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Lydia Eva floats again - March 2008
Lydia Eva floated for the first time in over a year at 5:45 pm on 18th March 2008. The launching revealed she was water-tight again.
This was a great relief to the Trust, it's volunteers and all the dedicated staff at Smalls Yard.
Lydia Eva is currently at a quay near to Smalls' main yard on Lake Lothing.
Lottery windfall gives Lydia Eva new lease of life
The dreams of volunteers behind a bid to restore the world’s last remaining steam herring drifter and use her as a floating museum dedicated to East Anglia’s once-rich herring industry are at last becoming realised, through a grant of £839,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
A vessel of national importance, the Lydia Eva is a symbol of East Anglia’s herring industry and one of only 60 ships on the National Register of Historic Ships.
Built in 1930, she underwent two conversions before 1990 when the Lydia Eva and Mincarlo Trust was founded to return her to East Anglia and display her in Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft as a museum and memorial to the herring fishery.
But since 2000, when a survey showed that the underwater hull needed extensive repair if she was to survive, she had been laid up in Lowestoft whilst a bid for the HLF grant was prepared. Just before Christmas 2006 the Trust learned that their application had been successful and the Saving of the Lydia Eva could go ahead.
So on March 1st 2007 the Lydia Eva left the berth where she had lain for seven years and crossed Lowestoft Harbour to the slipway owned by Small and Company. Here she was safely hauled out of the water, and work at once started to clean the hull and to carry out the detailed surveys needed to decide exactly which steel plates need to be replaced.
Trust Chairman Alan Bagley said that watching the restoration begin had been quite emotional. "It has taken us a long, long time to get here. The Lydia Eva is the last one, and that is what makes her so special. The hull is very thin, so our first task has been to take her out of the water, clean her up and carry out a survey of the hull. The risk is all in the hull, because without her being water tight we haven't got a project. Once that is complete we will have a much better idea of what needs repairing, but we are expecting to replace around 60% of the hull. Then we can go on to working on the superstructure, the electrics, engine and boiler room and the Museum."
The aim is to complete the restoration of the Lydia Eva so that in the early summer of 2008, the 800th Anniversary of the first Civic Charter of Great Yarmouth, she will steam back to her home port to reopen to the public at the Historic South Quay, a memorial to the great days of the herring fishery.
Robyn Greenblatt, HLF manager for the East of England, said: “We are thrilled to support the restoration of the Lydia Eva. This is a great project that will save a nationally important vessel, and another example of how HLF is helping to conserve and open up our maritime heritage in the East. Everyone, from kids to adults will be able to explore the past by actually getting out on the water and experiencing what it was like to be part of an industry that helped to shape the identity of East Anglia.”
The Trust still needs more funding to complete the Project, and volunteers to work on the ships and new Trustees with the professional skills to help to manage the growing business of maintaining and promoting the Lydia Eva and Mincarlo. The Trust will appoint a Learning and Development Officer to work with local schools.
