# Wells next the sea Romulus and Remus



## rebbonk

Hi all,

As alluded to in my introduction I'm seeking information about the small Wells fishing fleet. In particular I'd appreciate any information (or pictures) about Romulus and Remus which operated out of the harbour during the 60's and 70's.

Any information at all about the harbour and supporting infrastructure would also be appreciated.


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## Steve Woodward

rebbonk,
Welcome to SN - are you aware that Wells-next-the-Sea has it's own website complete with Webcam : CLICK HERE, enjoy.
Steve


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## rebbonk

Thanks Steve.


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## slick

For rebbonk,
The story goes that Edwina Currie MP in 1988 said that the British poultry flock, and of course eggs were laden with Salmonella (yes we had panic stories back then).
The net effect was to close the Port of Wells next the Sea for cargo in that Maize was imported from France(?) and fed to some local Norfolk flocks, to give the yolks a deeper golden colour, much desired in the industry.
As the flocks were put down ergo no need to import the Maize.
I seem to remember it was a Dutch "schoot" was used.
Question , was there any veracity in the above or was it just smoko chatter.


Aye,

Slick


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## paj

hi rebbonk,
i came to wells in 1970 on the fishing boat Pride of Redcar. and we fished for skate alongside the romulus and remus, these two fishing boats were owned by george leggatt and cyril shayes and i had the following summer 1971 working on the romulus.i believe george and cyril came to wells in the boats from kent to fish for sprats in early 1960s. all the best, Paj


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## rebbonk

Slick/Paj

Many thanks for the information


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## rebbonk

Paj,

You don't by any chance have any pictures do you?

Do you know what happened to the boats or to the owners?


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## paj

hi rebbonk,
after george leggatt retired in the early 1970s i believe the boats were sold, but to who and where i dont know. george died in about 1980 or there abouts but cyril shayes still lives in the town aand is still very mobile. as for photos i havn,t got any but will get the wife to see cyril to ask him if he has any. i will have a look on local websites for you. i will also try to find out where the boats went to. 
paj


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## rebbonk

Thanks Paj.

Until quite recently I was in touch with the guy who ran the Wells web site. Unfortunately, his wife is ill so I don't think it right to be a nuisance to him.

I take it you still live in the area?


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## paj

*wells fishing*

hi rebbonk,
found a couple of sites for you to look at, wellsharbour.co.uk, in the photo gallery go to about third or fourth page and there is a pic. of rom. and remus not a very good one but it is the only one i can find at the moment. the other site is wellsnextthesea.info some great photos of wells on there. if you put wells-next-sea into google you will come up with plenty of pages on wells. 
yes i still live in wells have done for over 40 years, been all over the world and uk and wouldn,t live any where else. paj.


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## rebbonk

paj said:


> hi rebbonk,
> found a couple of sites for you to look at, wellsharbour.co.uk, in the photo gallery go to about third or fourth page and there is a pic. of rom. and remus not a very good one but it is the only one i can find at the moment. the other site is wellsnextthesea.info some great photos of wells on there. if you put wells-next-sea into google you will come up with plenty of pages on wells.
> yes i still live in wells have done for over 40 years, been all over the world and uk and wouldn,t live any where else. paj.


Thanks very much for trying to help, I really appreciate it.

I think I've exhausted google on this one.  I've even looked at the less obvious groups and picture sites, and used other search engines. I've searched the EDP site as well. I did approach the wells history group via Bob the wells info site manager. Surprisingly there seems very little info about these two craft, though everyone remembers them.

That picture on the harbour site is the one with two bystanders isn't it?

Do you remember the black Labrador that used to go into the fleece with a thruppeny bit in his mouth and come out with a kitkat? Must have been late 60's early 70's.

Cheers


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## paj

hi rebbonk,
i think the name of the dog was bruce. my wife saw cyril this morning and he told her that george leggatt died in 1979. the romulus was broken up on wells quay something to do with the white fish authority and getting money for decommisioning a fishing boat but couldn,t remember when, and that the remus was still about and had moved to brancaster just along the coast, but didn,t know weather it was a working boat or not.


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## rebbonk

Cheers Paj.

Thanks very much for your time and patience.


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## rebbonk

Not my picture, but here she is. 

http://www.tournorfolk.co.uk/brancaster/brancasterstaitheboat2.jpg


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## rebbonk

And here's the two of them together

http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum Ships/Ports Harbours Piers/slides/Wells next The Sea-02.jpg

Again, not my picture, hence the link.


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## Fenlander

One of these boats is in Brancaster harbour


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## terry large

rebbonk said:


> Hi all,
> 
> As alluded to in my introduction I'm seeking information about the small Wells fishing fleet. In particular I'd appreciate any information (or pictures) about Romulus and Remus which operated out of the harbour during the 60's and 70's.
> 
> Any information at all about the harbour and supporting infrastructure would also be appreciated.


Hello, not sure if this is still active but the Remus is for sale on "ebay"regards, Terry


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## Douglas Paterson

Where were these boats registered? That might allow us to trace their details.
Douglas
www.fishingboatheritage


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## terry large

*remus*



Douglas Paterson said:


> Where were these boats registered? That might allow us to trace their details.
> Douglas
> www.fishingboatheritage


Hello, my family owned the Remus in the 80s and fished for Skate out of Wells, i seem to remember the reg was F7 and registered at Faversham, i cant remember the number of the Romulus but i am sure they were a pair and registered from the same port, hope this helps, Terry


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## Caperora

terry large said:


> Hello, not sure if this is still active but the Remus is for sale on "ebay"regards, Terry


How sad she looks now, remember admiring the pair of them moored up at the quay when growing up in Wells as a child


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## Abbi Spooner

hey, i know this is a late reply but i know that the remus was used by my grandad, David Howell (who sadly passed away in 2010). all my life i remember going to brancaster staith harbour and watching my grandad use it to go fishing and letting me play on it. its current location is still now in the harbour but to new ownership. the young man who owns it now is returning it to its former glory so i hope one day he will let me go on it once more  dont know if this helps but i hope it does


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## terry large

Abbi Spooner said:


> hey, i know this is a late reply but i know that the remus was used by my grandad, David Howell (who sadly passed away in 2010). all my life i remember going to brancaster staith harbour and watching my grandad use it to go fishing and letting me play on it. its current location is still now in the harbour but to new ownership. the young man who owns it now is returning it to its former glory so i hope one day he will let me go on it once more  dont know if this helps but i hope it does


THE REMUS WAS SOLD LAST WEEK FOR £500 ON EBAY


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## PAUL R JARVIS

*Paul Jarvis*

I went to sea on the Romulus at the age of 16, when I left school in the 1980's, for a short while. My uncle owned it, Tony Fulford. It was broken up at Wells quite few years ago, A great shame as she was a lovely boat.
There were other similar boats that came up from Whitstable in the 1960's, chasing the spratts ROMULUS - F6
REMUS - F7
CORTINA - F27
FAUSTULUS - F21
SEA HAWK - LO 456
LEONA 11 - LO 486
 PORTUNUS - F33
Cortina sank in the 1970's, Leona ended her days at Kings Lynn working out of the Fisher Fleet.
The others i believe went back to Kent. I hope this is of help to you


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## Pgra

*Romulas and Remus*

When I left school I worked from Southend with the Gilson family. We worked alongside the leggets and their boats especially during the sprating season.In the summer Months we worked from Folkstone and thats where I first saw these two boats.I,m sure they were both varnished at the time.Little did I know at that time that I would eventually own the Sea Hawk which I purchased in about 1975.She was registered as LO 456.She was built by Alf Legget and was actually registered as the Seahawk Queen.
You may be interested to know that she can be seen on " British Pathe News". JUst type in "Sprats" or "Thames fishing". " Cockling" and "Whitebait" to see some of the oldtimers.I remember working alongside to Bawley stow netters while pair trawling for whitebait.


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## PAUL R JARVIS

*Paul Jarvis*

Thanks for that, is the Sea Hawk still with us? You are right they were both varnished, same as the Faustulus, 
Ive got a few photos of them all in Whitstable and Wells.


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## Wells Boi

Hi another late reply. I to was a regular visitor to wells from the late 50s onward so grew up knowing the two baots well in there varished form.I was even lucky enough to be featured in a post card on the quay along side them when i was about 6y.
We used to watch the fishing fleet gather around No ! boy the Roumulas or Remus would being them in as they knew where the sand banks were.By the time they had come round the pool we would have walked up the quay and be waiting for them to berth while eating are fish & chips from Greens or Frenchies
In recent years i found Remus in the creaks at bracastor not looking to good but didnt know about Romulas fate untill i spoke the Allen the Harbour master last week .That real was a shock as i wasnt a regular then haveing sold my caravan.
From what i gather they were built in whitsable and reg in Faversham F6/F7 as iam sure you know.
I would like to see Remus saved and Restored But thats up to whoever is the owner .If i can find out who bought her i can asked.
There are two brothers local to well that have restored the ex wells RNLI boats last year and are working on another ready for the Dunkirk aniversary .They would be good to take on Remus if we can give them some enccuragement.


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## Wells Boi

Up date.
All info recieved about Rounulus & Remus and Faustalus is on my Thread Wells

David


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