When we produced our page of the listing of yawls and their owners from a contribution published in the Whitstable Times in the 1940's it was hoped that memories would be jogged and we would learn more.

This has started happening, but the first feedback was actually about misspellings or incorrect names. We checked our page against the original and confirmed the accuracy of our transcription so the errors must have either been in the memory of the original author or during the copying to typeface by the newspaper.

Far from being dismayed by this we now know, that with feedback from descendants, the information we produce will eventually provide a more accurate and colourful collection of data for future generations to come.

The St. Agnes was discovered by ourselves in this way.

We came across this image of the 'St. Agnes' recently. It is pictured hauled up on the Whitstable beach, alongside another unidentified yawl, and some men sitting on a groyne in the foreground. Our guess would be besides the Anderson, Rigden and Perkins slipway, circa 1947. Until we are are able to confirm with ship's registers we are assuming that this is the vessel shown on the original listing as the 'St. Negans', belonging at some time to J. Warner. As with all of the yawls listed on these pages we hope that its inclusion, under either name, will return more information.

We are pleased to publish further information about this picture from John Harman of Vancover Island, who kindly agreed to the inclusion of our correspondence here.

John:

The picture you have of the St AGNES, she is not at the Anderson Rigden & Perkins yard, but at that of R. J. Perkins. To the right of the picture is clearly the Horsebridge Pier (the Hoy Pier). After being at the yard there, she became a pleasure boat, was painted silver and berthed in the harbour for quite some time.

My Uncle Jack, crewed for Mr Warner on the ST AGNES. Prior to that, he was skipper of the CLYDE.

The letters of Mr Dale, I can recall them from the time of publication. As a young man, I remember Mr Dale, in fact I can remember his father!

Oystertown.net:

Thank you very much for this information John. When you live in a town you don't always notice the gradual changes. I suppose if you move away your memories of the town are forever imprinted into your mind. Any other details that you would like to pass on are always welcome as very often they jog other people's memories.

John:

It was in 1954 that I left Whitstable, though I have visited home since, it is the Whitstable that I grew up in that stays in my mind.

I have had further thoughts of the ST AGNES. I think that after she spent that time in the harbour finishing the refit, she may have been returned to her mooring. During a gale she was driven ashore and broke up on the beach, as many other yawls have done. (that is just a faint recollection).

Mr Warner, (Lou Warner, as my Dad called him) was a catholic, and he attended church regularly. So if there was a name change to the boat, it was probably he who named her ST AGNES.

My father was Tom Harman, there are so many things today that I wish I could ask him. Over his working years, he worked on and off for the oyster companies, finishing up as skipper of the THOMAS FOORD.

Oystertown.net:

Thanks for the extra information. It all adds to the memories and links we are trying to save. As a matter of interest, did you emigrate because of what happened in 1953 (the flood), or was because of assisted passages being offered? I remember my own parents talking about emigrating to Australia around 1958. We didn't go, which explains why I'm still here.

John:

No, it was not the flood that washed me away, after all, that is Whitstable.

As your parents were experiencing, those were austere times. I was 22 in '54, had done my National Service and had been back home a couple of years trying to make a living. I did not wish to return to London to work in the cabinet shop as I had done before. After working for several months in a local cabinet shop, I was doing a stint with my elder brother George, on his trawler MON REVE. If the truth be known, I was wondering, "How am I going to get out of this?".

When talking to an old school chum, he said "He was going to Canada". Six weeks later, I was on the ship with him. The intent at the time was that it would be for a couple of years, or until I could save up enough for a good payment on a house. Well 52 years later, that is now history.

After a year or two, I changed careers and fell back on another earlier training I had also had at Canterbury College of Art, and became a commercial artist. I was a black and white artist, for the most part specialising in packaging mechanicals. That was in Toronto, it was at my retirement that Anne and I came out West to the seaside town of Sidney.

Thanks for that John. I'm sure others will remember the Harman and Warner families.

Linked pages:

The Oyster yawls and their owners. Two listings, one of the boats, one of the owners.

Anderson, Rigden and Perkins boatyard. One of the E.B. articles published in the late 1940's.