Judy Middleton 2017
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| copyright © L. Flowers Joe Hawkins surveys the scene. |
Joe Hawkins was a familiar sight on Hove beach for many
years. In fact, he has the distinction of being the last man to hire out rowing
boats from the beach in both Brighton and Hove. It had been a long, sad decline
from the heyday of 1923 when no less than 49 rowing boats, seven motorboats and
three sailing boats were available for hire from Hove beach, registered as
seaworthy with Hove Council. All registered boatmen had to wear a special badge
supplied by the Council annually at a cost of one shilling. The boatmen also
had to pay rent for use of capstans and lockers / huts.
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| copyright ©
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Hove seafront opposite Brunswick Terrace, note the two fishermen on the right operating the capstan |
Joe was following in his father’s
footsteps because Mr Hawkins, senior, had also hired out rowing boats from Hove
beach. This career came to an abrupt end at the outbreak of the Second World
War when the Admiralty requisitioned his boats and removed them to Shoreham
Harbour. It seems more than likely that cadet ratings from HMS King Alfred at
Hove used them for training purposes and inevitably they became somewhat the
worse for wear. Indeed when the Admiralty returned the boats to Mr Hawkins, he
was horrified to find they were virtual wrecks. He lost no time in pursuing a
claim for compensation and this was duly paid out.
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| copyright © I. Hennell It is probable that cadet ratings trained in boats requisitioned from Mr Hawkins senior. |
Joe Hawkins was born in London
but moved to the coast in 1917 and stayed there for good. In his youth he
worked as a bricklayer for the Gasworks at Portslade and he and his wife and
their daughter lived at 5 Church Street, Portslade. He loved the sea, fishing
and his boats and he spent all of his spare time at Hove beach. When he retired
he came to the beach most days. His daughter remembered that following the
Second World War, Joe built up a ‘fleet’ of around ten boats but the number was
smaller by the 1960s.
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| copyright © L. Flowers Joe Hawkins in the 1960s. |
He was a stocky figure but not
tall, being only around 5 feet 6 inches. By the 1960s he had a magnificent head
of white hair, which contrasted strongly with his suntanned face. He never
smoked tobacco but he was partial to a pungent pinch of pepper-like snuff that
he kept in a mahogany and silver snuffbox. He would offer the box around asking
if anybody would like a pinch but perhaps he knew there would be few takers.
The snuff habit did not enhance his features because it left a mustard coloured
residue around the nostrils. His ‘old salt’ image was completed by a
nautical-style cap. But he had a refined side too and he never drank tea from a
mug and always used an old china cup with the little finger daintily raised as
he drank.
In the 1960s his mode of
transport from his home in Portslade to Hove beach was a 1950s maroon BSA B31
bike weighed down with canvas haversacks from the Army Surplus stores on either
side. He wore an Everoak crash helmet. In winter he was clad in a heavy, black
motorbike jacket plus Wellingtons. But in summer he favoured shorts, plimsolls
and a short-sleeved top.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The British Legion Hall in Trafalgar Road, Portslade. |
Twice a week Joe would transform
himself by donning a dark suit and taming his wild white hair with oil. Then he
would set off for the British Legion Hall in Trafalgar Road, Portslade, where
he enjoyed dancing the waltz and foxtrot.
Joe’s Locker
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| copyright © J.Middleton Joe’s beach was situated opposite this stretch of Hove promenade. |
Joe’s locker was the first one at the top of the beach
from the west side, just after the rotunda shelter. The cream-painted locker
measured 14 feet by 3 feet 6 inches and had a flat roof sloping down to drain
rainwater. Joe’s locker was raised some 18 inches above ground level and
non-essential odds and ends were stored underneath. Inside the locker was
everything Joe might need in connection with his boats.
On the beach side of the locker two flaps folded down to
give access to the top half. On the left there was a full-sized locked cupboard
containing a couple of ancient Seagull outboard motors, a fuel can and various
tools and spares. On the outside there was a shelf to hold such essentials as
tea, sugar and china cups and an old kettle. A paraffin stove stood on the
floor to heat the water for a pot of tea, the water being collected from a
nearby standpipe on the promenade.
On the back wall hung the rowlocks that were not
identical, being individual to each boat. There were all sorts of tools that
might come in useful such as saws, spanners, hammers, screwdrivers and chisels.
There were boxes containing paint pots, brushes, cord, rags, screws, nuts and
bolts plus a sledgehammer. There was a biscuit tin full of old corks, which
became an essential item when wrapped in a piece of rag to plug drain holes
near the boat’s transom. There was also a large pot of gasworks grease.
On the right side there were around twelve oars measuring
6 feet to 8 feet stored horizontally, plus anchors, ropes, tarpaulins, boat
rods, long-line tubs and buoys
Outside the locker Joe placed comfortable benches to form
a square floored with reclaimed timber. In summer if the locker were in use all
day at weekends, Joe would raise tarpaulins on either side supported on
galvanised L-shaped frames to provide windbreaks. His domain thus became a cosy
nook – a home from home as everyone agreed.
Joe’s Sayings
Joe had a number of sayings that were always associated
with him. For example, it exasperated him when his helpers came to and from the
beach without carrying anything because there were always pieces of equipment
to be ferried back and forth. He would say emphatically ‘Don’t go empty-handed.’
When he noticed a task was being performed the wrong way,
he never swore but used to utter ‘I say, I say!’ In fact the strongest word he
ever employed was an occasional ‘blasted’.
Joe’s adult helpers knew that it was best to haul a boat
by the bows but greenhorn teenaged helpers thought they should push the stern.
When he saw this happening Joe would shout ‘You’re wasting your time there!’
Should somebody make a dubious proposal to him, he would
respond ‘We can’t entertain that.’
When his clients were about to embark in one of his boats,
he warned them ‘It’s always colder on the water.’
If there had been a tricky incident involving the launch
or recovery of a boat, he would announce dramatically ‘We were flirting with
death.’
One of Joe’s sayings that intrigued his teenaged helper
was ‘I’m just going to see my accountant.’ It was not until the youngster made
enquiries that he learned it meant a turf accountant and Joe was merely off to
place a bet on the horses. You knew when he had made a winning punt because he
would return in a very genial mood.
Joe used to recite an old rhyme about the wind and
fishing:
Wind from the West, fish bite the best
Wind from the East, fish bite the least
Wind from the North, do not go forth
Wind from the South, blows bait in their mouths
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| copyright © L. Flowers Joe liked nothing better than being around his boats. |
Joe’s boats were displayed bow first on the beach in a
line parallel to the promenade. All boats were clinker-built and had been varnished
when new but with age the varnish had darkened. When a boat was past its prime
with defects carefully repaired, a good coat of paint provided extra protection
and a smarter appearance. The painted backboards displayed the boat’s name in
decorative letters.
Joe’s collection of boats was as follows:
Jolly Jumbuck – This unusually named boat
was Joe’s best, being a 12-foot mahogany-built rowing boat.
Tina – An 11-foor rowing boat probably
constructed of oak.
Melita – A 10-foot rowing boat probably constructed
of mahogany,
Heidi – This was an additional 13-foot
rowing boat acquired in around 1967 with a high bow reflecting Norse influence
because the boat was built in Stromness, Orkney. Joe purchased this boat at
Worthing after she had taken a bit of a bashing. She had been kept on a raised
shingle beach but a combination of high winds and heavy seas had swept her off
and dumped her on the promenade below. A few strakes were damaged and Joe
bought her in this condition. But after Joe had worked on the boat she was as
good as new.
Sea Queen – A rather posh name for a
somewhat stocky boat, around 16 feet in length, with a counter stern designed
for beaching. Joe purchased this boat from Mr Hillman who kept a few fishing
boats at the foot of East Street, Brighton. She was not a prime specimen being
a sun-bleached hull. But Joe was prepared to take her on. One summer’s day,
John (one of Joe’s regular helpers) and teenaged Lawrence, motored along the
coast to collect the boat and tow it back to Joe’s beach. Once in the water,
the old boat proved to be very leaky indeed and John was obliged to keep the
outboard roaring at full throttle in order to keep momentum. But the water
seeped in relentlessly and the boat was set so low in the water that the
gunwales were virtually awash. There was no other option than to beach her off
Second Avenue and set to baling her out. After a great deal of work, they made
a quick dash for Joe’s beach. When Joe had finished refurbishing her, she was
given a good coat of white paint with contrasting maroon touches to gunwales
and looked very smart.
Sea Princess – This boat was purchased later
on and probably had a similar history to the Sea Princess. She too was
painted throughout.
Other Boats
Although Joe’s boats were the only ones for hire, there
were other boats on the beach too. In fact there was a little community there
because John and Ron kept their boats nearby and stored their gear in the next
locker. They were friends and associates of Joe’s and helped him with his boats
and often joined him for tea and conversation. John’s boat was no more than 12
feet but carried such a weight of paint that it was far heavier than you might
expect and difficult to move. John used to arrive at the beach on his 1950s
Triumph 650cc motorbike equipped with a sidecar in which to transport gear.
Mr Saunders who taught at neighbouring private school Hove College owned some boats at the other end of the beach that he used for fishing
expeditions with his sons. Hove College’s connection with boats went back a
long way and boys were allowed to use school boats or perhaps owned their own.
Gordon Sherry, who started there at a tender age in the 1890s, used to
accompany Mrs Jones, the headmaster’s wife, on her shopping expeditions to
Brighton, preferring to use a boat rather than a horse and cart and beaching
the boat at the foot of West Street. At one stage during the 1960s Mr Saunders
was the proud owner of a large boat with a lute-shaped stern, varnished and in
prime condition. The boat was in a similar style to those on display outside
the Fishermen’s Museum at Brighton.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Mr Saunders once owned a boat with proportions similar to the ones on display outside the Fishing Museum, Brighton, photographed on 4 April 2009. |
There was a varnished clinker-built rowing boat called Embyfore
that was a larger version of Joe’s Heidi and was also built in
Stromness. Four employees of the Metal Box Company co-owned the boat and took
her out for rod and line fishing with the aid of an outboard motor.
There were around eleven other sailing dinghies, all
wooden, on the beach, all owned by fishing enthusiasts. There was also a
home-built catamaran that Lawrence once had a trip aboard and travelled at
remarkable speed. It is interesting to note that in 1925 a new type of vessel
was registered with Hove Council called an Aquaplane bathing yacht and there
were twelve of them. But they could not have been a success because they were
not mentioned again.
In the 1960s on the beach below Hove Street South there rested a chunky rowing boat with ‘Hove Lifeguard’ picked out in white paint on the sides. She was just left there to rot peacefully away and never used. In the 1890s men belonging to the Royal Humane Society carried out life guarding duties at Hove. By 1914 the Society had become disillusioned by the lack of subscriptions and told Hove Council they were no longer prepared to provide manpower although they were happy to place their two boats at Hove Council’s disposal. Hove Council also decided to purchase an additional boat at a cost not exceeding £15 and employed three boatmen, one at a weekly wage of 26/- and the other two at 25/-. The men were issued with a jersey and cap emblazoned with ‘Hove Corporation’ plus a straw hat. By 1925 the boatmen earned £3 a week, which was a decent wage but they had to work a ten-hour day. By 1969 Hove lifeguards used a rigid-floored inflatable with a powerful outboard motor. By 1970 there were seven Hove lifeguards.
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| copyright © J.Middleton It is rare to find an old postcard depicting one of Hove’s boatmen. The Sackville Hotel can be seen on the right. |
Joe’s Helpers
Joe’s helpers assisted with the launching and recovery of
the boats. They were not tasks that could be done by one man and the winch used
for hauling up the boats had to be operated by two men.
John’s day job was at Portslade Gasworks and it provided
another thing in common with Joe who also used to work there. Like Joe, John
made use of a tub of Gasworks grease. In the 1960s John was still in his
twenties.
Frank was an older man in his fifties and another regular
on the beach. He was a useful handyman but was of a different built to Joe and
weighed some fifteen stone. He enjoyed smoking tobacco in a briar pipe with the
usual round bowl. He used to drive around in a blue Austin A35 van.
By contrast Ron was a non-smoker and in his early
thirties. All these men would join Joe in a regular dip in the sea.
There was another man who worked for Kearny & Trecker
and frequented the beach in his spare time. He was nicknamed ‘Talkative’ for
obvious reasons and had a ribald turn of phrase. He was in his late forties and
had a distinguished air with grey hair and a moustache and was never known to
join the others in the briny.
Then there were four teenage helpers who loved fishing and
messing about in boats. They were Lawrence Flowers, Glynn, Neil and Bruce and
often they were taken on fishing trips as a reward. On one memorable occasion
the boys went shrimp-netting and were so anxious to cook themselves a delicious
meal straight from the sea that they accidentally boiled a lead fishing weight
along with the shrimps. Joe muttered dark warnings about lead poisoning but
they boys went ahead with their meal with no apparent ill effects.
Launching a boat
When a boat was hired she had to be properly equipped with
her own rowlocks, three oars, anchor and ropes. Then she was hauled down to the
water’s edge by means of greased planks known as trows (to rhyme with throws).
It depended on the tide as to whether a launch was a quick affair or one
involving more labour. High tide meant the boat was nearer to water via a
steeply shelving pebble bank but low tide and shallow water required greater
persistence. In summer time the clients were usually seated in the boat before
launching and the helpers, clad in shorts or bathing trunks, did not mind
getting wet. In winter, it was a different story and it was best to wear waders
because it was no fun having your Wellingtons full of freezing seawater.
The more hands to help, the easier it was to launch a boat
because it required a good shove and a short sprint to push her into the water
sufficiently enough for the oars to be able to bite. If the boat were for a
fishing trip, the procedure was different. The oarsman was seated in place with
the fisherman adding weight to the ‘shove’. The fisherman had to leap to get
his knee up on the transom and then scramble aboard. Joe used this method
himself when he went fishing. In times past Joe had used a small sail on a
rear-mounted mast to give added momentum but this was not used in the 1960s.
Retrieval
When Joe returned from one of his fishing trips, either he
or John would be looking after the outboard. The helmsman would hang back
should the waves be boisterous in order to pick his moment and ride up to the
beach on the crest of a wave. Then the bowman, usually the youngest man in the
boat, stood poised in the bows with a painter, ready to jump out just before
the boat grounded. Sometimes it was more a case of being catapulted out of the
boat rather then an elegant jump. When the bowman landed, he hauled back hard
on the rope while the other occupants scrambled over the side. Ideally, the
winch would be available and the painter was hooked on ready to haul the boat
up the beach. Fishing gear and motor were removed from the boat and lastly the
cork taken out of the hole so that bilge water could drain away.
The retrieval of a boat sounds simple set down in print
but waves are unpredictable and bringing the boat in can be an unnerving
experience for those not used to such an exertion. On one occasion two young
men hired a boat from Joe. When they set off, conditions were ideal but by the
time they were ready to return, there was a high tide, the wind had increased
and there was heavy surf. Joe shouted out instructions and the young men tried
to judge their approach. Unfortunately, they missed their chance and instead of
riding in on the crest of a wave, found themselves in a deep trough. The next
wave flung the boat towards the beach, overturning her and throwing everything
out including the men. One of them managed to scramble ashore but the other was
trapped underneath the hull. There was instant pandemonium on the beach with
everybody rushing to help, having to make their way through a tangle of gear,
and heaving one side of the vessel up. Amazingly enough, the man was pulled
out, soaked but unhurt and not a little shaken up.
Fishing
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| copyright © L. Flowers Joe and his fishing nets; one of Mr Flowers most vivid memories is of Joe patiently baiting a long line. |
One method was called long-line fishing; it was laborious
to set up and often no fish were caught at all. Two shallow tubs were employed,
measuring around 24 inches in height and 6 inches high. The task involved
carefully unwinding the line from one tub and baiting around 100 hooks with
lugworm, freshly dug up. The hooks were generally spaced around 24 inches apart
and attached to the main line with a 9-inch trace. The baited line was
gradually wound into the second tub with the hooks and trace facing the centre.
A sheet of newspaper was laid between every few coils to separate them and
prevent tangles. The long line was laid along the seabed around half a mile
from shore, weighted down and with another line attached to a buoy with a small
flag on top. One flatfish per line was thought to be a reasonable catch.
Fishing from a boat with short boat rods from 5 feet to 6
feet in length was considered a superior method to beach fishing. Using an
outboard motor the fishermen went out to recognised fishing marks, usually
Sweetings and sometimes The Gates.
Lawrence has fond memories of one idyllic fishing
expedition with Joe aboard the Jolly Jumbuck. It was a fine summer
evening with a blue sea as still as a millpond. They headed for The Gates and
hauled in many pout whitings, fat and fully-grown. Seagulls were quick to
recognise there were fine fish aboard and followed the boat back to the beach,
hopefully. Lawrence threw them one or two but Joe told him off and said the
catch was to sell off the beach.
Another fishing trip was memorable for an unfortunate
reason. The Seagull outboard motor somehow managed to vanish overboard on the
way out. The men quickly marked the spot with an oar tied to an anchor and set
off for shore to fetch another motor. Back at the spot a grapnel was used to
drag along the seabed until they found the motor and hauled it back on board.
Once the motor had thoroughly dried out, it worked perfectly.
Joe died in August 1991 aged 84.
Sources
This article is based on the reminiscences of Lawrence
Flowers with a few additions from the Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade by J.Middleton
Copyright © J.Middleton 2017
page layout by D.Sharp