History of Silvery Light
1884
Silvery Light, was built in 1884 on the beach at St Ives, Cornwall, by William Robert Williams.
For years she worked as a fishing boat based out of Great Yarmouth as part of the fleet of boats drifting for herring in the North Sea
1890
In 1890 she was sold to Norwegian owners and renamed RAUST. At first she was used to fish for Cod but was later used as coastal freighter serving remote settlements in Northern Norway and the Arctic Circle
The photo (left)(with thanks to Bengt Jonassen) shows Silvery Light, then named Raust, working as a coaster delivering cargo, sand and gravel to communities in the fjords of Norway. As a boy, Bengt sailed with his Grandfather who owned her at the time.
1931
In 1931 she was fitted with her first engine and in 1949 she was extensively modified.
1988
As bigger ships came along, like so many working sailing vessels, she was abandoned and lay neglected In 1988 Mark Rolts shipwrights of Bristol re-rigged her and sailed her back to the UK. For many years she was engaged in Whale watching trips in the Azores and for a period was charterd by the Ocean Youth Trust Ireland