Interviewer
I’m here with Kim Dowe, skipper
of the Wherry The White Moth.
It’s a tourist wherry, owned by the Norfolk Broads Yachting Company,
and he’s going to teach us some of the skills required to operate this wherry.
Now I’m going to attempt to raise the mast. I feel like a true sailor
[Video inaudible]
What did his job consist of?
Kim Dowe
His job was, a day’s work, probably he would come onto the wherry for the morning, get his fire going for a cup of tea,
and he’d either go pick up peat, or reed, or coal,
and take it to various staithes on the river.
Interviewer
What were the wages like?
Kim Dowe
Well, I assume they were something like £5-10/week.
[video inaudible]
’92, I started, and that was on Albion I started as a skipper. I had to do a little test to see if I was capable of handling the wherry. I was, so I was taken on.
We’re in the holiday trade, and it’s one of the ways of using the wherries today to keep them afloat is to actually take people
around the broads,
either for a day, a weekend or a week.
