Name Lizzie May

Previously owned by the boat builder Luke Powell, LIZZIE MAY is a replica of a sailing pilot cutter of the mid to late 19th century.  Scilly Isles pilot cutters combined great beauty with agility and speed.

46 pilot cutters worked from the Isles of Scilly in the 19th century, with an average of 3 to 4 cutters stationed at each of the 5 main islands at any one time.  The pilot cutters had to be strong and seaworthy as well as fast as they sailed all year in search of trading ships.  They had powerful hulls, broad of beam to carry a large rig.  Unlike later pilot cutters from the UK mainland, they had cargo hatches aft of the mast, the hold being used to carry supplies to ships and early season potatoes to the mainland.  The Scillonian cutters developed a reputation as some of the finest in England, but by the 1870s pilotage in the Isles of Scilly was in decline due to the arrival of steam and larger iron ships preferring to go to Falmouth for orders.

LIZZIE MAY has visited Brest, Douarnenez, Cornwall, Ireland, Wales, Scotland West Coast, Scotland East Coast.