Built in 1904 by Edwin Rowles at Pill near Bristol, Cariad (Welsh for Dear One) is the oldest Bristol Channel pilot cutter listed with the National Historic Ships Register. The Bristol Channel was probably one of the most dangerous shipping lanes in the world with its huge tidal range, sand bars and rocks. At the height of the coal trade in the latter half of the 19th century thousands of ships were making for south Wales ports , each one looking for a pilot for the last leg of the journey. These cutters are generally seen as the most successful fore and aft rigged boats built during the age of sail, their function being to ferry out pilots to shipping making for Cardiff, Newport and the other Bristol Channel ports. Speed was of the essence for these craft as the first pilot to a ship usually got the job, and given the nature of the currents in the channel sea kindliness was a must. Cariad spent most of her working life with Pilot Thomas Richards as a Cardiff pilot cutter and was the last sailing pilot cutter in 1922. Later she became a private yacht owned by Frank Carr who wrote about his experiences aboard her in ‘A Yachtsman’s Log’ She is still privately owned and recently underwent a full refit at Bristol.
Many thanks to Alistair Mackay for the photographs and information.
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