painting scheme, rigging details, sails etc. being faithfully copied from local practice.

Golden Gleam is normally moored in the “Fluke Hole” at Seahouses during the summer months but is stored during the winter.

Peggy was built by Harrisons of Amble in 1924 for stock but soon found a buyer, one of the Hall family of Beadnell. She was sold to Robert Rutter of Seahouses and at that time carried the number BK7. Later she moved to Amble and became Glad Tidings BH177. Her last port was Hartlepool, from where she was bought by an NEMT member. Now she has been extensively restored with much work being undertaken by Fred Crowell in his workshop in South Shields.

She was built in the 1970s by Harrison’s of Amble for a fisherman working from Amble harbour. Her earlier name was Acclaim. It appears she was never registered on the fishing boat register as boats used for salmon fishing did not need to be.

At 26.5 feet in length she is smaller than the cobles used for more general purposes though at one time there were many others of this size.

During the 1980s Acclaim was sold to South Shields owners. After passing through several hands she was renamed Mary Young and eventually purchased by a member of NEMT.

Old Northumbrian sailing coble “Peggy” has just been re-launched after extensive restoration work by Fred Crowell, Tyneside’s last wooden boatbuilder. Fred has been rebuilding the vessel over the last three months in his workshop next door to the North East Maritime Trust in Wapping Street, South Shields. The 80 year old boat was saved by Mick Dawson (one of NEMT’s officials) and Fred Crowell, who has done much work on historic craft associated with the Trust, has replaced nearly half of the planking, much of the framing together with other difficult work on what was a very tired old boat. Peggy was built in Amble in 1925 and worked as a fishing boat out of Seahouses, Beadnell and Amble before migrating to Hartlepool where Mick found her. She joins the growing collection of regional historical working craft, being built up under the umbrella of the North East Maritime Trust. Photo shows (L to R) Mick Dawson, Fred Crowell and Peggy.