Leader

Brixham Sailing Trawler

Leader was built in 1892 for William Robbens by the yard of A W Gibbs at Galmpton Creek on the River Dart, just two miles across the hill from Brixham.

At 105ft in length and 110 tonne displacement she was one of the “big ketches”, a design developed from the original Brixham cutters of the early 19th century.

The cutter-rigged boats were known in Devon as “Mumble Bees”, ketches of up to 40 tons were “mules” and those over that size were “ketches” or even, perversely, “sloops”.

Leader represented the pinnacle of the evolution of the gaff-rigged sailing trawler at that time.