A free public archive · Britain & Ireland

Every boat carried somebody's working life.

Fishing Lives is a growing archive of fishing boats, crews and harbour communities — built from photographs and memories contributed by fishermen, families and enthusiasts. Free to browse, free to join.

Discover fishing boats, crews and harbour stories from past and present.

Or browse by harbour, decade or see every boat.

Featured boats

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NIMROD

Active

BH 227
Christina S

Active

FR 224
Appolo

Decommissioned / Scrapped

GY 424
Deeside

Buckie · Active

BCK595

Recently added

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Emulator

Scarborough · Unknown

SH83
PROPITIOUS

Hartlepool

TH181
Harvester

Bridlington · Active

FY 198
Charisma

Symbister · Active

LK 362
Arcturus

Active

LK 59
Opportune

Hartlepool · Unknown

WK171HL6WK
Carousel

SH 298
Sonderborg

Hartlepool

Got photographs in a drawer?

Most fishing photographs are sitting in albums and lofts — and every year more are lost. Join free, add what you have, and it becomes part of the record. You keep the copyright; the archive keeps the memory.

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From the Archive

Fishing vessel Ethelwulf, The Ethelwulf and its crew - North Shields - Sunk in 1918 and all died

Ethelwulf: Lost after the Armistice

Ethelwulf · SN344 · North Shields

Only three weeks after the First World War Armistice, the North Shields trawler Ethelwulf was lost with all hands after striking wartime mines in the North Sea. A powerful story of fishing families, danger and remembrance.

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Fishing vessel Ben Tarbert, Ben Tarbert HL21, Hartlepool steam trawler. Built Aberdeen 1912 by Hall, Russell & Co Ltd. Later served as an Admiralty boom defence vessel before retur

Ben Tarbert HL21: From Hartlepool Trawler to Wartime Service

Ben Tarbert · A476, HL21 · Hartlepool

Built at Aberdeen in 1912, Ben Tarbert later became Hartlepool’s HL21 and served through wartime as an Admiralty boom defence vessel before returning to the fishing fleet. Her story links the working fish quay, steam trawling and the hidden wartime service of Britain’s fishing vessels.

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