Golden Gleam

Current boat name

Golden Gleam

Boat class

6939

Function

Fishing and Hunting

Type

Length (m / ft)

8.53 / 28ft

Beam (m / ft)

2.29 / 7ft 8in

Date of build

1948

Place of build

Amble

Present use

Sailing

GOLDEN GLEAM was built in 1948 , for a fisherman called Main Downey who lived in Boulmer*. His great granddaughter Judith confirmed that the Downeys were a fishing family from Longhoughton, near Boulmer at the time. Golden Gleam is a Northumbrian coble, 29 feet long, originally powered by a second hand BMC car engine, adapted for marine use as shortly after the war new engines were difficult and expensive to obtain. She was one of the earliest boats built by Dawson’s and has all the design features of the older cobles in use at that time. Dawson’s were mainly built larger craft: ringers, seiners and trawlers: not many cobles. Golden Gleam was subsequently sold several times, moving to Blyth, Sunderland and Cullercoats before becoming a pleasure craft at Redcar. In 2000 Golden Gleam was purchased by a member of North East Maritime Trust for her historical value and returned to the place of her build, Seahouses, where work was undertaken to bring her back to original condition but without a fixed engine although rigged for sail. She has been refitted with mast, sails and rig in traditional local fashion and is kept at Seahouses most of the time. Golden Gleam follows Northumbrian tradition as closely as can be achieved: painting scheme, rigging details, sails etc. being faithfully copied from records and local practice. She is in the custody of NEMT associate Northumberland Fishing Heritage Trust and normally moored in the “Fluke Hole” at Seahouses during the summer months but is stored during the winter. * Boulmer (Boomer) is a village on the Northumberland coast, once a small but thriving in-shore fishing community. The beach was lined with stone built fisherman’s cottages but they were all demolished along with the local fishing industry in the latter part of the 20th Century.