Wooden Boat AtlasDesigners, builders & classes · v3.0

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documented from 1795; last sail-powered cutter retired 1922 · Bristol Channel, England and Wales

Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter

British working sail, 1795 – 1922

Boats built to stay at sea in any weather with a small crew, because a pilot who could not reach a ship did not get paid. About eighteen originals survive of hundreds built.

Earliest record
1795, with twelve registered cutters of 14 to 24 tons
Last working
Cariad, retired 1922
Famous survivor
Mischief (1906), sailed roughly 110,000 miles by H. W. Tilman before her loss in Antarctic ice in 1968
Survival
About 18 originals of several hundred built

Wooden Boat Atlas v3.0 · built 30 July 2026 · a project of the Golden Gate Wooden Boat Foundation · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · open data · corrections