Nancy
Nancy, Nancy Lee and Lady Nancy were part of the fleet operated by ‘Captain’ Frederick Phipps during the 1920s and 1930s. There was clearly competition between these and the Britannia fleet as, at least one occasion, there was a scuffle between their respective crews. The close juxtaposition of their loading steps probably didn’t help!
Frederick Phipps (1855-1937) was a well known local character heavily involved in the UDC and the Harbour Board. He had operated small hire boats from 1908, acquiring his first large trip boat, Nancy, in 1920.
The destinations for the trips were varied, and the boats shown here are at Worthing Pier and above Arundel. Other known destinations included Bognor Pier and Houghton. As well as loading in the river at Littlehampton, they also used wheeled carts to provide landing stages off the sandy beach at lower tides.
There are occasional press references to Nancy Lee trips. One example was the annual summer outing of the Bognor Lodge of Buffaloes or ‘Buffs’ as the headline called them in June 1922. Eighty of them embarked on the Nancy Lee at Littlehampton and they thoroughly enjoyed the day: "The excursion up the river was enlivened by the tuneful performances of Mr. Gutsell's band from the Theatre Royal", which spent the whole day with them! As well as visiting Houghton after a short stop to appreciate Mant's famous Bognor sausages, they also had an alfresco lunch at Southwoods, before demolishing the well set out lobster tea at the Black Rabbit. No wonder they had some trouble negotiating the rather inadequate access at some of the landings! Nevertheless their efforts "added to the overall gaiety pervading the happy party".