LONG before tourism turned Polperro into a picture postcard holiday destination it was a working fishing harbour.

Evidence of that once-thriving past is still there in many of the names of pubs, cottages and businesses.

But until recently the working boats had long gone. Now, though, for the first time in probably 100 years a fleet of traditional Polperro Gaffers can again be found in the harbour.

Fisherman Chris Puckey first brought the yellow-hulled 28-ft Vilona May home last autumn and the former fishing boat, built in Looe by Peter Ferris in 1898, was followed by the Nellie, restored by local builder Roger Puckey with help from Millbrook’s Chris Rees and Graham Butler.

Now Peter and Helen Hickey have bought the 26-ft Elizabeth Mary and sailed her home to Polperro, assisted by former Looe fisherman, shipwright and maritime author Paul Greenwood, who is planning to get even more Polperro Gaffers together again next year for a special reunion.

Elizabeth Mary was also built in Looe in 1908 by the Pearce family.

Commissioned by the Olivers, she fished out of Polperro for years, and was later used for dredging oysters in the River Fal off St Mawes.

Several owners later, East Devon’s George Dart took her to Peter Williams’ Bodinnick boatyard for a re-fit and before being bought by the Hickeys, she was owned and maintained by Peter Trounce of Saltash.

The Polperro Gaffers were exceptionally seaworthy boats and have been sailed extensively across the globe.

History has it that their design was born out of a devastating storm in March 1891 that destroyed the whole of Polperro’s original fishing fleet in one night.

Hearing that the lucrative fishing industry had been wiped out, the government of the day is said to have dispatched a naval architect from the corridors of power to the smugglers’ haunts off the narrow Cornish village streets where he would design a new 26-footer, complete with gaff rig, boom-less main, topsails and a deeper draft than that on which past fleets had relied.

“The new boats had to be quite fast and easier to manoeuvre so that they could get in and out of our harbour,” said 25-year-old Chris Puckey.

Having looked at the narrow and rocky seaward entrance to Polperro, the architect decided that the boats needed to be smaller than a traditional Lugger and he also added a cast iron section of weight to the keel to help make the boats quicker through the wind.

At one time there were said be be more than 50 Polperro Gaffers in the harbour, each costing around £100 at the time, and these boats were pivotal to maintaining the thriving pilchard industry until, like fishing ports everywhere in the Duchy, the ‘plastic’ revolution finally took over.

As with the St Ives Jumbos and the Looe Luggers, so the once thriving fleet of Polperro Gaffers began to feel the onslaught of time.

But just recently the clock has started to turn back.

Greenwood, the founder of the Cornish Lugger Association in 1989, decided that the carvel-built Gaffers needed a helping hand and he has embarked on a crusade to preserve their heritage.

He has since located nine of these 100-year-old boats and the 2027 reunion will be the result of 20 years of his ‘gentle coaxing’.

“Basically the gaffers were mini Luggers and, being smaller than the Luggers in length, they were much better to handle,” he said. “A fishing vessel has to be a tool for a job and the new Gaffers were ideal for that harbour.”

Greenwood has pencilled in the June 4-6 weekend next year when he plans to hold a reunion of these delightful sail-powered boats in their home harbour.

“I could have said we’ll do it tomorrow, or next week, or next year,” he says, “but by giving the Gaffer people a couple of years, I’m hoping it will be an incentive to get things moving.”

That philosophy is already working. Known surviving Gaffers include the Maggie, currently being restored by Polperro’s Mike Berry; the Edith, under repair at Chris Rees’ Millbrook boatyard, and the famous Devon-based Moonraker, whose late owners, Dr Peter and Anne Pye, wrote many books about her adventures on the ocean’s seas.

Said Greenwood: “Nine in total could be there next year, eight if the weather’s fine, nine if miracles happen…”

Anyone with a Polperro Gaffer who would like more information should get in touch with Paul Greenwood on 07984 439 298.