Nick Miller brings his training in naval architecture to bear on this comprehensive history of the Lancashire nobby. This handsome sailing trawler, built to bring a light perishable catch home to the deadlines of a train timetable, developed with a fast, powerful, yacht-like hull, ideal for work in shallow water. The nobby worked beam trawls, set longlines, and provident a safe platform for hand-lining and stowboating, primarily trawling for shrimp to satisfy the demand for pub snacks and shrimps teas.

The nobby developed at Southport and Morecambe, and spread out to Annan in the north and Aberystwyth in the south in pursuit of shrimp, flatfish, cod, mackerel, herring and whitebait. Its history is deeply bound up with social and economic changes that took place in the region, with the industrialisation of northern cities and growth of the celebrated resorts on the Lancashire coast. The Lancashire Nobby provides a definitive exploration of the technical development and social context of this unique class of workboat.