Exmouth and Sidmouth Luggers
Small luggers worked all along this coast, from the river Exe to Lyme Regis, all with slight variation. Both Exmouth and Sidmouth were once both important fishing stations with some 180 boats registered as fishing from Sidmouth alone in the late nineteenth century. The smallest, around 14ft, fished pots for lobsters whilst the larger, around 21-23ft, were fishing for mackerel and herring. Boats were launched straight off the beach using greased wooden poles. In the river Exe they were slightly deeper in draught, being moored in the river at such places as Lymphstone, Topsham, Starcross, Powderham & Cockwood.
These boats, it has been said, were not good sailers, the fishermen saying it was better to row than sail. However they travelled far and wide, as far as Kent, sleeping in the tiny cuddy under the foredeck.
In 1890 there were said to be some 30 luggers working off the beach at Sidmouth. A couple of decades later, Stephen Reynolds, writing in the early 1900s, brings to life of the longshoreman at Sidmouth in his books A Poor Man’s House (1909) and Alongshore (1910).
Little Jim, mentioned in the Beer section, was typical of both Beer and Sidmouth luggers.
Sources: 2, 3, 6
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