Captain Collins of Brighton, with his family

Captain Fred Collins of Brighton, who ran three pleasure boats called the Skylark and was a familiar figure on Brighton Beach for sixty years. His cry of Any More for the Skylark became so famous that it became a national saying for pleasure boats. It is believed that the novelist Charles Dickens knew Collins, and went for a trip on the Skylark in 1867, commenting later on the captain's witty chatter to the trippers. Collins is seen here on the right, with his son, grandson and great grandson. The fleet continued to sail until just after the Second World War under his son, also named Fred Collins, although two of the three boats were lost at Dunkirk in 1940

Dickens Familiar Grandson Sixty Skylark Whiskers

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