Vic Haisell speaks to
reporter Chris Denham about his boat

A much-loved feature of
Littlestone Beach has been destroyed by vandals, leaving its
72-year-old owner heartbroken.

Fishing boat Kingfisher,
registration FE66, was burned down to a few timbers on Saturday,
soon after a group of youths had been shooed out of another nearby
boat. It happened soon after noon.

Well-known Romney Marsh author and
fisherman Vic Haisell was hoping to go out fishing for spring
herring at the weekend but instead he found himself staring at the
charred remains of his beloved boat. The nameplate was all that
could be salvaged from what had been the last remaining traditional
fishing vessel at Littlestone.

A devastated Vic said: "There’s
very, very few of these traditional clinker-built boats left. Very
few.

"There were four herring nets in
there and there were flares and all sorts in the forekeep. With all
the dry wood, it was asking to go up. I often thought it would be
fired, it’s just the way we live today.

"She was built down at Phillip’s at
Rye in ‘76. Everybody photographed her you know, it was amazing how
many people came down and took pictures.

"It’s senseless, I was brought up
with respect. There’s no discipline in the home, there’s broken
marriages, broken children, broken homes... there’s an element of
bad little sods out there. There’s some good children too, but it’s
a sign of the times."

Vic has been fishing off the Marsh
coast for many years and even had a boat at 14. His family can be
traced back to Lydd in 1794, and there have been many fishermen
amongst them, although not so many last century.