While opinions on oysters have shifted from being a common food to a luxury item, the boats that harvest them have always been a marvel, according to Dick Durham.
Samuel Pepys recorded oysters in his diaries 68 times, back when they were as prevalent as winkles along the Thames and provided a cheap source of protein for the populace. This was prior to the pollution from London that decimated oyster larvae.
Given the scandalous condition of our privately owned water services – particularly Thames Water with its frequent raw sewage discharges – it’s astonishing that any of these knobbly mollusks remain.
However, any day along the banks of the Thames Estuary, one can see hand-pickers gathering oysters, opening them, and squeezing their insides into plastic bottles for oyster sauce production.
Personally, I would only consume an oyster from a reputable fishing company that understands the spawning season as well as the detailed techniques for cleaning and preparing them for serving.
Many question the fuss surrounding oysters and whether the affection for them is actually a love for the means of consuming finely chopped, vinegar-soaked red onion, a dash of fresh lemon juice, or Tabasco sauce – or, as in my case, all three.
In my opinion, the finest oysters are the wide, flat varieties from Colchester and Whitstable or the hull-shaped ones served on dripping ice trays in Breton restaurants. Yet, I know a yachtsman who collects them from the muddy banks of the River Roach in Essex and fries them with bacon, thus eliminating any harmful bacteria in sizzling hot vegetable oil.
Is it an Englishman alone who could treat something as delicate as an oyster by frying it to oblivion? On the other hand, I find it equally lowbrow to bake them in a pie, and I suspect recipes for such dishes extend beyond just British cookbooks.
All of this leads me to a request for assistance from a group dedicated to saving Gamecock, the last Whitstable yawl, a beautifully crafted gaffer and the last of its kind that drags an iron oyster dredge slowly through the tide to gather oysters in the nets.
It’s highly likely that a predecessor of Gamecock was responsible for catching the oysters for Pepys’ dinner, as oyster beds have existed along the North Kent coast from Reculver to Whitstable since before Roman times. During Pepys’ era, there were hundreds of fishermen from Whitstable working those grounds.
Additionally, smacks from Essex would often cross over to dredge the area as well, leading to moments of tension and conflict between rivals from opposite sides of the estuary. The earliest record of this competition goes back to 1598.
Curiously, the Whitstable ‘yawl’ is actually classified as a cutter. The term is derived from another older style of fishing vessel that had a mizzen mast with a lugsail.
The 42-foot Gamecock was constructed in 1906 and is now listed as a National Historic Ship. A group of dedicated volunteers overseeing her restoration is led by a master shipwright trained by Alan Staley of Faversham, who himself apprenticed at Anderson, Rigden & Perkins, renowned for building top-quality Morgan Giles-designed Essex One Design 18ft dayboats in the estuary, one of which, Polonaise, was my first open cruising vessel.
It’s heartening to see that the charity Whitstable Maritime plans to employ its own shipwright to preserve skills in Whitstable, with hopes for Gamecock not only to sail again but also to work the oyster beds in the Swale.
I’m sure this will please my long-time friend, yachtsman Dick Norris, who for many years owned the oyster yawl Stormy Petrel and was appalled by an offer made to buy her for installation on a roundabout outside of Whitstable!
If YM readers wish to assist in raising funds for her restoration, they could do no better than purchasing a print of the vessel from suekingart.com.
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