Sarah Amy
Sarah Amy is seen on the far left of this F.W. Spry photograph dated between 1908 and 1911. On the right is Jumna in an unusual mooring for her, as she is more often found on the town side nearer to the harbour entrance. On the far bank, the barge drying sails is probably Viking and there are two Danish sailing vessels to her right, their names unknown.
Sarah Amy was often recorded in the Harbourmaster’s journal with a variety of cargoes and seems to have been prone to collisions, as she was also noted as in for repairs on occasion. Sometimes she departed under tow by a tug, possibly when a cargo was offered elsewhere and the winds were adverse; the cost would have been justified when cargoes were scarce. This suggests she did not have an auxiliary engine, in common with many of the visiting sailing craft.
In the early twentieth century these sailing vessels were operating often in competition with steamships and the growing rail network, so their economics were finely balanced; if a voyage was unduly extended by adverse conditions, costs were increased and any profit could vanish.