End of life for the Rose of Sharon.

Photo courtesy of Gilpin Demolition

A poignant reminder of the fleeting nature of time, the once immaculate, Rose of Sharon lies in pieces on a River Dart slipway. Reduced to a pile of shattered timber, scrap metal, and a partially broken-up wheelhouse, this iconic trawler's demise marks the end of a chapter in Newlyn's maritime history.

In 1969, Forbes of Sandhaven were commissioned to build the 66ft trawler/longliner Rose of Sharon FR 23 for Ernest Stevens and his sons David, Paul and Peter. David Stevens Snr skippered the Rose of Sharon between 1971 and 1977. She was decommissioned in 2003 when she became a live aboard based on the River Dart.

The boat had been kept on a river mooring for many years but subsequently sank after being abandoned.

Photo courtesy of Gilpin Demolition

Once salvaged, she was brought to a concrete slipway by a team from Gilpin Demolition and broken up on site. More pictures from the process can be seen here.

A versatile vessel, she spent most her early years long-lining for ling, ray and pollack...

though the heydays of gigantic mackerel shoals in the late '70s saw her rigged out for mid-watering...

which included doing pelagic trials with the Kilravock for the Hull Industrial Dev Unit and the White Fish Authority...

not so sure the MCA guys would approve of her being loaded like that these days though!

In the 1980s, she and a number of other similar sized boats, better known as, 'the clan', bottom trawled for whitefish, changing gear to fish for prawns on the Smalls in the summer months.

here, she can be seen overtaking another St Ives boat, the Keriolet, both boats steaming away from Newlyn after yet another winter gale had passed through...

though not every trip ended as it should, here she is well and truly mopped-up and about to be towed back to Newlyn.

A few words from Crystal Sea skipper David Stevens, whose grandfather Ernest had the Rose of Sharon built, recalls the role the she played in his life,

"Obviously she was a big part of Alec's (brother) and my childhood. Many hours we spent in Newlyn helping Dad, Peter and the crew land and mend nets. Alec and I would fill needles and keep the tea and coffee coming, even learnt to roll a fag for Dad and Aimie (Aimie Doom - a Belgian refugee from the WWII) 😆 🤣

Both Alec and I went to sea on her from 9 years old in the summers for a few days. We'd mix it up rockhoppinp on the hard ground NW scillies to the Ship. Or, we'd shoot the clean ground net off to the southward. She really was a Swiss army knife of vessels. She did every job going and for many years did them well. She started off as a longliner come trawler. Then Dad fitted a net drum and paired up with Michael Hosking who had the Killravoc and Bobby Jewell with the Galilean?

They first went after pilchards for Shipphams then the mackerel boom started so she fished for mackerel. Uncle Paul ran her for a few years whilst Dad was beaming in Stevos He tried wreck nets, and lines, craw nets a little also. Then Dad took her again in 1983 and did mainly trawling, and later, when we bought the Crystal Sea we pair trawled for hake for a season. She was sold in 2001 for a house boat, which was a nice career end for her, kept her going for longer. She was a fine, beautiful versatile vessel."