Bourne House, 11 Holway Road, Sheringham, 21st August 1981
Sheringham (with Cromer) is renowned for its crabs and lobsters. I watched fishermen launch a crab boat into a choppy sea under a grey sky this morning. Held by a cable that was let out slowly from a power driven winch, it eased down the slipway and onto the shingle, the keel running on movable rollers that were picked up and dropped with casual precision in front of it like a rolling road. Five men, middle aged and older with tanned faces and muscular forearms, a boy and a dog controlled the ropes, moved the rollers and steadied the boat. The bow in the water, two of the crew in blue and yellow climbed on board and tested the engine. As the boat rocked in the surging water, a final push with a long boat hook guided it into the sea. Released from the grip of the shingle the boat bucked and reared, the two crew battled to steady it with the oars. The remaining two crew members heaved themselves out of the surf and clambered over the stern in a flurry of shining waders. One of the oarsmen started the engine and the boat surged forward across the incoming waves. Six boats launched earlier waited off shore. The seven gathered then headed their separate ways out to the markers where the crab and lobster pots lay on the seabed.