Wilding. In particular, William Stoba (1855–1931), a foreman shipwright with Fleetwood builders, developed the design and experimented with centreboards. Other builders were working at Annan, Millom, Crossens and Marshside near Southport. The type was adopted by fishermen from the Solway down to Cardigan Bay, and hundreds of nobbies were built. The demand for boats was driven by the English taste for shrimps, which in its turn was driven by the English sea side holiday trade, which came to prominence with the railways in the 1850s. There was no standard design of nobby, alterations were made to suit the ideas of the original owners. Three racing classes, the Royal Mersey Restricted class, the Royal Mersey Rivers class and the Fleetwood Jewel Class, were built on nobby lines by various local boat builders. The difference between these was that the Royal Mersey Restricted class and the Fleetwood Jewels Class were cutter rigged same as a Nobby and the Royal Mersey Rivers Class had a single headsail. It is important to understand that the two types (Manx and Lancashire) are completely different. The shrimping boats (Morecambe Bay, Liverpool etc.) are shallow draught vessels [typically ] designed to trawl in the shoal waters of the Solway Firth, Morecambe Bay etc. In contrast, the Manx Nobby is a herring lugger, a deep-water vessel typically drawing and built to lie to nets in deep water while drift net fishing for herring and mackerel. The Manx Nobby is similar to the cornish luggers. Period of decline At other nobby ports the changing economics of fishing with engines meant that fewer new nobbys were built, so that most of the nobby builders retired from trade during the Second World War. The nobbies went into gradual decline, and were eventually sold cheaply and converted to yachts Over the last 20 years the Nobby Owners Association has restored to sail some 20 nobbies, which are basically Morecambe Bay inshore sail fishing boats, associated with the North West coast of England and which evolved to their present graceful form through the 19th century. Manx nobby The Manx nobby was a double ended standing lug-rigged herring drifter. It was preceded by the "nickie", which had a dipping lug rigging. Standing lugs have yards that remain on one side of the mast and the tack is set close to the mast, while dipping lugs have yards that dip around the mast when going