This film is part of Free

Lightships

The history of the lightship, including the recollections of retired mariner Charlie Moll, and archive footage of fisher girls at Yarmouth.

Documentary 1970 14 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for East Anglian Film Archive

Overview

Life on a modern lightship, in 1970; a film made by David Cleveland who later founded the first regional film archive, the East Anglian Film Archive. Includes the most interesting recollections from retired fisherman and lightshipman, Charlie Moll, who joined the employ of Trinity House in 1920 and remembers those days when life on a lightship was hard. There also features archive footage of the Scottish fisher girls gutting and packing herring at Great Yarmouth in 1935.

The idea for a light vessel was patented by Robert Hambling of Kings Lynn.