Built three years after Nelson died at Trafalgar and seven years before Napoleon met his Waterloo.
Boadicea is probably the oldest sailing vessel in Europe that is still in regular use. She was built in 1808 as an oyster smack and was worked commercially until 1938 when she passed into the hands of my grandfather Michael Frost, who worked the boat for pleasure until his death. Boadicea has passed through the family and is now in my care and still today she is worked under sail pulling a Trawl or oyster dredges in order to keep the old skills alive and it makes a great day out for the family seeing what kinds of fish and creatures are caught up in the nets. The pleasure of working a boat under sail at your own pace is second to none. During the spring and summer Boadicea can be found regularly racing against other Smacks and classic yachts and if there is a stiff breeze we can hold our own. During the autumn we still drift net for herring.
Copyright 2009 Reuben Frost
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