The Ships and Mariners of Shoreham

“The days have gone by when sailing ships of large tonnage were launched at Shoreham. The vast strides made in marine engineering and the building of steamships long since silenced the once busy yards so far as the building of sailing ships is concerned, though indeed, as we shall have occasion to observe later, the industry of yacht-building still flourishes.Ship-building flourished in Shoreham from an early date, down to our own day, but some thirty years have now lapsed since the last merchant ship went off the stocks. Of all those that had been built, two only have been seen in the Harbour within the last two or three years, but in this (1909) year's registers no vessels built by any of the old Shoreham builders are given as now existing. This being so, it seemed to the writer something of a reproach that some attempt had not been made to rescue from partial if not entire oblivion, a record of these wood-built sailers, which were indeed so famous in their time that none of their size could beat them.”
Henry Cheal Junior 1909.

Contents: The River Adur; Ancient ships and mariners; Shoreham pirates and privateers; The flight of the King; The Shoreham men-of-war and their commanders; The Shoreham merchant ships; Shoreham shipwrecks and disasters; The oyster fishery; Smuggling at Shoreham; List of master mariners at Shoreham.