This is a tale of surfing dogs, tragedies and heroes, not to mention storms, crab pot wars, questions in Parliament, disappearing villages and fish, lots of fish.
This is the first of three posts about a photo walk I made in Beesands, South Devon in early 2024. Beesands is a small village that grew up due to the fishing industry of Start Bay. There is a string of villages on the coast between Salcombe and Dartmouth all with their own individual history, one of which was washed away by the sea just over a hundred years ago. The death of Hallsands was a warning to Beesands and steps were taken to defend this settlement from befalling the same fate. It has had mixed success, but it defines the look of the village today.
To get to Beesands you drive through Beeson first, and interestingly this early map shows Beesands with the name Beeson Sands. Presumably the name corrupted over time to the name we know today. Most of the oldest settlements on England's south coast are set back from the sea for security from attack by Vikings, Saxons, Normans, or just the occasional marauders and pillagers or slavers from North Africa. Later, safer, times, once England had a large navy, and the major ports to furnish those ships, settlements crept closer to the beaches. Beesands almost certainly started off as fishing huts, or "cellars" built by the people of Beeson to store boats and nets, which then developed into more permanent although simple cottages. In the coastal areas of the south west of England, fishing and farming tended to go hand in hand, one supplementing the other as both were seasonal.
The tithe map of the 1840's gives a good sense of this development at Beesands,....
.........which by 1885 looked more like it does today with several gaps filled in along the front. Note that at this time the population could sustain two pubs right next door to each other. Today only the Cricket Inn survives, and while you can still get a foaming pint of beer, you can also get a chilled Pinot Grigio with your Veal Saltimbocca, all nicely followed by a Coffee Pannacotta and some home brewed Limoncello, if you prefer.
Beesands was living on the edge, with cottages that backed onto steep slopes or cliffs and front doors that opened right on to the beach. All of that was about to change.
In the 1890s, following a scheme proposed by Sir John Jackson, it was decided to expand the naval dockyard at Keyham, near Plymouth, and dredging began offshore from Hallsands, the neighbouring village to Beesands, to provide sand and gravel for its construction. Soon, up to 1,600 tons of material was being removed each day, and the level of the beach began to drop, much to the alarm of local residents.
On 26 January 1917, a combination of easterly gales and exceptionally high tides breached Hallsands' defences, and by the end of that year only one house remained habitable.
Beesands cards were marked and after surviving various bad storms during the first half of the twentieth century, the time eventually came to take action, and this is what that action looks like below. The sea wall was finished in 1993 and faced with these giant boulders. The defences only protected the main part of the village.
It looks calm today, and it is difficult to imagine the real threat, so here it is.
The story of Beesands is therefore more about the sea than the land, as we shall see with the stories that follow. Large fish catches were newsworthy.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Wednesday 16 December 1885
DISTRICT NEWS
START BAY. The fishermen of Hallsands and Beesands have each taken upwards of 400,000 herrings since Sunday night, and large catches are also being taken at Slapton Sands and Torcross.
The rules of the sea have always given priority to any boat in distress and it was common for those at sea, who were already risking their lives, to do all they could to rescue those in a worse position than themselves.
Huddersfield Chronicle - Monday 21 November 1887
A LUGGER RUN DOWN.
On Saturday a Beesand fishing boat landed at Dartmouth Captain Barron and a crew of five men belonging to the Fowey lugger Louie, which was run down 12 miles off Eddystone, at midnight on Friday, by the Frederic Hielmoller, a German brigantine. The wind was light at the time of the collision, and the lugger had no lights. The men clambered over the bows of the brigantine, which transferred them to the Beesand, and then proceeded on her voyage for France.
A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or more masts. Luggers were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Wikipedia.
At the other end of the beach is this more recent attempt to defend the land. It doesn't look much, but that was probably the point, to attempt something less obtrusive. But this system goes deep as you will see here.
This is a fascinating description of how trained dogs assisted the fishermen at Beesands, something that was a revelation to me.
Hull Daily Mail - Thursday 15 February 1894
THE BEE-SANDS FISHERMEN'S DOGS.
About seven or eight miles from Kingsbridge, between the Star (sic) Point and Torcross, lies the little fishing village of Bee-sands ; it is situated on a sandy beach, with no harbour or shelter; and when the wind blows towards the land a very heavy surf rolls in, which makes it very dangerous for boating. The boats that are used are large Seine boats, and carry a lot of men in addition to their nets. It often happens when the boats are at sea the wind shifts, and a heavy surf is the consequence. It would be impossible to land in the ordinary way, and they cannot get near enough to throw a rope, therefore they have recourse to the help of Newfoundland dogs. These animals are brought up to the work from pups, and thoroughly understand it. When a boat is nearing the shore the dog goes down and waits till he sees the boat in a position to be hauled up ; at a given call the dog watches its opportunity and leaps in, just after a big wave has broken, and swims off to the boat. The men make fast a small line, and he turns round and makes for home ; but it is interesting to watch him waiting for the big wave to carry him on shore. When once landed, the people on shore take hold of the small line, the other end of which the men the boat make fast to their hawser : this is then pulled ashore, and with many willing hands. They watch until they see the big wave, which is either the seventh or the ninth, and , the boat is hauled clean in on the beach, and up out of the water.—Fishing Gazette.
Totnes Weekly Times - Saturday 10 September 1887
BEESANDS.
Much excitement has been caused amongst the fishermen of Start Bay, in consequence of their having lost between 70 and 80 crab pots, which were valued from 4s to 7s each. It seems that on Tuesday week last the crab pots, which were mostly new, were left in the sea, and on the following day several Brixham trawlers were seen in the locality. When the trawlers had left, the fishermen of the Bay went in search of their crab pots, but could not find them. Whether the crab pots have been lost when in the sea, or taken by the Brixham trawler hands, cannot as yet be ascertained, but if the latter surely the police could make enquiries, if only on behalf of the Brixham trawler hands themselves.
Two year later and the problem continued.
Western Morning News - Wednesday 25 September 1889
THE BEESAND FISHERIES.
Sir,—In spite of the “caution” issued by the Board of Trade, I regret to say that on Friday night last the Beesand men lost sixty more crab pots and gear. The trawlers lights could be distinctly seen on the crabbing ground for some hours, but owing to the wind and the sea the Beesand men were unable to put off and protect their property. This means a further loss of some £17 (£1400 today) to the fishermen.
FREDERICK J. DICKINSON. Torcross, Kingsbridge, 23rd September 1889
We'll hear a lot more about this later on, when we end up at the Houses of Parliament.
Western Times - Saturday 13 January 1872
SALCOMBE.
Accident at Sea.—About 2.30 a.m. on Thursday the schooner Western Belle, Captain Cove, of this port, from Hull for St. Michael's, ran ashore on Beeson Sands, about two miles east of the Start Lighthouse. At 7 p.m. on Wednesday she carried away her jibboom, then lay-to in order to clear it away. The tide and wind carried her inshore, there being very thick weather at the time, so that the crew did not see the Start Light. They saw land only a few minutes before the vessel struck. The Kingsbridge Packet went to her assistance.
Western Times - Friday 25 October 1867
DOINGS OF THE DAY
SOUTH DEVON
A good catch of pilchards - On Monday upwards of 150,000 pilchards were caught at Beeson Sands; they were retailed at 1s. to 1s. 6d. per 120 fish.
That was nearly £6000 in today's value.
Royal Cornwall Gazette - Friday 27 April 1877
CRAB AND LOBSTER FISHERIES
.......The conditions of Devonshire in some respects resemble those of Cornwall. The finest crabs in the world are caught off Start Point, and we had the opportunity of examining witnesses belonging to Beeson Sands, Hall Sands, Prawle, Hope, Wembury, and Plymouth, whose evidence discloses the condition of the fishery all around this headland. "There is no lack of fish" at Hall Sands "The crabs have not fallen off" at Beeson Sands "There are as many crabs now as there were thirty five years ago at Hope."
This article forms an interesting account of witnessing the Devonport dredging that was to so quickly afterwards to destroy Hallsands. I have included this description of "Haulsands" as I think it was probably a fair indicator of life in nearby Beesands too. Only a few years after this, it was all lost to the sea.
Teignmouth Post and Gazette - Friday 23 July 1897
OUR OUTING.
On Saturday last, the staff employed at the offices of the Teignmouth Post held their first annual holiday, and a more favorable day and trip could not have been selected. At the invitation of the proprietor of the firm (Mr. Sydney Arthur Croydon) the party accepted a sea trip, and Mr. Croydon's smart and commodious steam yacht was placed at the disposal of the employees. Embarking at the Pier at 11 o'clock, the vessel was headed for the Start. It was a beautiful clear day, with just a nice breeze on the water sufficient to cool the intense heat of the previous days, which had been most oppressive. A stiff breeze in mid-channel had been experienced, and this drove a roll landwards that made the little vessel dance merrily, not to say pleasantly........
.......Slapton. Beeson (or Bee Sands, as the place is more familiarly named on the steamer excursion bills), and Torcross were pointed out by those on board whose visits to this particular part of the Coast of Devon had been more frequent than others. Haulsands (sic) was our destination, and standing out prominently was the steering point—the Start Lighthouse. After a fine run down, we made fast to the buoy put down for the hopper and barges taking gravel for the Government works at Devonport. Haulsands is a quaint fishing village, with only a few houses. The Coastguard Station stands on the hill and the 'London Inn" at the bottom. Indications of the' crab and lobster fishery were visible on all sides, and the catching of ray for bait is one of the occupations pursued by the few fishermen inhabiting the houses standing almost close to high water mark.
Whoever took the responsibility of naming the village ventured on a misnomer in its truest sense"sands" there are none, and the visitor who leaves the soft Teignmouth beach and anticipates that the shore from Slapton to Haulsands (several miles) is of the like formation will be doomed to disappointment on setting foot on shore. It is all shingle; coarse in size, chrome-yellow in colour, and of a flinty character, made smooth by the action of the waves on the beach, which is steep and trying to walk on. The water is exceptionally clear and deep, and excursion steamers, drawing a good depth of water, are run in end on until - their stems are embedded in the gravel, so that when the stages are put out the passengers can land high and dry. There is not a great deal to see at Haulsands, it is too much of an out-of-the-way place for anyone to expect attractions. Gas, water and highway committees have no abiding place there, and the villagers do not hanker after the like. The hand of the speculative builder or District Council has not yet interfered with the antiquity of Haulsands, and from information gathered on the spot, there is no apparent eagerness on the part of the fisher-folk to go in for vast improvements or to worry over a season band, and the controlling of the numerous troupes of singers and musicians favouring seaside resorts with their presence at this time of the year. The people are content to live as they have lived and are happy withal. The wild winds of winter does not drive them, and in summer their seclusion is made the more pleasant by the occasional look-up of the visitor, though apartments are few and decidedly below upto-date expectations. Dinner was served on board the yacht, and it is almost needless to add that even printers with appetites sharpened by the sea-trip can do full justice to a meal, if good things are provided.
Torbay Express and South Devon Echo - Wednesday 27 December 1961
MUCH BETTER AT THE SEA-THREAT VILLAGE
To-day's report from Beesands was that the wind was still easterly and the sea rough, but conditions were much better than over Christmas.
Then high seas lashed the foreshore of the South Devon village, washing away hundreds of tons of sand, stones, pebbles and earth. The road near the shore was covered with some of the debris, and in places is now the only barrier against the sea....
...."We will have to hope that someone will do something" said a villager today. Part of the foreshore has a wall to stop erosion, and inhabitants say a complete wall is the only solution.
Daily Mirror - Friday 05 January 1979
IN DEVON,
two villages threatened with a disaster from a high tide, were early today declared safe. Mountainous tides had been whipped up by gale-force winds.
A desperate battle to save the villages - Torcross and Beesands in South Devon - got under way after massive waves smashed gaping holes in sea defences. Convoys of lorries ferried in thousands of tons of boulders to plug the gaps. Every able-bodied man in the communities joined an army of council workmen battling to save their homes.
They won the battle - helped by a tide that failed to reach the expected height. More than 200 people have been evacuated at Beesands, and the Royal Marines at Plymouth have sent in camp beds and blankets.
Torbay Express and South Devon Echo - Thursday 29 April 1993
WAVES crash on the beach but Beesands villagers no longer fear flooding thanks to the new £1.8m sea wall.
NEVER again! The days of flooding and storm damage in the South Hams village of Beesands should become little more than a memory thanks to a massive new scheme unveiled yesterday. In brilliant sunshine Earl Howe parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food revealed a plaque to mark the opening of a new £18 million sea defence scheme for the village. Beesands has been flooded by the sea on a number of occasions in the past, and nearby Hallsands was lost altogether in a catastrophic storm in 1917.
Looking as calm as it did on this occasion it's difficult to imagine how much the sea can change and how quickly.
Western Chronicle - Friday 13 March 1891
THE GREAT BLIZZARD.
SEVERAL VESSELS WRECKED IN START BAY.
MANY LIVES LOST
During the gale on Monday night, one of the most terrific ever known in the neighbourhood of Dartmouth, several vessels went on shore between Torcross and Start Point, and in every case broke up and foundered, while only three men out of the whole crews were saved.
It seems that about 6.45 the coastguard at Torcross, eight miles from Dartmouth, received information that a steamer was ashore at Blackstone rock off Start Point. He immediately sent a messenger to Prawle for a rocket apparatus, and, taking his crew, proceeded to the scene of the wreck. On reaching Beesands a schooner was observed on the rocks. She turned out to be the schooner Loonsdale (sic), of Barrow, with a crew of five men. Through the exertions of the Beesands fishermen the captain, Joseph Jones, was rescued, but all the rest perished. The coastguards then went on to Hall Sands—another two miles near the Start -and found the schooner Lizzie Ellen, of Chester, on shore near the cliffs. Two men out of the crew of four were saved. On reaching the Start it was found that the steamer reported on shore at the Blackstone had gone down and all hands with her, while Tuesday morning another vessel, supposed to be the Dryad, of Liverpool, was also seen to founder west of the Start. The loss of life must have been very great, but detailed particulars are not yet obtainable.
Three months later in nearby Kingsbridge a ceremony took place.
Totnes Weekly Times - Saturday 06 June 1891
The bronze medal and certificate of the Royal Humane Society has been awarded to John Roper, fisherman, of Beesands, for saving the life ot Captain W. Jones, of the schooner Lunesdale, wrecked off Beesands on March 9th last.
Four years later at the Dartmouth Royal Regatta, John Roper won third prize in the sailing race in his boat Little Duck.
By 1915 the crab pot wars were still raging.
Western Morning News - Thursday 14 January 1915
FISHERMEN'S LOSSES
....John Roper, crab fisher, Beesands also spoke to losses of pots during last year. The few he had left he put on the rocks, and if he had a family he could not live. He would have no part of the bay opened, not an inch of it: if the Brixham men were given an inch they would take a foot.
Trawling in Start Bay had eventually become an issue so significant that it reached the British Parliament where moves were made to open Start Bay to legal trawling, this is what John Roper is referring to above. What we have been witnessing was illegal trawling as the crab grounds were protected by the bay having been previously closed to trawling. By now Torbay and Teignmouth Bay had already been opened up.
On the 15th April 1914 a debate was held in the House of Commons and such an issue had Start Bay trawling become that the debate followed that of the East African Protectorates (Loans) Bill, the Criminal Justice Administration Bill and the Elementary Education (Defective And Epileptic Children) Bill.
The debate was opened by Colonel Burn the MP for Torquay.
I beg to move, "That, in the opinion of this House, it is expedient, in the interests of the trawl fishermen of Brixham and Dartmouth, to appoint a Committee to inquire into the existing conditions governing the fishing industry in Start Bay, with a view to the opening of a portion of the bay to the trawl fishermen while retaining existing rights in the other portion for the crab fishermen of Hall Sands and Bee Sands."
The general feeling during the debate seemed to be that it was a game of numbers and that the people of Beesands were far outnumbered by the people of Brixham. The fishing grounds were deemed to be too important to be reserved for such a small community of fisher folk. As the brilliant modern philosopher Thomas Sowell noted "In politics, the goal is not truth, but votes", and how true that is.
Now, at Brixham, which is really the home of the trawling industry, there are 210 fishing smacks, employing 800 hands, and I think there is a capital of not less than £128,000, which, with the insurable value of the steam apparatus on board amounting to another £20,000, makes a total of £148,000 invested in the industry at Brixham. If you consider the number of men employed—sixty or seventy—at Hall Sands and Bee Sands, and 800 at Brixham, and add the Dartmouth men, this House will agree that the Brixham and Dartmouth men have a fair and just case.
So that's 60 votes for you and 800 for me.
Mr Shirley Benn MP for Plymouth not surprisingly also wanted the bay opened up for Plymouth trawlers........
Mr Benn continued......
....Start Bay is noted as a great place for fish, more especially plaice and sole. This bay was closed in 1893, the reason being that it was then thought not only that it was a nursery for young fish, but it was supposed to be the place where the fish came into to spawn. That theory has, however, been exploded, because it is now known that the fish spawn in deep water. The Devon Sea Fisheries Committee passed by-laws which have been approved by the Board of Trade prohibiting trawling near the coast, but many complaints were made by the crabbers. In 1904 there was an inquiry, and in 1905 the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee opened the other bays but not Start Bay. The trawlers tried to get Start Bay opened, and they claimed that a certain portion should be allotted to the crabbers and the remainder to the trawlers. Two gentlemen from the Fisheries Board decided that it would not do to have Start Bay partially opened, because it would be more costly and more difficult to police it. It is not necessary to keep Start Bay closed merely for the fish preservation question, because the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee reported in February last as follows:—
"We do not consider that the closing of Start Bay is required from a scientific point of view in the interests of the preservation of fish."
Mr Mildmay the MP for Beesands was not happy.
It is not unnatural that as Start Bay, the bone of contention, is situated in my Constituency, I should be very deeply interested in this matter. However, I cannot quite agree with the views put forward by the proposer and seconder, although I have no fault to find with the tone of their speeches. I am really surprised that the hon. Member for Torquay (Colonel Burn) should move this Resolution at this moment, when by his own action and the action of the Brixham fishermen whom he represents, the question of whether or not the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee have power to make this bylaw at all is sub judice in the Court of Appeal.
Mr Mildmay went on to detail the crab pot war that was underway.
I will not detain the House at any length. It suffices to say that a great many of the fishermen for years past have had to complain of the destruction of their crab-pots by trawlers. To cut a long story short, the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee some years ago, with the double object of protecting a spawning ground and nursery for sea fish and of safeguarding the fishing ground of the longshore fishermen, passed By-law No. 7, excluding trawlers from Start Bay, which by-law was approved and confirmed by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries after an inquiry on the spot at which all objections were heard. My hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth (Mr. Shirley Benn) said that Plymouth was law-abiding, and that they had not been caught in any illegal action in Start Bay. No, I do not think they go there to any extent. Plymouth is a long way off; it is the action of the Brixham men of which complaint has been made. Ever since that by-law excluding them from Start Bay has been in force it has been disregarded by certain trawlers to an ever-increasing extent, so that now it is no exaggeration to say that there is a real reign of terror in Start Bay. Emboldened by their immunity from punishment, they have ceaselessly harried the longshore fishing grounds, and they would seem of set purpose to trawl over this very ground where the crab-pots are set. The consequence has been, to quote a passage from the Harmsworth Committee Report, that from 900 to 1,000 crab-pots were destroyed in the season before last. Mr. Ford, the clerk of the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee, in prosecuting offenders recently, said that there was a loss of 1,000 crab-pots in one quarter of the previous season, so that the fishermen had no gear with which to go on fishing.
Mr Mildmay went on to the shock of some members of the House.....
When it is remembered that each crab-pot costs 6s. 6d. in raw material, it can be seen what distress this means. I went to the bay last Whitsuntide, and I find considerable difficulty in adequately picturing to the House the state of affairs I found there. Many of the families were absolutely destitute. The men work hard, but work as they may, they cannot get a living, if day after day their stock-in-trade is continuously destroyed. There are many cases of hardship I could give to the House, but I will only take two at random. Thomas Steer, seventy-five years of age, and fifty years a fisherman in Start Bay, had in the previous season when I was there, lost more than sixty crab-pots at a loss to himself of over £16; and having lost his all, and deeply indebted himself to local tradesmen for new gear, he had at the very beginning of the new season already lost ten of his new crab-pots through destruction by trawlers. This man was a hard worker. He did not know which way to turn, and he was in despair at having to look on day after day at the destruction of all he had in the world by trawlers, without having the power to interfere. He said with truth, for his story was confirmed by ministers of religion, both Church of England and Nonconformist, that in the previous winter he and his family knew for the first time what it was to lack bread.........
........There was another case of a fisherman, who had been in the Navy, who was suffering from consumption, and who for many years had supported a mother between seventy and eighty years of age. He had lost the whole of his gear, and he was absolutely destitute. Every boat in these villages starts with something like 120 crab-pots. I found when I was there that there was one boat which had lost all but thirty crab-pots already, and expected to find those gone when they next went. I was appalled at the state of affairs there. The men were at their wits' end to know what to do. They were nearly all in debt to local tradesmen for new gear, and many families in the previous winter had known what it was to want for the necessaries of life.........
.......While I was there it was stormy and they could not get out, and they had to watch the trawlers raking the Skerries Bank. A week afterwards, when the weather was better, they all went out and recovered part of their gear. They found it floating about cut to pieces and completely useless. On one occasion two dozen fishermen suffered a loss of £30. This sort of thing repeated again and again means starvation for these men.
These trawlers coolly defy the law and treat it with contempt. We have it in evidence over and over again that they have habitually trawled without lights in Start Bay, to the danger of all other shipping, and covered over their identification numbers with canvas. Does that not show that they know they are acting illegally and doing what they ought not to do?
The Start Bay area concerned remains closed to trawlers to this day. Ironically, after this debate the next question was about how long MP's were allowed to speak for in debates. Mr Leach went on to propose....
I beg to move, "That in future no Member shall, except by leave, speak in this House for more than twenty minutes, or for more than fifteen minutes in Committee of the Whole House, Ministers, ex-Ministers, and Movers of Bills and Resolutions excepted."
OK, I get the message, I have gone on too long, so I'll end my "at sea" section of the series with this record fish catch from 1869, where the fish were so close to shore that the boats were not even launched.
Western Morning News - Tuesday 19 October 1869
At Beesands, seven miles from Kingsbridge on Saturday, the fishermen observed an immense lot of pilchards, about fifty yards from the shore. They shot the seines, and succeeded in dragging on the beach upwards of 500,000; if their nets had been larger they could have taken double the quantity. The fish that escaped proceeded up to Torcross, about a mile and a half from Beesands. The fishermen there succeeded in catching about 200,000 the largest catch of pilchards that has ever been known on this part of the coast.
The other two parts of this photo walk and history, Beesands On Land and Beesands In Heaven will follow next.
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