A vital link with Whitstable’s shipbuilding and fishing industries

Favourite is the last of the traditional wooden Oyster Yawls remaining in Whitstable and the only yawl in public ownership. In many places a yawl would be known as a smack. The oyster yawl’s design is well suited to the farming of oysters in the shallow, estuary waters off Whitstable. At one stage the oyster trade with London flourished and the Whitstable fleet reached 150 boats.

Favourite was built by the Whitstable Shipping Company in 1890, close by her present site in Island Wall, for Edward 'Pikey' Carden the proprietor of the Fisherman’s Arms, which is now 34 Island Wall. Her ironwork was made in the forge that is now Shipyard Cottage (see the sketch below). A working life of 54 years came to an end when she was machine gunned in 1944 and beached. Just before the sea wall was built in 1953, she was hauled into the garden of Favourite Cottage and moved to her present site next door in 1978.

The map below, believed to date from 1872 slightly earlier than Favourite's building, shows three shipbuilding slips and a large capstan just in this small area. Favourite's current site is shown with buildings. (Click to magnify)