Peter Weightman
Peter belongs to: The Coble and Keelboat Society
Peter was brought up in Newcastle. His mother came from Seahouses and the family would holiday there. Peter's father made him a rowing boat when he was 11 and he spent his time in the harbour with his friends.
Peter was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 16 February 2006. The interview took place at Ouseburn Heritage Centre and lasted 14 minutes and 58 seconds.
Interest in cobles
"About five years ago I noticed that the main local craft, the traditional Northumbrian coble was becoming quite rare"
About five years ago I noticed that the main local craft, the traditional Northumbrian coble was becoming quite rare, there weren’t anything like as many, in fact there was only one left at Seahouses and it was up for sale and I thought, “oh dear, they’ve, they’ve all gone.” I thought, “what can I do about it?” because I’m very much into Northumbrian history, history generally I’m, mining, old steam engines and things like that, and I thought, “can I get a hold of one?”
And I looked around a bit and found there were quite a lot, really, lying around in places still in use, more than I expected but I thought, “well, I’ll try and get one that was built in Seahouses,” because they used to build up there, and turned out I was very lucky to find one down at Saltburn that was for sale and I got hold of that one- it was a 1940s one, one of the first ones built at Seahouses- they didn’t build many boats at Seahouses until the ‘40s and it was a really old shape as well because in those days they were just copying the old sailing cobles, in fact it was built with auxiliary sails as well as having an engine, and luckily I got that boat and took it back to Seahouses and did quite a lot of repairs on it.
Peter has 10 memories in the memorynet:
Interest in cobles
Peter's coble the Royal Diadem IIThis memory has these themes:
Leisure | Traditions
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