Yarmouth Fishing Boats Leaving Harbour (1896)

A decaying print of this long-lost film was discovered and duplicated just in time for 1996's celebration of 100 years of projected film in Britain. Among those who saw it in 1896 were members of the Royal Family, at a special screening of films put on by Birt Acres, pioneering maker of this and other very early "actuality" films. His precise motives may be impossible to reconstruct, and his shots of fishing smacks taken from Great Yarmouth's harbour are painfully brief. But they do suggest an early interest in film as a documentary record.

Of similar length to the earliest web films of a century later, this is an example of how products of new media in their infancy have their own fragmentary fascination and beauty. (Patrick Russell)

For more information about Birt Acres see http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/449777/index.html

You can watch almost 1000 other complete films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive free of charge at the new BFI Mediatheque - http://www.bfi.org.uk/mediatheque

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• BFI
• Great
• Yarmouth
• Norfolk
• East
• Anglia
• harbour
• boats
• yachts
• fishing
• sailing

[IDLERACER]

It's silent, it's blurry, it's poorly lit, it has no plot, it's only half a minute long, and for all that, it's STILL more entertaining than any Adam Sandler movie that I know of.

[latham29]

so as a canadian your taxes have been paying to save these films have they? ppl in Briain can see the films at screen online so whats your problem? im sure the bfi will make them available in canada when you start paying for them

[keplermission]

watch?v=8OQJ4UrAVJw

and prepare for a visit to the The Scottish Fisheries Museum, see the video links and the pull down links and you'll appreciate your visit much more!

[PbNorfolkUk]

@greenisland75 its great yarmouth in norfolk mate you can tell by the YH723 on the side of the ship The YH is basically like an area code for great yarmouth like on a post code. and my grandad was a trawler captain and all hios ships had YH on the side

[greenisland75]

Is this Yarmouth, Isle of Wight ot Great Yarmouth in Norfolk? Does anybody know?

[peoplestandup]

Nice thanks!!

[ScotlandMarco]

DAMN COMPUTERS!!!!! I should of been born 100 years ago.

[crockyoshighty]

How things have changed. With the advent of the computer, you could take down this Sloop's ID# YH723 and find out who owned it, where they lived, died and where their ancestors are now. Wonderful and scary at the same time. :o)o:

[BSNFabricating]

Amen! If the makers of films like this knew Adam Sandler and Pauly Shore were gonna abuse their invention, they would have burned all evidence of these old films!

[Neurozumim]

Brittish are really foolish to accept these terms that they have to be enrolled in a U

or go to certain libraries to see these clips. As you say: they pay the BFI. They have a right to watch these clips in their homes. Collectors preserve films. They give them to BFI so the films can go public. Why did they release so many Mitchell And Kenyon dvds? The founders surely insisted they were for the public. Previous collectors were fooled.