Historic ‘Pilot Gigs’ Boat Sheds on the Isles of Scilly Revealed in New Archaeological Project

The Porths and Gigs of the Isles of Scilly project funded by Historic England and led by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit involved the mapping and recording of archaeological evidence of the historic boat sheds which are at risk of loss due to coastal erosion and rising sea levels.

It links the sites to local knowledge thanks to information from islanders. Virtual 3D models and detailed plans showing how the gig boats were once housed and worked have also been created.

Most of the sheds are now ruins on the shoreline. Like Scilly’s vernacular houses, they were once roofed with thatch, held down with rope nets against the gales from the ocean. The archaeology relating to the sheds extends to the bed of the sea, where ways were made through the inter-tidal rocks to let the gigs pass at low water.

Robert Heath, an officer in the Garrison on the largest island, St Mary’s, witnessed pilotage in 1750, the pilot crews out-pulling each other in high seas to reach ships ahead of their rivals. The gigs, Heath observed, were like horses bred for swiftness in England, and they are loved like horses today, bearing names, often in the Cornish language, and colours worn also by their crews.

Pilot gigs are long and streamlined. They differ from other rowing boats in their design, combining the power of six oars with stability, strength and lightness from ‘clinker’ construction using elm planking a fraction of an inch thick. Rowers pull so hard, levering on the sea from their fixed seats, that the oars are held in wooden pins so that pins, rather than planks, will break under exceptional strain, as can happen at the starts of races.

Around 100 gigs will be racing this Bank Holiday weekend at the World Pilot Gig Championships (2 May - 5 May) off the Isles of Scilly. These gigs are competing in the seas where they used to operate.

History

Traditionally built and used in the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall, gigs played a vital role in the nation’s booming maritime trade in the 18th and 19th centuries as well as serving for transport and travel between the islands. They are unique to the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall and an important part of their maritime heritage.

Scilly lies on the main shipping routes to both the English and Bristol Channels, with Land’s End some 30 miles away to the east. The dispersed world of islands, islets, reefs, and ledges here, up to 10 miles across altogether, including outlying rocks, could be a haven for shipping, or, in gales or fog, a deadly hazard.

Gigs were deployed around the shores of the inhabited islands where they could best reach vessels signalling for a pilot or in distress. Pilotage grew in importance in the 18th and 19th centuries as maritime trade increased and formed a major part of the Isles of Scilly economy.

Gigs had to be launched quickly for pilotage and lifesaving work, so gig sheds were built close to the shoreline to allow immediate access to the sea in the most strategically situated coves, called porths or pars on Scilly.

Research findings

With help from volunteers and the local community, the research has identified around 60 distinct locations featuring gig sheds, with some sites containing multiple buildings. Before the project, less than 20 sites had been mapped.

The earliest gig sheds date back to the 17th century. Half still survive as ruins or have some visible remains. A few sheds have been restored.

Seven ruined sheds – counting both parts of one of these, which is a double shed – are protected as Scheduled Monuments reflecting their national importance.

Two are on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register due to sea-level rise and erosion.

The research helped reveal:

• Remains of the granite walls of the gig sheds, formerly thatched using rushes or reeds from pools and inlets, and bracken, as well as straw, all secured by broad-mesh nets of rope tied to pegs stuck in the wall tops often made of bone. Boat sheds were critical, to prevent the gigs drying out and preserve their active lives that could endure across the centuries
• Passages through the inter-tidal boulders that fringe Scilly’s beaches, known on different islands as ‘drangs’ or ‘trackways'. These features were also vital, allowing access to and from the open sea at any state of tide when crews needed to row
• Strategic hilltop lookout points, including a rare site which once had a mast to signal to ships that a pilot gig was putting out to sea
• Evidence of vital maritime rescue operations, including sheds which housed particular named gigs that were involved in historic rescues from shipwrecks
• Evidence of how the pilots adapted the porths over the centuries, and of how gig infrastructure has been eroded by the sea or buried under sand
• Virtual experiences of the sites, through the 3D models that you can spin and zoom

Find out more

The project's findings are now freely available through a new website, which includes survey plans revealing archaeology exposed at exceptionally low tides, 3D models you can explore, and comprehensive documentation.

Find out more about the project