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Beachmen

Liberty

Liberty

LostCousins Megastar
OK, can anyone tell me what a 'beachman' was?
There were several in my (Great Yarmouth area) family. I realised they were not deckchair attendants and vaguely assumed they maybe fished from the beach.
In the 1871 census my GGG GM said she was 'wife of beachman' My GGG GF was not at home that night, and when I tracked him down I was rather surprised to find he was the owner of the vessel he was on board. It was not insignificant, having a crew of 5 (apart from him) with 2 of his sons the Master and Mate. Some of his sons and sons in law described themselves at other times as 'smack owner' which is what this looked like.
My first attempts at identifying the occupation suggested they did rescue-cum-salvage work, which didn't seem to fit with this 5 or 6-man vessel. However, I found from the site entiled 'Beachmen'

that salvage work was only part of their income, and for some the biggest earner was ferrying the fish to the beach from the fishing vessels anchored in the roads. (This is not quite a quote since I have moved the word order around). (Yarmouth Roads is where 'Grandpa' and my 'uncles' were on census night 1871.) It looks as if the job may have died out over the next few years with a new fish wharf and steam tugs, which may also explain why later generations were 'simply' fishermen.
 
Liberty, I've put some useful links about Yarmouth on a previous thread - also have a look at the Fishing chapter of A New Perlustration of Great Yarmouth, which talks about Beachmen. A lot of my family lived in "The Rows" in Yarmouth, so I have done quite a bit of research about the area.
 
Not a problem Liberty I fixed the link. Try yourself. Type some text and highlight it then click the little chain icon (below and 1 to the right of the smiley face) a box will open paste your link into the box, click the insert button. Job done.

PS. My understanding of beachmen is that they were beach combers ie: people who made a living from salvage washed up on the beach.

PPS. I found this article.
 
Alexander
This was a bit of a puzzle. The fact that my GGG GF owned a 5 or 6 man vessel and was described as beachman is fairly indicative that this was not the equivalent of beachcomber. I think the term has a specifically East Anglian use and meaning.
The link that AnneC posted (which a Great Yarmouth-based) suggested they were rather ruffianly salvagers
From the one I linked, (which seems to be the same as the one you linked) I got the info about them ferrying fish from the fishing vessels out in the Roads. I would 'of course', rather think my ancestors had a respectable trade, but it also seems a more likely progression to the next generation being smack-owners.
If nothing else, we can extract something from this for future forum users who find this job desription in a census.
 
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